Christmas Photo Overload

I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas, I know we did. Although it was a bit of a whirlwind with having the boy's birthday party on the 22nd. It was actually nice to take a bit of a break from cooking & cleaning yesterday. All the chaos even caught up with Aubs by Christmas day, she was clearly cranky while opening presents. She doesn't really get the whole opening presents bit yet. I know most kids have it down by her age but she could really care less, which I guess is kind of a good thing.

On Christmas Eve we went to my mother in-laws for a big Italian feast. My favorite thing that she cooks every year is shrimp and lobster fra diavolo and rice balls- so freaking good! The food was definitely amazing but the highlight of the evening was my father in-law dressing up as Santa.

This was the first time he had done this but I'm sure it is going to be a tradition. Being his first time, there were a few hiccups. They don't have a fireplace so he decided to come out of the attic door in the garage instead. He was suppose to tap the trap door with his foot to get the kids excited but he accidentally hit it too hard, breaking out the frame and sending it crashing to the ground. No one was standing underneath, thank God or else there would have been a Christmas Eve hospital visit. The other slip ups were minor in comparison. A little gum stuck in Santa's beard, fake wire frames making it hard to read the night before Christmas & the names on the presents, a bell left behind and a few adults making the mistake of calling "Santa" Bert. I'm sure he will have it down by next year but it was all a ton of fun and the kids loved it.




Relaxing at Nanny's the day before Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Three in Red
Joe, his mom & his step-dad




Doodle's gorgeous dress- I only managed to get pics from behind.
I might have to dress her up again and get some good ones


Stuffing Santa (that sounds kinda dirty, no?)


"What's that noise?"

Santa!!!!!

















Our tree on Christmas Eve
Don't worry all the presents aren't for Aubs.
Both sets of my husband's parents brought their presents for everyone over


We set up her kitchen so it would be the first thing she saw in the morning

Christmas Day









We had everyone over to our house for dinner and to open presents. I made my best lasagna to date!




Olivia is a big deal in our house
All Olivia- all the time






New chair- thanks Nanny

Christmas was an overall success!
My only regret is that I need to take more pictures of everyone involved.
We have a big family and only about 25% is represented.

Merry Christmas

Wishing Everyone a Safe & Happy Holiday!

I Know Him!

My Sister In-law and I took Aubs to see Santa this morning
The Hubs and I tried on two other occasions but the lines were outrageous
I though she was going to totally lose it but I really want a yearly picture with Santa

She did better than we expected
She cried but nothing crazy
I think the real reason she was crying was because we just took her out of the stroller and she wanted to walk
Not sit on some old fat guy's lap

The picture that we ended up getting was her chewing pretzels
but I still think it's cute



Last Year's Picture



I am linking up with the hilarious Mandy over at Harper's Happenings
Head on over to see everyone else's Santa photos

New Traditions

As a lot of you know I didn't grow up in Florida
I grew up in the Pocono Mountains in North Eastern Pennsylvania
I moved to Florida when I was 19 because I transferred from Philadelphia University to the University of Tampa

With that said, my holidays growing up were very different from mine now
Obviously there is no snow, so a white Christmas is out of the question
Along with all other things that require snow such as sledding, snow forts, skiing, snowball fights and the list goes on.

Most of my life and all of my young life I had identified the holidays with cold blustering wind and snow
Now those ideas need to change, especially now that I have a daughter that needs to have her own Christmas traditions and ideas
Florida is a clean slate
There is no family past here, just the life that we are creating now

Some of the traditions that I plan on carrying on are pajamas on Christmas eve, baking way too many Christmas cookies and driving around to look at everyone's lights
Some of the new ones that we have started are decorating the day weekend after Thanksgiving, big Christmas breakfasts and visiting the local parks over the top Christmas light displays

Do you have any new traditions that you have started with your family?
or
Do you stick with ones that you hold dear from the past?

A Very Vegas Christmas

I have only ever been in Las Vegas in December
Which means when I am there it is always decked out for the holidays

I might be disappointed if I go any other time of the year, hhhmmm?


Bellagio






Caesar's Palace


New York New York




The Venetian


If that doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit than I don't know what will
A giveaway for a beautiful necklace, perhaps?
Enter Here

Linking up with my usual lovely wordless Wednesday ladies
The Paper Mama, Baby Baby Lemon, and then, she {snapped}, Parenting By Dummies and Jenni from the Blog

DIY: Bell Tree

Are you sick of my all my foam tree DIYs?
Too bad- here's another one
I'm pretty sure it's going to be my last but no promises
This tree is pretty much the same as the ornament tree except there is no lip to press into the cone so you will be using a whole lot more hot glue this time



Here's what you need:
A foam cone
Hot glue gun with plenty of glue sticks
Gold spray paint or match whatever color your bells are
Lots of small bells I used a little over 100 on a 13" cone




The first thing you are going to do is spray paint your cone so that any visible gaps will match your bells.
Than you cut the strings off of your bells if they have them.
The quickest way is too line them up on your scissor's blade and snip



Now- the fun part
You are going to completely cover your cone in bells with hot glue
I started at the top of my cone and worked my way down going in circles
I found this to be the easiest way without having a ton of gaps
Once you are done remove any hot glue strings that may have formed

That's it- another super simple yet gorgeous holiday decoration

DIY Glitter Tree

This DIY Glitter Chirtmas tree is super simple to make
If you have kids over 3 at home it would probably be a great project to do with them
It can get a bit messy so make sure to have your dust buster near by



What you need:

A foam cone
Gold or Gold Glitter spray paint (or whatever color your glitter is)
Mod Podge
Glitter- I use gold but feel free to use whatever you have on hand
An old paint brush



The first thing you do if spray paint your cone
I do this so if there are any spots that don't get good coverage, you won't be able to tell

Always spray paint in a well ventilated area or outside
If you are doing this project with kids you will probably want to do this part yourself
I let my cone dry outside overnight so that there aren't any fumes when I get to work



Working in small sections, coat your cone with mod podge using your paint brush
Once you have a small section coated, generously sprinkle on glitter over a paper plate or piece of thick paper
Wait about 30 seconds and then shake excess glitter on to your paper plate

Continue doing this by going around the cone and then working your way down until the cone is completely covered in glitter.

Let cone dry for about and hour and shake any excess glitter off.

You are now ready to use it as a decoration
If you'd like you can also spray a clear coat on cone to better hold the glitter
I will probably do this before packing it away at the end of the season