Only 359 Days Until Christmas 2011

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Welcome Christmas – Past and Present

The Marshall’s are making merry, making memories, making messes and welcoming Christmas. A fun-filled week around here making sugary Christmas cookies with ALL six of the grands – ages 7 months to 13 years. Sometimes I wonder if my silly traditions are noticed, but when my almost 30 year old son reminds me we’re still using some of the same cookie cutters he used when he was a boy…now we’re still pulling them out for his three boys. Wow, they do notice!

Cookie-making steps: First, you get Poppy to show you how to do it. When that doesn’t work you get Mommy to show you.

Then you decorate it…

bake it, show Daddy where it is,

and while it’s in the oven you raid your grandmother’s pantry ‘cause that’s where all the GOOD stuff is…

Now showing it to Ninny…and the best part eating and eating and eating…

and end it all with an up high ride from Aunt Jessy. Glad the kitchen ceiling is vaulted because Aunt Jessy’s six feet tall and this is up high!

A fun day making cookies and memories…new ones with the grands.

A special memory for me was over 30 years ago I made Santa cookies for my in-laws with their names on each one. You know, completely forgot I even did it. Didn’t know they were anything special and I especially didn’t think they were decorated that great. But they were made with love…apparently my MIL thought they were a treasure because when we moved her from Arkansas to live with us in Louisiana, look what we found in her freezer…

and inside were those not-so-special cookies I made so long ago. I guess they were more special than I imagined. So we moved them to Shreveport, kept them in our freezer, and on cookie day we bring them out to take a look at them.

This year my DIL Jessy took the same cookie cutter and made a pair of Santas for us…

and yes, they will proudly take their place next to the other two in the freezer.

On another note, we won 2nd place in the Christmas house decorating contest and here’s proof.

Merry Christmas from Ninny and Poppy!

Technorati Tags: Christmas cookies,Christmas contest,Vintage Santas

More Tree Photos

Not much time to post because it’s WAY past my bedtime. Just wanted to post a few of the latest photos of trees I’ve personally decorated. I promise there will be more photos of my house in the next few days. Enjoy!

 

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Little tree creations for my littles

I’ve had fun putting together these little white trees for some of the littles in my life.  The pink tree is for my first newborn granddaughter’s first Christmas and the penguin tree is for my grandson Devin who will be two in March.  The penguins light up and play jingle bells. So cute.

Today I’m off to decorate another house and hopefully work on some more little trees…I have a list and I’m checking it twice to make sure I get them all done.

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Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

Well, I’m not officially dead, but today’s tree decorating did get a little crazy. The client’s tree was especially wobbly after being partially decorated and the only way to fix the problem was to do a controlled fall.  That is we laid the tree on its side, fully decorated on purpose so I could fix the stand. It turns out the tree pole was not all the way down into the stand and had been partially screwed in enough to hold it in the wrong place.

We took the opportunity to make a fun photo op – thinking about the Wizard of Oz and how Dorothy’s house fell on the witch.  If only I had on ruby slippers and striped socks, it would have looked better. But I had on Nike tennis shoes and white socks.WARNING:  DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!  Remember, we are professionals and this controlled tree fall should only be done as a last resort.

There was a happy ending – tree stand securely fixed, tree positioned upright, only a few non-essential ornaments broken, and in the end the tree was beautiful.  Here are the photos from today’s tree fun.

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Glittery Glimpses

Much too busy with untangling tinsel, decking the halls, taking way too many Tylenol Arthritis pain formula, long days and late nights…you get the picture.  So all you’re going to get is a little glimpse of the holiday sparkle created over the past week.

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Yesterday we had a new friend helping us named Beau. Of course he’s a Louisiana puppy. All he needed was a big red bow!

There’s Snowplace Like Home

Not much time to post because it’s so late and I have to be up in a few hours to hit the road again decorating more trees.  But I wanted to post a few pixs of my snowman tree.  It’s the first time I’ve changed it from what I normally do with reds and golds.  I was ready for something whimsical and fun for my grandkids and the kid in me.  Enjoy!

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