Christmas 2010

After a long one month break from the blogging world, we are back!

However, I don't think I'll ever take that big of a break away again from blogging. So much stuff happens in one month, (even a slow month) and I feel like it's taken me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to upload these pictures as well as get them on here!

But....

It was a much needed break & we got mostly everything moved & unpacked, or put in storage. Still working on some things & trying to find spots for everything.... I hate for things to look crammed in somewhere....

To start off, where we left off~

We had a wonderful Christmas at the cabin

I don't know what made me want to do a Pheasant themed tree last year, but I did. So I carried it over into this year as well. It went perfect with the cabin decor...

Some Christmas cookies for Ol' Saint Nick!

We start off our family Christmas on Christmas Eve with my Mom's side of the family.

We have been doing this for as long as I can remember. We all get together around 5ish on Christmas Eve for fun, food & presents!

Chandler, my cousin's little boy.... Isn't he just precious!!

We have always had a Lasagna dinner on Christmas Eve. Such a different dinner than you would think for Christmas, but so wonderful since it's the exact opposite of what we will be eating on the next day!

Now, time for presents! There are about 15 of us that gather on my Mom's family's side for Christmas. Just immediate extended family. However, it can be chaotic once presents start being opened, so I didn't get hardly any pictures!

A horrible, but one of the only, pictures we got of us together at Christmas 2010

My Aunt M'Lee loves her some Maxine!

On Christmas morning, we awoke to a snow dusted ground. There were ducks on the lake in front of the cabin, so John & Cooper went hunting...

Lunch on Christmas Day is spent with John's side of the family.

Lilly, our neice, loved her Cat in the Hat game!

Allie Grace is all about baby dolls & princess stuff!

The grandkids with Mimi & Papa King

John & his sister, Katie

Katie & her girls!

Later on, on Christmas afternoon, we stop back by my Mom's house to celebrate Christmas with my Bonus Brother, Kenny & his wife Karen. They have 2 adorable kids, Brooke & Logan!

Brooke~

My sister, Blair, got the best picture of Brooke though. (I wish I had a copy of it!). Mom got Brooke some Jeggings for Christmas (3 years old & already at the top of the fashion trend at Preschool)- Brooke loves to pose for pictures, so when Blair went to take a picture, Brooke said, "One, Two, Three- say Jeggings!!" It was HILARIOUS!

Logan is all about some trucks & trains!

Christmas Night we go to my Dad & Phyllis' house. We love this tradition!

Didn't get any pictures of us at Christmas, but I did get a picture of the tree.

I just love all white & silver trees....

The day after Christmas we celebrate & head down to my Nana's house (Dad's mom).

Such a fun time. She recently just got put into an Assisted Living Facility in Franklin, so it was nice to have Christmas at her old house, like always.

John & I with Nana. She'll be 90 this July!

Christmas Decor Ideas- Day 2

Back to Christmas decorating ideas....

I love decorating, especially for Christmas, and I love looking at all the Christmas decorations.

Mailboxes~

I love to see mailboxes decorated for Christmas! This is such a wonderful way to give people a hint that your house is decorated just as fabulous on the inside as your mailbox is. Plus, it's people's first impression of your decor for Christmas! They see this before they even see the wreath on your front door (exception: if you have 1,000,000 lights on your house, then I'm sure they will be blinded by those instead of your little mailbox)

My mom always did a very elaborate mailbox display at Christmas when I was little, mainly made with fresh magnolia tree leaves and berries. It was beautiful!
Below are some inspiration pictures of mailboxes for Christmas:

Have you done anything to your mailbox?

Such a simple mailbox. Lowe's sells swags of garland.

Simply purchase 2 of them, and tie them on either side of your post.

Add a ribbon at top of each side to cover your wiring to hold them up!

Bigger is better in my opinion. I love how all the fresh garland is incorporated.


This ribbon is all over Columbia!
Lots of people have them on their mailboxes, wreaths, trees, and everything else!
And I love it!

Christmas Decor- Day 1

Since they are lighting the BIG tree at Rockefeller center tonight in NYC, I thought it would be fitting to do a post on pretty Christmas trees. I am always interested in seeing people's Christmas trees. It's such a personal extension of their taste. I find it interesting to see if they choose to decorate with 1) childhood owned ornaments 2) in a theme like all silver & gold, or blue & silver, or all snowmen, etc, etc 3) if they purchase a live or an artifical tree 4) and how they wrap their presents.

We (well, I....) put lots of time into our decorations, and especially our wrapping of presents. I have a "wrapping area" in our house and a closet pretty much full of rolls of ribbon, tissue, wrapping paper, cards, personalized tags, etc, etc.....

You will have to hold out until the end of this week to see our decorations! :)

Below are some pictures that intrigued me:
Very traditional- My kind of tree, and you can tell it's LIVE :)

Love how everything is coordinating and flowing together from the tree to the mantel to the pillows & flowers

I would love to do this in our guest room and have a little tree on the bedside table....

Such a fun Beach tree~

When I was little, I always wanted to have my own little tree in my room that I could decorate however I wanted. When I was a teenager, I saved some of my allowance and bought a small fake one to put in my room. I loved when I turned off my lights at night, I had the glow of the tree in the corner still aglow.

Love this little girl tree

Something more fun for all the kids

Another fun small tree for a girl's room

I have warned John that we will ALWAYS have a live Christmas tree, and that I am wanting a few around the house next year... For the extras, I can settle for fake ones. I would love to do another one in our bedroom in the all white, silver & gold look. So peaceful looking....

Here is to Happy Decorating for Christmas!

Bye Bye November.......

MIA

I have been totally MIA lately. The holidays sure do feel like John & I are campaigning for office or something because we make about 4 stops in different cities in one day, it seems. No, it's not that bad, but it's busy!

This year, we spaced everything out more and it worked so much more smoothly and gave us time to really visit and enjoy the days.

Our Thanksgiving started on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We went down to Lawrenceburg to my Mom's mom's house. There were about 20+ people there and it was so great to see everyone. We haven't done holidays down at her house in awhile. We usually go to my aunt's house in Summertown since it's 1/2 way between Lawrenceburg & Columbia. But I can't tell you how great it was to be back in her house, to show John all of our secret hiding places we had when we were little, and very old pictures that she still had displayed. SO funny!

The night before Thanksgiving, we started a new tradition on my Dad's side. We go to his sister's house the night before, for a "Wine down to Thanksgiving" on Wednesday. There is lots of appetizers and food and LOTS and LOTS of wine. Gave us all time to visit without feeling rushed and relax!

T-day: We started off the day with going back down to Lawrenceburg for John's extended side of the family. There is 30 people there, I'd say, and it feels like chaos at first, but all works out. John's family doesn't do a huge extended side get together for Christmas, so Thanksgiving is HUGE over there!!

Then that night, we go to my Dad's house for a small gathering of just us for dinner. There is about 8 of us, and it gives us that chance of winding down & relaxing. Ahhhh

So, now on to CHRISTMAS!!!

John & I got our tree last night at the local Christmas tree place that lots of people go to in Columbia, The Satterwhites. They have such wonderful trees!

We have decided not to decorate our house in Nashville this year, so the tree was for the cabin. When I first met John, he told me that his parents didn't really "decorate" that much for Christmas. I was taken aback.... I grew up with over-the-top Christmas..... every year. But I have been impressed with the 'progress' that the Kings have made in decor for Christmas. We've gone from 'putting lights on the ficus tree, the 1st year' then onto Sherry purchasing small trees to put on the dining room table, and now, it's my turn to show how I do it! :)

We've got the tree up, garland all over the mantel, garland hanging over the top of a huge entry in the living room, garland going down the banisters, little trees out on the porch, and live wreaths on the doors! Ahhhh I love it!!! And I hope they do too! :) pics to come.

I know that I always say, 'pics to come' and have a bad follow through rep, but that is soon to end, because this comes in the mail tomorrow:

Yep! We purchased our camera! Can't wait to use it, and SO excited that it's coming just in time for the Christmas season!! We've been needing a camera for a wonderful 2 years!!!

We had a great one until one night we were at a friend's house for a dinner party, and the wine was flowing. We drank and drank and drank. Well, when it was time to go home, I saw that one of our bottles (a magnum) had only a glass or two out of it, so I put the cork back in it (as drunk as I was) and put it upright in my purse. It wasn't until we got home that night that I saw as I picked up my purse there was something dripping from the bottom.... Yep- the wine was flowing all right.... ALL IN MY PURSE. Ruined my phone, Ipod, & Camera.... The first 2 things got replaced and the camera was on hold since I wanted a reallllllllly nice one. So we've used my older sister's hand-me-down since then- Well, fast forward two years, and we've finally gotten it!

Putting up our Christmas tree last night brought back so many great memories of what my family used to do when I was a child. We would make a night out of it by going out to eat, then picking out our tree, then home to listen to Christmas music as Dad strung the lights on the tree, and mom made Homemade Hot Chocolate. We would drink the hot chocolate as we decorated the tree. Now, John & I decorate our tree with lots of the same ornaments that got passed down after we graduated from college and started putting up our own tree.

And even though John isn't that into Hot Chocolate, I find that he asks for 'a sip' and then 'why don't you get yourself a hot cup of fresh hot chocolate since this is cooling down a bit, and I'll just keep this one' usually follows.

The Parkes' Homemade Hot Chocolate

(same as what is on the side of the Hershey's Cocoa box)

1/2 cup sugar

dash of salt

1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1/3 cup hot water

4 cups milk (1 qt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, mix sugar, salt & cocoa together. Stir in water. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until it boils. Boil & stir for 2 minutes. Add milk, stirring constantly until hot (but NOT boiling)- Remove from heat & add vanilla. Stir for another minute and serve.

*NOTE- Make sure that you are stirring constantly. I've left it unattended for just a minute, and it's burned or scalded and it does not taste that great!

Note 2: Double this if you have more than 2 people.... Trust me, you will go through it!!!