Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs

Yesterday we made Christmas Cookies at my sisters house. We had such a fun day. This is one of my favorite traditions throughout the Christmas Season. Sadly, this year my Mom could not be there to make them with us, but she did say they were delicious!

Can you believe how cute this little guy is!!

Can you say, Diva!!

My little nephew really enjoyed making cut-outs, and you will see his decorating skills later!

Ready for the oven! My sister made the cookie dough from scratch, we tried a different recipe this year. They turned out so amazing!!

Here is where the cookies went as soon as they got out of the oven.

Now it's time for frosting and decorating. This was really the fun part. First of all, my sister dumped all of the little silver decorative balls all over the kitchen. It was so funny, all you saw was tiny little balls bouncing all over the floor. She attempted to pick them up, until she gave up. Lets just say we had a dirty floor after we were done.

While my sister was still on the floor trying to pick up a little of the mess, my niece accidentally dumps all of the green sanding sugar on poor Mr. Snowman. By then we were all laughing hysterically. She thought she had the side of the container open that just sprinkles it out, but instead it was the other side that is wide open. It was great! We gave that one to my nephew, he loves sprinkles. The first thing he did was stick his finger in it!

Here he is decorating his own cookies. Can you see he had an audience. He was so adorable while he was decorating (as always).

Yum, Yum! Those look delicious! Wink. Wink. His decorating was priceless.

Here is the finished product. It seemed like we were frosting and decorating for hours! It took us from 10am-4pm. We did help my sister clean up the mess that was left in her house! You should have heard the sweeper when I was in the kitchen, we most definitely made a mess, but it was worth it! I will remember this day forever. It is such a blessing to me to be able to spend a day like this with the people that I love most!

The cookies are so delicious. Speaking of which, I think I might go eat one!!

5 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

Just Curious...(Christmas Edition)

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Christmas Banquet...

...and lots of fun with family!! Me and my sister had way too much fun together, we had to do a silly picture. If you would know my sister, you would understand. She is a diva!

We stood in front of frosty for this picture. Me, my sister and my brothers Girlfriend.

The banquet was for my Dad's business, we always have such a great time.

The entertainer for this year was a ventriloquist Ryan Baumgardner.

All the wives and girlfriends of my Dad's employee's got a Longaberger Measuring cup filled with goodies. I was so happy to be taking one home!

I love all the Holiday events around Christmas time, it helps my Christmas Spirit to raise a lot just to be around family and friends. I hope you are all having a great Christmas Season. I would love to hear about your favorite Christmas Season spiritlifters (if that is even a word)!

Christmas Tour of my Home 2009

Welcome to our Home that is so ready for Christmas it's about ready to burst!!

I will start off your tour at my side/main entrance of our home.

As you enter into our little landing you will see...

...our little "Welcome Tree" and...

...a handmade sign that my Sister made for me last year.

Here are the stairs to our basement.

From our entrance to our living room.

The main attraction is our Tree.

We got our tree the first year that we were married from Wal Mart for $30, we were really happy with the price. For me, I need a pre lit tree. It is just so easy and it has lasted us 4 Christmas'.

Instead of using a tree skirt (I am too cheap to buy one, they are expensive!) I use buffalo snow, you can usually find it at Wal Mart.

Our Tree topper is a star. I love this piece because I can decorate with this year round.

Next are some of my favorite ornaments. I have begun to love ornaments more and more each year.

This basketball ornament was my husbands. He loves basketball. His family did a great job of getting the kids ornaments each year, and now they mean so much.

A shimmering star I found at Wal Mart.

My sister got me this cute snowman...

...as well as this cute primitive snowman with a bell...

...and also this clip on snowman tree ornament. Each year as I decorate our tree, and I get all the ornaments out, each one gets more special and more meaningful. I cannot imagine how it will be in another 20 years, I will probably be crying my eyes out as I decorate our tree!

Next you have our front entrance, which enters into our living room. I have a wreath that I found at a garage sale and a cute little snowman hanger that my sister got me for my Birthday 2 years ago. I very rarely buy any new holiday decorations, I have had a ton of success at garage sales/ thrift stores. I never buy anything that I do not love, so I guess I have been lucky to have found most of my decorations for a great price. I also have a pretty small house as well.

This next item is another one of my garage sale finds!! I was so happy with this sign. It says "Tis the season to be Jolly."

Below is our dining room table. I found my reindeer a year ago at our local thrift store, they were wooden, so I spray painted them white. I thought they were so cute. The wreath around the glass vase I found at a garage sale as well. This is the first Christmas for the wreath in our Home. I just threw in some pine cones to finish it off.

Below on our serving center, you will find a small manger scene, a few more reindeer, a candle arrangement and more pine cones.

This next piece is my latest most precious find at our local thrift store. A cute little primitive snowman with a lit up tree. Each year around Thanksgiving our local thrift store has a Christmas Extravaganza, this year we were there the first day they brought out all there Christmas stuff. We look forward to this event each year. My aunt is a volunteer there so she gives us all the inside looks!!

This is the door to our upstairs (which we never use, and its cold up there).

Next is the start of our kitchen. My favorite Christmas decoration is most definitely snowmen. This is probably my favorite snowman that I have.

These next two snowmen get to watch me cook, or should I say, watch me try to cook. I made the big snowman at one of our church outings. It is the coolest thing, you start with a tiny little tree, then you insert a small light, then you put the white snow stuff around it and add the scarf, hat, face and buttons with super glue. It has held up for 3 Christmas'.

Below is my sink, with my little snowmen. I found the greenery that is by the window at a garage sale the first year we were married. The cute little sign says "Snowman Collector." I also have a picture of my parents dog Hummer with Santa Claus. That was a great memory!!

Below is our kitchen table, with another one of my favorite snowmen. My husband got me the sign that says "Believe." I also decorate with that sign year round.

I hope you enjoyed the Christmas Tour of our home. I had a great time showing you around, I would love it if you could stay for a cup of Hot Coco!!

I cannot wait to tour your home!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Door Tour

I wanted to post this yesterday but did not get it done. So here is a tour of my Christmas Doors hosted by Lianna Knight at Growing our Own Garden. Her blog had such Christmas spirit, I just love it!!


I will start with our main entrance. I don't usually decorate a lot outside, so all I have in this entrance is the red bow and my wreath on the door. I am so excited about this wreath, I bought it about a month ago at our local thrift store. All the wreath's that they sell they make on their own. They use materials that were donated, and put together their own wreath. I got it for $18! I was so happy with it mainly because I love a full, thick wreath!


Below are a few close up shots of the wreath.

This next wreath is on our front door, which we do not use very often. This is the 2nd Christmas that I have had this wreath. I found it at a garage sale for under $10. It is frosted with white, and it has some pine cones decorating it. And it is also a very full wreath, which I LOVE!!




This next wreath is on our back porch door. I got this wreath the first year that we were married along with 2 others that are exactly alike. I have been slowly replacing these, I got them at a garage sale as well for $2 each. They were such a great deal that I could not pass them up, so I used them for a few Christmas' and I always keep/kept my eyes open for nicer ones (hopefully at a bargain price) to replace them.

So there is your tour of my Christmas Door's!! I hope you enjoyed it. I would love to see yours.

Stay tuned for a tour of my Christmas Decorations!

Our Christmas Card to you!

I would have loved to send each and every one of you our Christmas Card. Instead I thought I would send it through our blog!



I did my cards through Shutterfly.


This is the first year that I did our Christmas cards online, and I could not have been happier with the outcome. They came very quickly, and were exactly how I wanted them. The picture was so super easy to upload! I have since purchased a few more things from them. They have been running great specials since I have joined there site. There is one thing that I would do differently next time, I would order a Matte finish instead of the Glossy.

We truly wish you the best Christmas Season!!!!

Before we know it we will be waking up to Christmas!!!

Infertility is Bad. Busy is Good.

We had a good Thanksgiving.

We stayed very busy.

We ate lots.

I went shopping on Black Friday.

We ate some more.



As the Holiday came and went I kept myself very busy. I cooked a Thanksgiving meal. I spent time with family. I went shopping. I got a Starbucks. I did laundry. I cleaned. I got all our Christmas decor out (except our tree).

Then all of a sudden I was not busy. I was emotional. I was sad. I knew it was coming sooner or later. I had been doing so great. As we go through infertility, it is always on my mind. It just depends on how I handle it. When I am busy, I push it to the back corner of my emotions. And I love that feeling. I love not having it control me. I love that it seems ok. But it always rears its ugly head, and I end up having it control my emotions. I've been working on trying to regain my emotions quicker than I normally could. By that I mean, I have my half hour or hour of sadness, tears, and hopelessness. Then I need to snap out of it and think of positive things. I cannot let it go on and on. That is when it really starts controlling you. It does not mean that my chest stops hurting from a broken heart, or that my tears will go away forever. It just means that I can control this ugly thing called infertility. I am far from where I want to be, but I am on my way there.

One of the best things about this Holiday season for me has been that I am busy!! Which for me means less time for me to focus on infertility!! I'm wondering, if you are going through infertility, what helps to ease your mind from it?

I am more in the Holiday spirit this year than I have been in a while. I am so excited for the month of December. I am thankful that the Lord gives me joy through the Holidays. Really why would I have cause to complain? I have many more blessings than I deserve.