Friday, December 25, 2009

It's Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you! On this day may you truly discover the greatest gift of all - Jesus Christ and His redeeming love.

I've had several people in my family and at church deal with some kind of sickness in the last couple of weeks and I've been praying for them to be completely well and not miss Christmas. The Bible says that, "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine" so here's a little medicine if you've been a little under the weather!

Merry Christmas and I'll see you back here after my husband and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary on New Year's Eve!




Saturday, December 12, 2009

Christmas Tour!

Welcome to "Praise Mountain"! Our home is a place of peace and joy and we welcome you to partake of the joy of Jesus Christ and all the love He has given. Be sure to go back to The Nesting Place and tour all the beautiful homes this season.




I've done my best to "theme" each little vignette I have around the house. Around the mantle are the nativity scenes. On the side table next to the loveseat are all my penguins. I have my snowmen gathered next stove and the Christmas simmering pot . My little Christmas cabin got the beautiful evergreen candles outside it's doors. And the kitchen and dining room are filled with the beauties of the outdoors - I have gorgeous Nandina bushes that give me all the wonderful red berries I can find a place for and lots of young cedar trees to nip the tops out of. Our tree has all the rustic and "outdoorsy" ornaments I've picked up and been given over the last four years I've been blessed to be in my own home.

I had a GREAT time at the November half/price Saturday at Goodwill. I can tell you that our Christmas decorations this year are very beefed up are from that one shopping trip! Be ready next year on the first Saturday of the month. I went in November but I think they start putting out Christmas decor in October.



Both snowmen here came from Goodwill...
The tall guy in the back there is actually made of octagonal boxes that stack on top of each other. It's a CUTE craft and I love that someone out there did it FOR me!!!




This is our kitchen window. I have a wonderfully deep window sill here and I fill it full of baskets and goodies. The birch bells hanging, my daily calendar up high in the window, the little puffy Christmas tree and the greenery filled basket all came from my November Goodwill half-price day extravaganza.






This little wreath is hanging on the support beam between our kitchen and living room. I surrounded it with my ribbon lights (one of my FAVORITE things). I'm going to use the wreath to tuck our Christmas cards into. You might not like me for saying this but I got this wreath, fully decorated... at Goodwill. I think it was about $3.






Can you tell I REALLY like pinecones? I only bring out the wax-covered green and red ones at Christmas but I keep the that large brown vase in the back full year round. I also keep that little copper scuttle full of them. They make for a great "frog" when decorating with all your faux flowers.


Umm, I got that massively wonderful print at Goodwill too... And two of my stockings... and those little wooden Christmas trees behind the nativity... I filled the gaps with tops out of the MANY baby cedar trees we have up here on the mountain.






Well, thanks for coming to our home! I hope you enjoyed the tour and sensed the peace of Jesus Christ. Check out some of the other links while you're here and remember to go back to Nester's and enjoy all the Christmas fun!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Start Snapping Some Pics!


--Our Christmas Tree From 2008--

Hey gals,

Get ready to show the blog world your beautiful homes on MONDAY with The Nester's Christmas Tour. Remember, this is just an opportunity to show how you make your home full of Christmas for your family so it doesn't matter if you go all out or just have a little. Bring all your Christmas joys and check out the instructions on how to link up this Monday!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

A New Day

Yesterday was a sad day. About 8:30 A.M. we learned that our great buddy Gus, our Great Pyrenees dog, had advanced bone cancer and would have to be put down. It was a total shock since Gus had no previous signs of illness at all. Right up until yesterday morning and even getting in the truck to go the the clinic he was his usual spunky self. We learned that the cancer had actually eaten a hole in his front leg bone and what we thought might have been a sprain or seasonal arthritis turned out to be a fatal sickness.

My husband and I wept yesterday. Gus was really my husband's dog since he had him before we ever met or married but the three of us were a family and it was a hard day.

But, today is a new day. Even in the short 24 hour period the memory is still fresh but is being replaced with happy thoughts of the goofy, lovable, laid-back pup known to those who loved him most as Gustafson Jones. We'll miss you pal - thanks for being a part of the family.