Christmas Break 2013: Part 1

Hello to all... I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and are looking forward to starting 2014. It's crazy to me that Christmas has already came and gone (along with my 9 days off work). I really enjoyed being home, I didn't rest much, we were too busy having fun. However, I was happy to sleep in until 8:30 most days. Some things on my break from work included: our Christmas in Kentucky with my family, seeing my friend Renee for lunch and shopping, trips to Abingdon on Christmas eve and Christmas day, and Brinley staying with us the weekend after Christmas. I've debated on whether I would write all of our Christmas related events in to one post, or if they would all be separate, but I'm still not sure... so, I'm writing until I feel like it, or I run out of time on my lunch break :)

Elkins Family Christmas
On 12/20/13 I was happy to see 4:30 come because it was the start of my break from work. I got home, we loaded the car and headed to Pikeville. On the way, we stopped to watch Brice play basketball. He had a great game. After the game, we stopped by the hospital to visit my grandpa. Our visit was short, as he was getting medicine and was hoping for sleep. We ended the night at my parent's house and were ready for bed shortly after getting there.
On Saturday, we had Christmas with my side of the family. My parents, siblings, sister in law, husband, we were all there. We exchanged gifts to each other and it was fun. And not to be too materialistic, but I was surprised with a Silhouette Cameo! If you are a paper crafter or vinyl cutter, you may know that this wonderful machine cuts paper, vinyl, and even fabric. I had a Cricut, but it has been giving me problems so I was ecstatic to see this gift that Preston and my parents got for me. So far I've personalized Chloe's dog food bowl, made a circle monogram for my phone case, and made cut outs for my 2014 planner... let the vinyl personalization madness continue! Anyways, where was I... Saturday afternoon we watched Brice at another ball game and then went home to make some goodies. A got dinner ready and my grandpa was released from the hospital in time for some Christmas dinner. Saturday evening after visiting, we headed home.
Sunday we had out children's Christmas program at church that we have been preparing for. Preston and the kiddos have worked very hard and it was great to see them on stage and have a successful program. Since we stayed between church times to practice on Sunday, Preston and I were pretty tired after the program and ended up just relaxing at home after it was over.

Visiting Renee
On Monday, my friend Renee and I planned to meet each other in Bristol, which is about half way for both of us. It was a good meeting place, and other than our terrible service at Cheddar's (shocker, I know, Cheddar's is usually the BEST), we had a great time together. We had lunch, picked up a few last minute gifts, roamed around the mall, and then it was time to head home. Our visit wasn't very long, but any amount of time with one of my best friends is great. If you are a praying person, please pray for Renee and her husband, as they are currently on a mission trip to Greece, thanks in advance!

Well, I think that's the end of this post, sorry for the abrupt ending, but lunch break is over and I'm getting back to work. Stay tuned for part 2, coming shortly!

Christmas Goodies

I don't know about you all, but I love making Christmas goodies. This week I tried a new recipe that was for cookie bars, the recipe is here . I liked this because it made a large amount and it is really tasty! We also made dipped peanut butter crackers... mmm. Next one the list that will hopefully get made this week is some cinnamon hard candy. My mom has always always always made cinnamon candy. I remember taking huge suckers (made out of the hard candy mixture that was put in different molds to shape them) to school. I'm not sure what else I'll make this year, I'm sure there will be more. What are your favorite Christmas goodies to make? Please share!

*it looks more green than yellow in person

Christmas Tag!

I was tagged by Laurie over at Disney n Diapers for this fun Christmas tag and decided to join in on the fun!

Questions:
1.What do you love the most about Christmas time? At Christmas, I love the decorations, the music, the movies, the gift giving, spending time with family, but I love the fact that it's a time where so many people recognize our amazing Savior and his birth... happy birthday, Jesus!

2. Do you celebrate the holiday in style or is Bah-Humbug for you? Is this about clothing or is this about our way of celebrating? For clothing, it's a casual style, usually jeans and a sweater/cardigan or something like that. If you mean way we celebrate Christmas, it's usually the traditional read Jesus' birth story, open gifts, and have dinner kind of day... not really a big party.

3. Are you leaving anything out for Santa Claus this year so he remembers to leave your presents? Santa at our house has already been getting Christmas treats, so if there are some that evening, they might get put out. Of course when I was growing up, it was a must.

4. What is the one gift you are most looking forward to GIVING? {It can be to your kids, another family member, etc – remember to be discreet if they read your blog!} I have a few different gifts that I am excited to see them open, but I think Brinley will love her gift!

5. What is your all-time favorite Christmas movie? "you're the the the.... THE GRINCH!" I love The Grinch with Jim Carey, but I also really LOVE Elf!

6. What is your all-time favorite Christmas song? This year I have really loved The Heart of Christmas by Matthew West. For more traditional, I like Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

7. If given the opportunity would you participate in an “Ugly Sweater” party and what sweater would you wear? Peruse one on the internet or even in your own closet and show us!
"You go Glen Coco!"

8. Have you started any Christmas traditions this year that you plan on carrying forward? We have decided to make a big breakfast this year and I'm sure we will continue to do that... we are going to family members' houses like usual, so that's a tradition.

9. It’s Christmas morning … what does it look like outside where you live? I like it like this, pretty snow, but clear roads :)

10. You just found yourself standing under the mistletoe … who comes up to give you a kiss first? We never have mistletoe, but I'm sure Brinley would pop one on my cheek just to be goofy.

& here are the lucky bloggers I will pass this lovely tag too.
Please remember you don't have to do the tag, but you are welcome to join in on the fun :)
Tracy @ Our Little Family of 6
 Brittney @ Razorback Britt
Emily @ Your Daily Dose of the Donaldsons
Ryan @ Loved and Lovely

Thanksgiving weekend continued/Christmas decorations

Happy Wednesday! Woohoo for half way to Friday! I am picking up where I left off with my last post and telling about the rest of our Thanksgiving break weekend.
On Saturday, we enjoyed sleeping in a while, it was SO nice! Our friends were going out of town and we were keeping their teenage daughters for the weekend, they came to our house around noon and that's when our Saturday fun began. I knew I wanted to decorate... and decorate we did! The past couple of years, Preston and I have only had space for a small tree since our town house did not have a lot of extra room for a large tree. Last year on Black Friday, we went to home depot and snagged up one of the artificial Christmas trees that are pre lit and can be either white or color lights. I was excited to purchase the 7.5 foot tree, but wasn't able to use it last year... so that was the first box of our Christmas "stuff" that I opened. This tree sits in our living room, right in front of our big window (which I love). The tree was incredibly easy to put together, much easier than other trees I have seen. Last year after Christmas I was also about to get a good deal on LED lights the day after Christmas, which was the perfect amount for our new tree. We debated for a while whether we wanted color or white lights on our big tree. The ornaments on this tree don't have a theme, it's more of a random tree with different ornaments that we've collected. This tree reminds me of the big Christmas tree my family had when I was younger, big, colorful, and full of random ornaments. While some people may think color lights are tacky, that's what we chose and I am glad we did! Our other two trees have white lights so the colors just make this tree fun! In our entry way, we have a tree as soon as you come in our front door. This is a new to us tree that Preston got at a church auction for just $15. We didn't have everything we needed for this tree, so the girls and I headed to Wal-mart to get a few things while Preston got the tree put together. This tree is quirky and a tad girly, but we thought it turned out really cute, especially Gabby (who helped me decorate everything). I love the bright colors it has. In our kitchen is where our 3rd and final tree is. This tree is small and is in a corner of the kitchen. It has a set of white lights, as well as a strand of s'more snowmen lights. Have you seen the s'more snowmen? I had got a nightlight that I thought was so cute and Preston's Nana happened to have a set of lights that were Preston's moms that were not used that matched it perfectly. These lights are special, which makes this little tree special. Right now there is only one ornament, a little skiing s'more snowman. While it may look funny with only one ornament, we are looking forward to collecting S'mores ornaments over the years and having this tree as our special little s'mores tree. After hours of decorating, we had some pizza for dinner and called it a night.
On Sunday, we went to church and then went to the theater to watch "Catching Fire". Whew, I don't do suspenseful movies and this was about all I could handle! It was a good movie and then we had church in the evening. We cooked spaghetti for dinner at home and watched another movie, this time, "Pitch Perfect".... crushed it [anybody recognize that line?]. We had a great weekend having the Bostic girls and their dog, Cujo, staying with us.
Now, a dump of pictures of a small glimpse of our decorations...

Need to put our wrapped presents under there!

Entry way tree that still needs a tree skirt

Our little S'mores tree

Aren't they too cute?

Because I was feeling festive... glitter finger nails :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...well, outside anyways!

Good morning, readers! I'm glad you stopped by...
This past weekend, Preston and I did a few different things, but our main focus was getting the lights put on our house outside because we knew that cold/bad weather was predicted for this week. We are excited to decorate the outside of our home this year because it is our first year getting to do so. Before, we've either been in an apartment or town house, so we didn't have outside decorations, but this year we are in a house and we knew we wanted lights... white lights, that is. I like colored lights in some places, but Preston and I both wanted all white lights on our house.
We started with the front door, and then the icicle lights, and the trees and deer. We put the candy canes up towards the end and they look so cute by our walkway. We planned on putting lights on the side of our house, too... but it was too dark and too cold by the time we got to that part. We plugged everything up and were happy with the results, except for one part where the lights decided not to work. We are going to change out the set, but haven't been able to just yet. Oh, I should also mention we have 2 posts on the sides of our driveway. We covered them in white plastic and added garland and sparkly bows, I love them! I also want to add that it was cold outside, but miss Chloe would not stay inside. She would rather be outside with us, shivering in her sweater, than inside on a blanket. Of course, she didn't mind when we went inside to warm up with some hot chocolate!
This weekend we are decorating inside, I'm excited to see our new home all decorated for Christmas...now for pictures!

Do you decorate outside for Christmas?