Sunday, December 20, 2009

I've Turned The Christmas Corner

As I described here I suffer from a yearly holiday phenomenon in which I dread the holidays.  To someone who enjoys exactly 0.00 things on her To Do list on any given day it seems daunting, over-whelming and unappealing.  Now, WHY do I want to have to go shopping?  Tell me again how all this ::waving around at plastic Santa Clauses, flashing Christmas lights and a stack of catalogs that have recently come in the mail:: relates to my life in general and Christ's birth?  Why do I want to drag a bunch of stuff out of the basement only to have to put it all away again in a month?

Yes.  I was that person.

But, alas, as described HERE the other part of this phenomenon is that eventually I do come around.  And I come around hard.  This year is no exception.  I'm almost to the point where I never want it to end.  Everyday I'm thinking of a new goodie to make/bake.  I became giddy as I packaged up presents and dropped them in the mail OR carefully chose them from a website and clicked the "Make Purchase" button (which was 90% of my shopping, btw). 

I also loved decorating the house & seeing my kids get more and more excited as I finished each area.  Here are some pictures of The Holidays Around the Landersons:







(Local peeps: Do any of you know anyone with an embroider machine that can do Beebs' name on that stocking up there?  Yeah, I got these before she was born.  I neeeeeeed to fix this before I forget about it until next year.  Again.)

And some of my FAVORITE Christmas sites around the house?

Finished, addressed and stamped Christmas cards!



Oodles of festive Pretzel Hugs!




  Seeing those oodles of Pretzel Hugs packaged up & ready to deliver to friends & neighbors!
 

My new favorite thing I started doing this year was putting up my Christmas cards around my entry way mirror.  Before I'd just get them, read them, love them & then stick them in a basket by the door.  But NOW??  A friggin' work of art. Srsly.


(Note: several more have been added since I took this photo a few days ago.  It's now filled & I'm having to stick them on the mirror itself.  It brings a tear to my eye.  I'm not kidding.)

I also love putting up the ornaments on the Christmas tree.  So many memories are in these ornaments.  Sentimental value up the yin-yang, people.  Growing up, my mom would give us all an ornament every year.  She labeled it with our name and they year we got it.  When I got married, she gave me all my ornaments from over the years so Gty & I would have some ornaments for the tree.

This one is the oldest one I could find.  It was given to me by my Grandpa Jeppson in 1978.  I love that it's his handwriting on the tag too:






I love this one from 1983.  My mom made it, of course.



And I have many others spanning the years from 1978 to 1996 when I married Gty and "got off the payroll" as my Dad liked to call it.  I love getting them out each year and figuring out how old I was when I got them.

Then there are some more recent ones which melt my heart each time I get them out of the ornament box.  They are, of course, the ones made by the boys in preschool and have their pictures on them.



Wook at dat 4 year old!!  Cutest senior-pictures-chin-rest-pose ever.

And....be still my heart...



A two year old TBone.
I stare this little squirt for at least 10 minutes every Christmas ::staring at this picture of a picture cuz I can't help it::

Beebs is bugged there are not ornaments with her picture on them.  I'll have to fix that this year.

And, since last year, no Christmas will ever be complete again until this bad boy gets put in the tree.



I hope you all are enjoying the holidays. Coming up on my baking/cooking/making list.... Magic Cookie Bars, Anita's Famous Orange Rolls (I had to go to a class to learn how to make those puffs from heaven), wassail, Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies, my Best Sugar Cookies, Peppermint Bark (Costco is all out now--booooo) and probably a banana cream pie (just cuz I'm in the mood).

So, if you see a person on the street who looks kinda like me but is a good 20-30 lbs. heavier just wave and act like nothing's changed.  It's just easier.


11 comments:

StandsMom said...

I sparkly Christmas heart you. I'm so excited that now you're excited. (Wondering why I haven't tried Anita's rolls, the magic cookie bars, or the chocolate candy cane cookies.)

Your pictures were so lovely, that now I want to shine my house up all neat and tidy and take pictures too. And, maybe I should have a better attitude about the old sentimental ornaments, but really - I don't have any of my own. They're all Bri's from when he was a kid. I do know someone who can do your embroidery. I'll email you. 98% sure she can match the font too.

eekareek said...

That last picture is a gem! You have fancy Christmas decor! My broken Walmart village is looking kinda stupid right now and that picture of T-Bone made me cry too. His "pre-snuggie" years. You probably had no idea what was in store for you at that point.

Flem said...

Wow this looks really classy. I guess I am not surprised, you are really good at that decorating stuff.

Nicely done Tiff.

Memzy said...

If you don't email me that orange roll recipe pronto ...I'm disowning you!!!

And I never quite got in the picture taking mood this year. I really should have with my new house and all but....

ShelBailey said...

Your home is so CUTE and christmassy. I never really did get in the "mood" this year, someone probably needs to slap me and tell me to snap out of it. I did manage to get the tree up but that's it.

The "gang" pic is still on my fridge from last year. i couldn't put it away. i heart it big time, it makes me smile everytime I pass it.

Have a great Christmas!!!

Elder Jack Anderson said...

So the orange rolls might need to be a post in & of themselves. Like, Pioneer Woman style post with pics & stuff. You gize MUST have these at least yearly. If not quarterly.

Memz. Oh, you're not in the mood to take pics of the house? Well you better GET in the mood. As a matter of fact, I request everyone who reads this to post pics of their Christmas decor. I need to see stuff & glean good ideas in order to claim them as my own. Now, go.

Jenny said...

Beautiful Christmas decor! And, by the way, I loved your Christmas card. The turquoise theme is very, very cute.

Cristin said...

I love your Christmas decor and gave me great ideas...for next year...or sometime... It's people like you that make people like me all happy because we wouldn't think of these ourselves.

BTW, PW rocks and I love the way she dedicates pages to food so I'll be unpatiently waiting for the recipe and pics very soon...in fact...I'll wait right here....so get to it....right now...I'm waiting....

ManicMandee said...

I'm feeling that tear on my eye too to see my Christmas card made it upon your mirror frame as well. I had to click the image to make sure :)

Merry Christmas!

Carol said...

Tiffers, LOVED all the pictures. So, so, so pretty and cheerful and festive. It seems you've finally caught the decorating spirit. I'm taking pictures right now of my decor to share. BTW--this is the last year I'm putting up the outside lights by myself. . . .next year I'm paying a scout to do it. I'm firm on this issue.

E said...

We have the same stocking holders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twinerz.

How come yours still spells Santa, tho? We've had TANSA, SATNA, SATAN, and my personal fave, NASTA. It's tradition.

Your house is looking very Christmasy. Congrats.