I am finally getting into the spirit of Christmas.
Somewhere I found my holiday mojo?
I went out and purchased some of these….
And then I got some of
these….
And I decorated our
Maple tree outside. They were on sale at Rite aid…. 100 mini lights
in each box and they were 2 boxes for 5.00. I even bought a poinsettia!
Honestly….I ended up in a slight depression there for a bit and I was
wondering if I was going to bother even decorating. Last year we had a
gorgeous tree. The problem was it was so dry, that it shed its needles every
day and what a mess. We decided to have an artificial one this year. My father in law
Woody, showed up here a couple days ago, with a 7 foot blue mountain spruce
artificial tree!! My mother in law decorated that tree for years and it was beautiful.
She did many themes over the years. Anyway….my husband asked if he could have it
as they no longer use it and they said YES! So….it’s on my kitchen floor in a
box right now and will be decorated this weekend…..thanks to Woody and Alice!! It’s my first one and I know there is NOTHING like a REAL tree but they are getting quite expensive and some of the artificial ones are gorgeous!
I want to apologize to all of you in blogland. I haven’t been very good
at visiting lately. I’ve been in a slump. I promise I will be back soon. Our reno is coming to an end after today.
The crown molding goes up in the dining room today, and we will stop until after the holidays. We have a wonderful Christmas
party coming up at my brothers on the 19th. We are doing an old fashioned Yankee Swap! I can’t wait. It sure is a lot less expensive
buying two gifts versus 7 or 8! 
Do any of you do this? I am told a lot of people are this year.
Christmas is being held at my house this year. It should be fun! I am on the lookout for a nice vegetarian Christmas dish for
my daughter. I am hoping to cook a spiral ham and I have some other ideas. We usually do pot luck. Here are some pictures of my “old” country themed
house before we started renovating last year at Christmas…
Here’s my old country beam that we cut out decorated for the last time!! 
And my snowmen…. 
and xmas cards all over my mothers hutch……
Kathleen’s card is in there!!! Let’s get closer….
And even closer….
There it is….see the pink and white one with the deer? I loved that card Kathleen!
When I look back, this year, on all of the decorating I did last year, I have a bitter-sweet feeling about it all. You see…this was all done within 2 weeks of Christmas. A lot of the greenery I got from the woods at my husbands parents farm. I filled bags of it for myself and for Alice. Although it dried out quickly, it was really pretty. I was having a bit of a hard time getting this all up so I asked my husband to help me with some of it. Because we ended up with a dry tree and dry greenery, we decided to take it all down the day after Christmas. I started doing just that on December 26 of last year, 4 days before my 55th birthday. While doing that, I noticed I was not feeling well. Once in the ER in Portland, I was told I was having a heart attack. So….I have an uneasy feeling about it all I guess, for no reason. It’s been a long and very different year for me….but a good one. I am very grateful to be alive this Christmas. I am going to decorate the blue spruce Alice and woody gave us and as many other areas in the house as I can and enjoy the season. Hopefully I can take down the decorations after the holiday and NOT end up in the ER this year!! I’ll be back with new pictures soon……meanwhile….enjoy the season you all!!! 
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