I dreamt of a white Christmas...

Well I dreamt of a white Christmas and woke up to this
Originally uploaded by elletrain

...and I got one! Our Christmas was so lovely here in NW Arkansas. There was a beautiful snow that started on Christmas Eve and was just enough to cover the landscape with a few perfect inches. We woke up to a gorgeous sunny white Christmas!

It has been a lovely time with family and friends and food and fun. Beautiful gifts were exchanged and quality time was spent together. We have this one last day here before we head back to Nashville tomorrow. A movie and dinner with my family tonight. Today we're going to go pick up my new iPhone from my sweetie :) We've enjoyed playing his Rock Band game I gave him and have had a blast spending time playing it with my brother (who is actually in a rock band.)

I sure love this time of year and get really sad when it's over, but thank goodness for New Year's Eve and some fun plans on the horizon that night. We'll be spending it with dear friends in East Nashville. Have a blessed New Year and enjoy the rest of the holiday season!!!

Pinky's scarf and the Titans

Pinky's scarf
Originally uploaded by elletrain

So I finally knit something for Pinky! I finished his scarf on Sunday just in time for the Titans game. We got lucky and received free tickets from his boss. We are 3-0, Pinky and I are, for at home wins that we've gone to. I think we're really turning this team around :) Ha.

Brent and Amanda joined us for the game and Amanda brought her hat I made her for Christmas last year. She looks so lovely in it! We had a fun time and saw the Titans to another win.

This week is filled with finishing Christmas shopping, wrapping lots of gifts, keeping track of which are done, which are wrapped, which stay in Nashville and which go to Arkansas. Whew. I didn't think so before, but I really do have a large family and lots of people to buy/make for. That's ok though...I love giving gifts!!!


We're off to my grandmother's house in East Arkansas this Saturday and then on to my home, Bentonville, on Sunday for a whole week! I love getting to go home for more than a few days. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. I may be checking in throughout the next week or so, but if not, Happy Happy!!!

xoxoxox

Trees and sequins

Here is our lovely Christmas tree...I have had loads of fun decorating it this year with birds and butterflies and sparkly fruit! Those birds better not eat the fruit 'til after Christmas though or else. Plus I don't know if birds should be eating sparklies anyway.


How to add some fullness to an otherwise thin-ish tree?? Gold-dipped flowers of course! I learned that from my mom. She always has a really tall, really lovely tree with giant poinsettias all over it. So beautiful.

Here is a fun, but time-consuming, ornament project. They turn out really beautifully but they do take a while to make. I'd suggest watching Season 3 of Buffy while making them and the time just flies! Yes, killing vampires is definitely festive.



All you need are: styrofoam balls, sequins, sequin pins (they're shorter!), and ribbon. Place the sequins all over the ball, overlapping them so you don't see any of the white styrofoam. My lovely friend Jill made some last week and I loved them! I put one on my mom's package because I know she loves sparkly things and will appreciate the sequins. Don't give these to anyone that doesn't like a little sparkle. That's the rule!

Where I want to live and catching up

Well, I have been out of it for a while and not so great at posting. But, you will be excited about this post. I'm really just reposting something from Design*Sponge, one of my most favorite blogs. This is the home of Elise Vaughn, an Aussie now living in Idaho. She opened a vintage boutique there. Don't you just adore her colors in her home? I wish I could have a turquoise couch!!! Ours is tan :(

And I LOVE her headboard too! This has been my year of yellow and this is such a happy rich yellow color. Maybe if I contact her she'll just let me stay there for a few days for some inspiration!!
Here's a link to the full article on Design*Sponge:

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/11/sneak-peek-elise-vaughn.html

So, I'm finally winding down my Christmas knitting. I think I'm almost done. I have one pair of fingerless gloves left to make and that's it! I've actually been knitting so fervently that I've almost injured my left shoulder and have to go more often to the chiropractor/massage therapist!! There are worse things than massages to HAVE to have done often though. I just need my strength back because I still have the knitting fever! I went through a slump earlier this year, so I'm trying to take full advantage of this urge to knit 24/7.

What have you been making as Christmas gifts? Don't you just love being able to create things for people? It's so gratifying in so many ways. Here are a few gifts I've made this year (can't tell you who they're for in case they read this!!)