I have not written on this blog in a long while! I am getting ready to do some interesting things to my home though, so I thought I'd get this up and running again. I'm starting by showing you some cute little stockings I made for this last Christmas. It was so much fun to see and hear the excitement when the kids (and adults) saw them as they came in. They loved them!

 If you are a fan of Sesame Street you will recognize the Yip Yips. These can be used for stockings, or for hanging up to store little socks or blocks or any other small items. I made them to use as stockings and then sent them home with the kids to use as they please.

They are made with Bernat Blanket yarn they crochet up quickly. I made nine of these in a week and a half! They are easy to do while watching Christmas specials on TV. The pattern is free on Ravelry and you can see it here: Yip Yip Stockings

Christmas Decorating...White Christmas!

 We've had snow...for the first time in a long while, 

we are having what feels like a good old midwestern winter!

 I've been doing some decorating. I started the weekend after Thanksgiving but have moved slowly getting the decorations up.

 I pretty much keep the mantle the same, but add greens and some starfish and a Santa. That Santa holds a list and when ever new children are born in the family, I had their names to the list.

 An old plastic Santa on the porch.

 The cushions on the glider are very summery, so I covered them with an old, rather tattered, quilt. 

 Come on in!

Here's the house on a cold snowy night. I have the tree up now, so I'll take a few more pictures soon.

Looking like Christmas!

A few years ago I bought a small artificial tree. I like it fine, but I miss the charm of a real tree. We always had a real tree while the kids were growing up. Next year if it fits in the budget, I will have a real tree. There are lots of lights on this little tree!

 Looking into the dining room. There is only one electrical outlet in the dining room..and that is it by the window. So I've been putting garland up with lights, otherwise it's kind of dark.

My tree has no theme other than "ornaments collected through the years." I especially love the ones made by my kids.

 The pictures on the mantle are of the kids and of my grandparents on the beach when they were young.

The mantle is a mix of lots of things. The little elf on the right is always decorating something every year...sometimes the mantle, sometimes the bathroom mirror, sometimes the tree...

The nativity set is usually the first thing set up, and almost always on this buffet...so from year to year it doesn't look much different, but I still like it. Yes, found a way to run an extension cord around the corner for some lights on this too.

Here is the outside. I got that little Christmas tree at a friend's garage sale. It's rusty iron..I love it, and just threw a bunch of lights on it. I'm not crazy about the those blueish icicle lights...I like the warm white lights better. Next year I hope to figure out how to put the big colored lights along the roofline. I have all the lights on timers. I was so glad that this house has some outdoor outlets!