. christmas with the moore's .

. our family christmases are usually spread about a week before or week after christmas and rarely do we have anything specific to do on christmas eve or christmas day, but this year was different . my family got together on christmas eve at nate and tenille's for my moms side of the family . dad read the christmas story, which is tradition, one i'm thankful for .

. any my crazy brother (the shorter of the two), well, they're both crazy, but in this case aaron wasn't expected to be at our christmas and hadn't been in a while, so it was wonderful to have him . we got tons of photos to prove he made it .

. grandparents and grandkids .

. and me trying to get a pic with everyone in it . done . good ? not so much .

:)

. this was the best part of getting our photo taken was watching all the cameras trying to get it .

. mom giving out kisses for christmas .

. aaron's getting ready for it .

. the 5 of us . haven't had a shot like this in years .

. me and my home boys . for real .

. good times .

. thankful tenille hosted this year, thankful for my family and the love we share .

(all photos taken with my p&s as i had too much to carry without taking that too)

. evening in the office .

. trying out a new lens and snapped this photo . have i mentioned how much i love my office ?

. tomorrow my work is going to consist of putting together a veggie tray, cutting up fruit, scrubbing the shower, making a batch of cookies and a family christmas tomorrow afternoon . tired, going to bed .

. on target .

. last week i felt behind, especially when i realized it was 10 days til christmas ! it's amazing what just getting them wrapped will do . i realized i only had 1 more gift that i needed, and picked that up yesterday, so now to wrap that and a few others that the hubs has come up with and we're ready .

. it's this week ! how did that happen so fast ?

. wintertime .

. looking at what i had in my cart today i realized winter has hit . kleenexes, emergen-C, de-icer, snow shovel (and things not seen here), oranges and salt for sidewalks .

. here we go, and it's not officially winter yet .

. christmas in the country .

. so, i've rebelled plenty against my small town/country roots -when it comes to decorating that is . i've always liked a bit more of a modern look, with simple, clean lines . i still do . but over time, between coming into who i really am and comfortable with that, i've definitely embraced the country life . not to mention i live in an old farm house, on a farm and am married to a farmer . and i love all three . although, you'll not find any borders on my walls with bird houses on them . but if that's what you love, do it ! i'm all about loving your space . anyway, that to say i've decorated for christmas this year and it seems very country to me, although i tried keeping things a little modern with simplicity . now, don't confuse this with primitive...oh never mind, this gets all complicated ! but there is a difference in my mind .

:)

. here's my christmas decor last year . wanted to do something different this year with the living room all rearranged, so went with my small trees .

. the saturday after thanksgiving while stuart and ellie were here we set these trees up and put the same ornaments on them i had at the studio, i have to say they weren't terribly interested in decorating it (i did most of it) and when it was done it did nothing for me (might have to do with the fact that i've looked at and photographed it for the last month), so i stripped the trees down and started over . so this year, plaid and glass is where it's at . and i didn't have to buy a thing .

. used all glass ornaments from my gold and silver tree days . and that is not bats and a ball under the tree, it's wrapping paper and a cute lil felt christmas ball .

. and yes, my favorite throw makes it back into this room . what room in my house does this thing not work in ?! i love that thing ! i got a new throw too, another gift :) you're going to love it . i'll share soon .

. and where more glass comes in . i used a similar arrangement for fall here . this season cranberries and then pine cut from the trees outside .

. the dining room .

. how about you, are you all decorated ? is your style still evolving or is it consistent ? i'd love to see pics of your decor too . if you're a FB friend, post some pics and tag me in them so i'll see them !

:)

. the gift that keeps on giving .

. nebel's know how to give gifts ! steve has proven this time and time again . this time it wasn't steve though . it was his brother, david and his wife, desiree . des and i talked about these awesome machines last year when she was here over the holidays and how cool it would be to have one .

. last friday morning after coming home from my 3 photo shoots, the day after thanksgiving -when christmas was just getting into full swing, this was plugged in and ready to go . next to it, coffee and a sweet card . as if getting it wasn't enough, having it all filtered through the first water cycle, plugged in with hot water ready to make me a fresh cup of decaf coffee . they thought of everything ! i love it, and at this point am drinking far more coffee than normal, i assume this will slow down once the new wears off .

:)

! thanks david and des !

. come on over and i'll share my gift with you . see, it keeps on giving .

. hj club party .

. at our november meeting the ladies were reminiscing about costume parties years and years ago that were so much fun . at the time i was racking my brain to see what i could come up with for us to do for club at my house at the next meeting . it just seemed the thing to do, even though we were technically a month late for costume parties . the ladies jumped on board and here you have it . we were missing a few that i know would have also had some great outfits . you saw my outfit, now for everyone elses .

. we had a nurse .

. a cowgirl, who won best costume . she was so cute .

. an old fart .

. janet who came as janet ready to go to bed .

. and rosamond just wore her favorite dress, which meant a lot to her because of the plaid and how it symbolized her family's heritage .

. and a christmas clown, i think . not quite sure what darlene was, but she was festive . i loved it .

. a hawaiian girl, although no dancing for us . :(

. and a clown .

. cute lil pilgrim, who won second best costume .

. and then again with my costume . my 50's housewife get-up, which i felt appropriately fit the the club because these ladies were all housewives in the 50's !

. somehow i didn't get an individual photo of our scarecrow sitting in the front row, second from the right . she is my wonderful co-hostess and was so very thoughtful not to stuff herself with hay just for the sake of my house ! :)

. they were worried that we wouldn't all get in the shot . go, go gadget arm .

. joann and i talked of making this an annual tradition . we'll see .

:)