O' Christmas Tree

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree...

How lovely are your branches!

Ohhh I just love the Christmas season!

The pretty snow, gorgeous tree, smiley snowman and gingerbread decor that brings a smile to even the grumpiest face ♥

Here are some pics of Christmas decor in my home...

I'm bummed that my tree is so tall and my living room is too small that I can't get a good tall pic of the tree!

I love this pretty red and glittery tree skirt I found at Walmart this year for $10.

The cats love it too:(

They come out from under the tree, all covered in sparkley glitter, lil' stinkers!!

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Have you ever read a WHERE'S WALDO book?

Let's play Where's OSCAR?

Hehehe!

See him parked on the bookshelf!

Silly kitty; he's our new pet:)

We got him right before Thanksgiving and he's such a good kitty ♥

<3 Oscar ♥

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Some decor by the front door; I love that little white tree that was a GW find!

My mom said it had another piece to it to make it more 3D, but it wasn't with it when I bought it; I just love the silouette of it:)

These Christmas pieces were my Nanny's... a lot of the Christmas decor I have in my home was given to me when she passed away ♥ She truly was the heart of the Holiday season in our family.

This beautiful tree was a gift for my bridal shower, made by my moms best friend!

Isn't it wonderful?

She filled it with my fave, gingerbreads!!

This old record player was my grandparents; and every holiday my Nanny decorated it. So now in honor of her tradition I do the same in my home ♥

The big frame that our family pic is in came from TJ Maxx for only $5!

I love it!!

Funny story here...

Don't ya love the GHOST in our holiday decor? LOL
It belongs to my youngest son, Gage!

The ghost sings "Who's Watching Me" and he was almost in tears when I was gonna pack it away with the Halloween decor!

I keep sneaking it back on his bedroom dresser and he keeps bringing it out in the living room, haha!

The wooden pieces on the top shelf were made by my grandpa Poppy; he was such a talented woodworker ♥

Some things in the Kitchen; my boys love the penguins/snowman that sing...

my oldest Gavin made the snowman on the far right in preschool a few years ago, too cute!

Found these adorable gingerbread house placemats at KMart this year!!

I don't do a fancy table-setup because the kids just mess it all up; someday I will:)

Here's my hutch again, all dolled up for Christmas:)

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Soooo we got enough snow last night/this morning to have a SNOW DAY!!!!

Its my first official snow day as a Teacher, so exciting!

If we have school tomorrow, then I will work Tues, Wed, Thurs and start my Christmas vacation FRIDAY!!

Wooo hooo!!

Off till January 3rd:)

Thanks for visiting today ♥

Noelle

Christmas Scrapbook Giveaway!!

I love to give gifts this time of year, don't you?

My Christmas Giveaway will be for a darling Instant Christmas Scrapbook kit from Hallmark!

In it there is 20 designed and embellished pages, that are photo safe (acid and lignin free)

It also hads 10 top loading page protectors and a Caption Sticker sheet.

Makes a sweet gift, or a fun easy way to store your Holiday Memories this year:)

Here is what the front of the album looks like...

Here are a few of the cute pages inside...

*To win just leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about the Christmas Season!!*

For a second chance, let me know if you are a follower in a seperate comment!

I will choose a winner a week from Today on SUNDAY, DEC. 19th!!

P.S. I'm also gonna toss in a few other Christmas goodies, that will be a SURPRISE:)

Good Luck and Happy Holidays

Noelle ♥

Breakfast with Santa

Today was a nice family day!

We went to breakfast with Santa at Gavin's school then to church and our neices birthday party.

The boys and I dropped hubs off to work and ran to Target for some swap goodies:)

Breakfast with Santa was cute; they had pancakes, eggs and sausage to eat.

The kids got to visit with Santa and get their pics taken and also receive a treat!

Best of all... it was FREE!!

Gage was so excited to see Santa, I was surprised he wasn't being shy...

He was telling Santa how much he wanted a Toy Story 3 game and a Leapster...

(bless my mother in laws heart, she got him that for Christmas this year)

He preceded to tell Santa have the scenes from the Toy Story 3 movie, lol!!

I loved seeing his innocence and belief in Santa:)

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Now big brother Gavin was freaked about going up to Santa, at 9 years old!

He said he knew it wasn't the "real" Santa cause this "guy" wasn't CHUBBY enough, hahaha!

Gavin told Santa he wanted a Nintendo DSi XLarge...

Ok well that was NOT on his list that he gave me weeks ago, SO...

not sure how he's gonna feel on Christmas morning!

I've noticed he's changed his mind a few times on what he really wanted... sighhhh!

I guess thats part of him growing up and getting older?

I know that on Christmas morning, Gavin will be thankful for his gifts. He's a sweet boy ♥

Our church does a Giving Tree where you can choose a paper ornament off of it and purchase a gift for that person who is in need this holiday season. We chose 2 this year, one for a 19 year old girl who had wished for a hat, gloves, scarf or a makeup set; and a 6 month old baby boy, who wished for a musical toy or an outfit. Gavin offered me his $6 that he has saved to use towards one of the gifts ♥

What a way to make a parent smile!!

Seeing that you've taught your child to give, and they want to willingly do it, to give to someone less fortunate at the holidays!!

I loved that PROUD moment I felt today:)

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!

Hugs,

Noelle ♥

Candy Coated Topiary Makeover

While on my 4 day Turkey break from school last weekend; I played around with a Topiary Makeover that I have had in mind for sometime...

Here is the BEFORE Topiary that I had in my home, CUTE but I had a NEW idea for it...

I was thinking of something sweet, and candy coated for Christmas:)

So I ripped off the flowers and vines and came to find that it wasn't a styrofoam ball underneath...

It was that tiny green ball, so luckily I had a larger styrofoam ball on hand so I popped that baby on the stick.. and began to hot glue red and green candy gumdrops to the ball!

It took about 1 1/2 bags of gumdrops to cover the foam ball...

I decided to paint the pot green, wrap red sparkly tinsel around the stick then hot glue peppermint candies to the base for more sugary fun!

Here's the finished product...

So what do you think?

I love red and green- classic Christmas colors!!

I just need to find a spot to showcase this cutie in my home:)

Don't ya love the feeling of creating something, of your own idea?

Noelle ♥

Swap Update!

I'm so excited for my Stocking Swap!

I had 7 sweet gals sign up, not too big but thats ok with me:)

I cannot wait to start shopping for my partner Shana this weekend!!

Here are the other sweet ladies that joined...

Amy

Judy

Cathy

Wendy

Tammy

Melanie

Thanks again gals ♥

Sugary Sweet 'n Very CUTE ♥

Who loves to bake this time of year?

WE DO! WE DO!

Saturday the boys went to the cheap movie theater and saw Toy Story 3 again... love that movie!

We went shopping for winter boots for their ever-growing feet...

hoping snow will arrive soon:)

Then we came home and baked some of my fave cookies... GINGERBREAD!

And oh what a sugary sweet and very cute time we had...

Hehehe... here's my youngest decked out in his "cook" clothes as he called them!!

I found the chefs hat, apron and mitt on Ebay last year for like under $10 and had to get it!!

Here's my oldest darling creating a Santa beard full of frosting on his gingerbread man:)

He used lots and lots of sweet goodies to decorate his ♥

Hard at work...

Holy cow!

Thats one CAVITY filled cookie... lol!!!

Whats a guy to drink when he's eating cookies?...

 Too cute... he was pretending to drink "coffee"!

Gage's cookie with gumdrops

Here's my mr and mr gingerbread ♥

Hmmm... I asked them to smile and this is what I got... lol!!

Such a ham!!

Why is it when kids get older they don't want their picture taken much?

My oldest gives me grief about taking his pic sometimes:(

Little bro sure loves to ham it up for the camera!!

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Have YOU done any baking lately??

Noelle ♥

Thanksgiving Blessings ♥

Dear Friends,

I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all will be spending the day with your loved ones, and enjoying a delicious warm meal.

This year I am especially thankful for...

My husband and children,

my small family,

my JOB, even though its stressful- I have good pay and benefits to support my family,

my home,

food and clothes,

good friends...

Some things we take for granted, like simple things like food.

I've seen so many people on street corners holding signs lately that they are in need of work and food,

through tough times many people suffer.

I wish that every person on Earth could be warm and fed a wonderful meal on Thanksgiving.

If you can, drop some canned items off at your local shelter tomorrow to lend a hand to those in need.

Love to you all,

Noelle ♥