Merry Christmas!



Wishing each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year! May you all have such a memorable and joyous time with your family and friends at this special time of year! Be blessed friends and see you in the new year!

A Social Network Christmas

We watched this video this morning in church. It's a what the nativity story would look like if it were played out in a modern day social network. I have to admit that it made me cry a couple of times as I relived emotions of being pregnant with Aubrey at this time last year. She was born four days before Christmas so feeling those emotions and watching my own pregnancy play out on facebook made this video really hit home for me. Watch it - it's pretty interesting!

Merry Christmas...A Little Early!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Who's thinking Christmas cards? Believe it or not, we are. I subscribe to a few photography studios on Facebook and weeks ago they were promoting their holiday portriat packages. And just last week we took Aubrey for a promotional shoot to show off new backgrounds for one of those studios. The time is upon us!

Shutterfly has heard us, ya'll!

I'm so excited to share with you their Holiday 2011 line of cards. Wow, can we talk about a plethora of choices? Seriously, there were over 900 holiday cards alone! The awesome thing is that you can also order thank you cards, Christmas cards, greeting cards...and on and on.

A few Christmas cards that jumped out at me .....

How will I choose?? Seriously....


Shutterfly has been super gracious and is offering up three of my readers 25 holiday cards! Isn't that great?! Honestly, that's just one expense you won't have to worry about. And who needs one more expense at Christmas? I'm so excited to give away codes to three of you!

All you need to do is be a follower of my blog and then head over to Shutterfly and pick out your favorite card. Hop on back here and tell me what it is. Easy, peasy! I'll draw the winner in a week!

Our Window Boxes

I've said it before - and I'll say it again.
My home lacks curb appeal.


The goal this summer was to up the curb appeal ante of this house and getting it looking cute on the outside. The plan was to put in flower beds, a veggie garden, trim trees (maybe take a few down - we have GIANT pine trees that are overtaking our yard), paint the house, trim, deck, and garage door. There were also plans to perhaps change a few windows and add some much needed trim around the front door. A lofty list of plans but all pretty much very doable.


And then I found out I was pregnant.

And most of all of this had to be put on the back burner. Me teetering on a ladder scraping and painting my house isn't really an option for a pregnant momma. Let alone really doing any painting at all. *sigh* I thought the plans went out the window.


But then enter my mother-n-law.


She thinks we need some curb appeal just as much as I do and has gladly offered to help with that task. She's been spear heading the idea of painting the house and upping the cute quotiant at ol' Casa Cresswell. Thank the good Lord for her. She's the best mother-n-law!

Recently I saw this photo - and my heart skipped a beat a little.

I needed window boxes! Well, not so much as need - but definatly wanted.



My mother-n-law loved the idea too and helped me plan how we would execute the plan. Then, a couple of Sundays ago, we went and she purchased all of the supplies for the window boxes. I'll repeat that - she bought ALL of the supplies for the window boxes. Including the boxes themselves. What a blessing!! Like I said, she's the best!

We decided to go with dark purple petunias. They are 'wave petunias' and are sort of "drapey". There are ten individual pots here.

We also got light purple regular petunias for a filler inbetween the wave petunias. It's the hope that this will fill in more of the spaces where the other wave petunias are "drapey". There are about 32 individual little plants here.

We purchased five of these coconut lined window boxes.

This is our bedroom window before. Ugh, it makes me want to hang my head. See that crumbly brick and chippy paint? In fact, while hanging the boxes, some of the brick actually did crumble to the ground!

Here is my father-n-law putting in some of the window boxes. This is for our living room window. Please ignore all the wayward grass below the boxes - we had just removed some dying bushes and a big pile of rocks.

Rocky road.

All installed and watered.

Do you see me waving in the window? I stood outside without makeup and my hair in a towel the whole time these were being installed. I was just way too excited to care!

These may need a bit more soil to raise them up a bit. They have also filled out quiet nicely - and it's only been since Saturday since they have been installed. I'd love to show you a picture today but it has been raining here the past few days.

One thing that got me VERY excited was when my mother-n-law told me that I could decorate the boxes for the Fall and Winter! I hadn't even thought of that! And truly, it made me just giddy! I've collected a few photos for inspiration. Let me share them with you.

 

Christmas Decor 2009

Welcome to our home! We live in Ontario, Canada so we've got plenty of snow. My hubby shoveled the porch for you, so please, come on in!




We'll head into the living room. Please feel free to take a peek around.

I bought this snowman at a craft show this past September. I couldn't wait to set him out this season. He's the first decoration that I put out.

I stiched these homespun hearts and stars for a craft show my sister-n-law and I did a month ago.

I collect fruit jars - here is one of my Canadian crown jars filled with candy cans. I bought it at a yard sale this summer for $1.00. One man's trash surely is my treasure!

We'll head on over to our den. This is a room that has been "in progress" for quiet some time now. I finally have the room painted. I'll completely finish decorating it in the new year. In the meantime, I set out some garland on our fireplace. Twisted in the garland are twinkle lights and some beaded pinecone garland I scooped up at Michael's for $2.38! Gotta love a good deal!

This is the "dog" Christmas tree. My hubby and I love dogs - we raise and train English Springer Spaniels. So, I thought it was only appropriate that we put together a "dog tree".

This fall, my sister's and I made these stockings. We created our own pattern, stiched them up and attatched some buttons and jute to hang. I just love the red and white mattress ticking!

Okay, let's head back to the living room. This is the "Joy" tree. It's decked out in silver balls, tiny glittered snowflakes, silver stars and mini-candy canes. I also added twinkle lights and raffia. I'm loving the combo of raffia and twinkle lights this year!

Besides collecting fruit jars, I also try and collect white pitchers. I don't have too many so far, but it is fun to be on the hunt for them. Here are some in my collection.

Have I also mentioned how I am really loving candy canes this year too??

My sister-n-law, Sarah, and I make hand painted wooden signs. Here is one of our Christmas themed ones.

This is the lastest addition to my living room - my ladder mounted on the wall. If you've been around my blog at all, you may have noticed this guy in a few photos. He's finally on the wall where I have wanted him all along. I plan on painting him black as it blends a little too much with the wall and my couch. But for now, I'm just thankful it's there! Here it is decorated for Christmas.

This small tree is next to the couch. It sits upon a Canada Dry crate. I bought it because my hubby is Canadian and he loves to drink the stuff. I won't touch it with a ten foot pole.

I just love the look of Christmas balls in a hurrican vase. The white stuff is salt.

I just loooove penguins. As goofy as it sounds, it is my favorite word. They are just such cute little guys! My father-n-law bought me the two penguins that are kissing my first Christmas as a married gal. Last year, I received the smaller penguin and the tiny tree.

The photo is pretty fuzzy - my camera is on it's last leg - but here is our Christmas tree! There is nothing like sitting in the living room with the tree just a twinkeling, curled up watching a Christmas movie with my honey and our puppies.

A penguin ornament from my mom-n-law. She buys us each an ortament every year. It's such a great tradition that I hope to do for my children one day.

We've skipped on down the hall to our bedroom. I added the little wreath to the horse's neck. He asked so politely, you know.

Thank you so much for stopping by my little neck of the blogging woods. I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Now head on over to thenester.com to check out so many other amazing Christmas decorations! It's the Christmas Tour of Homes!