Christmas Comes to Our House

Come on in, y'all!

The entryway...

Our Christmas card wreath just waiting to be filled...

The living room is filled with a variety of items, but front and center is the nativity.  No matter what else is put out, this comes out every year.

Christmas villages on two half walls...

And a lighthouse on the trunk...

There are carolers on the mantel...

And a few more with their piano player on the stereo...

There are three tall wise men on the dining room table.

And even some pretty dishes in the china cabinet.

The kitchen is filled with gingerbread men and women!

Including a village on the shelf by the sink.

I even brought out my Christmas dishes this year...

Snowmen, snowmen, snowmen in the family room!

Now let's head up the stairs...

Halfway up, on the landing, is another village but this one is a little different - it's Bethlehem!  I love this one.  I created "mountains" out of thin cork...

The mantel in the master bedroom.

And a giant angel in the guestroom.  She lights up the night!

One final look at the living room from upstairs.

Have you decorated yet?  Whole house or just the living room?

P.S.  I haven't bought any new decorations in years and many of these items were gifts.  It takes a long time to get a Christmas house ;)

Jet Lag, Domestic Recovery, Fall Envy, and Puzzle Prayer Time

I have several things to blog about that will take a bit more thought, but I wanted to pop in today with just a few short thoughts:

We flew home on Friday night.  Les needed to be in the office the entire day on Friday, so we took the red eye, leaving Honolulu at 11:10 p.m. and arriving in Los Angeles at 7:40 a.m.  Those flights are painful!  I think I slept off and on for about an hour and Les got about a 20 minute catnap.  We crashed as soon as we got home, spent Saturday afternoon unpacking and, unfortunately for Les, repacking.  We were in bed by 9:00 (6:00 Hawaii time) and slept straight through until our alarm went off at 5:30 Sunday morning.  Les had to fly three more time zones east for a conference in Philadelphia this week.  So while I'm dealing with a three time zone difference, he's dealing with six!  I got a text from him this morning letting me know he had won a drone, so it wasn't all in vain!

After getting Les off to the airport, Sunday was filled with church with a nap sandwiched between services.  Pastor White preached two fabulous message and Sunday night's was off the charts!  I finally made it to the grocery store yesterday, along with the dry cleaners.  Today is Domestic Recovery Day Two while I clean house and do laundry.  I don't have too much laundry since I washed all our clothes in Hawaii on Friday morning before we packed. 

While I'm cleaning, I'm trying to decide if I want to bring out my Fall/Thanksgiving decorations.  I usually do this mid-September, but we were gone.  It has been in the 90s every day since we got home, so it's hard to get motivated.  Maybe I'll put them out by faith!  I've yet to have pumpkin spice anything.  I'm envious of those who are enjoying beautiful 40 degree Fall mornings, but won't be when 40 is their high in a few months!

Finally, if you have not read the latest post on The Ballestro Blog, you need to!  It's one of the neatest, sweetest posts ever!  Click here now!

Precious Moment #02162001

Ten years ago this month, God blessed Les and me to be able to move into our current house. We had lived in the townhouse that Les bought before we met, but definitely wanted more space. I do not take it for granted that we were able to buy our house just before the housing market took off. Only God could have done it like that - it's beautiful the way it all unfolded!


Here's what it looked like when we moved in....


If you were following along in 2009, you know we completely redid the exterior to look like this:


It's a wonderful place to put your feet up and enjoy a toasty fire...


Of course, we've also had this kind of fire...


Our faithful Saturn moved in with us and shares the garage with numerous bicycles...


My favorite room is our living room. Les did this:



He designed and installed all the white woodwork and lighting. He's amazing!