Monday, December 20, 2010

Oh sweet turtle ...

Yeah, you want to be on our Christmas list this year.
Heck, I want to be on our Christmas list this year.



Dave made these turtles. Almonds, homemade caramel, some meltable white chocolate... sweet manna from Heaven. Can I get an amen?

Are you making anything to die for this Christmas?

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

'Tis that time of year again where my husband insists on "getting into the Christmas spirit." While I have been known to partake of the Christmas spirit (usually in my orange juice on Christmas morning) I am forced participate in some of the preliminary events.

Our Christmas tree tradition usually begins in a neighboring town where a little farm stand sells trees. These trees are fairly priced, but they don't get many, so by the time we go, pickings are a bit slim. And since we start there, I am still being a little choosy. We then go a mile down the road to the hoity-toity farm that is a bit pricier. Depending on how many degrees below 32 it is that night will depend if I find one there I like. We then usually end up 25 minutes in the opposite direction buying a cheap tree from a guy on the side of the road.

This year, however, my brother invited us to join in his traditional excursion to the tree farm. The last time my husband and I cut our own tree, it involved climbing down an icy hill in the bleak cold, trudging through a snowy forest, picking a tree and then lugging it back up the icy hill, where the tree guy asked if we had cathedral ceilings. We did not.

I had a lot of wreaths that year.

So, it was with mixed feelings that I anticipated the trip this year. The first blessing however is that unlike my Utah friends, we have no snow on the ground yet. So that was the first plus. The second is that yesterday was a gorgeous, almost balmy 45 degree day, with abundant sunshine. Not too tough to take. And then they brought us via wagon ride to the area with the tree types that we wanted. We simply had to pick one out, chop it down, bring it to the path, tag it and then they would pick it up.

We did have to walk back (it was rough :-).

I brought the camera and got a few pictures while trying to find the perfect tree.

Rachel immediately found the perfect tree for her:



Daddy had loftier ambitions:


I am not sure what was happening here. Bears? Aliens? A horribly misshapen conifer?


In the end, it was a fun trip and everyone found the perfect tree for them. And yes, my brother has a cathedral ceiling. Still...


Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Dreaded Task

Every year, I dread picking out the Christmas cards. Since we've had kids, we moved on to the picture cards. I usually just go to a local retailer to do them, but this year, Amy did a blog post about Shutterfly. They have a promotion for bloggers. I liked what her post showed me, so I checked them out. And I liked what I saw.




In the past, I have done the 4 x 8 inch flat card. But I've been wanted to make a change and looking for something different. Shutterfly offers

In addition to Christmas and Holiday cards, they also have an extensive variety of cards and stationery for all kinds of different occasions, including birth announcements, moving announcements and even sympathy cards. I am totally wanting to have another baby so I can pick out some cute birth announcements :-)



The more I explore Shutterfly, the more I like what I see. They have photo gifts like coffee mugs, puzzles, books, even wall decals (drool!!).

And don't even get me started on their photo books... I think it might be love...

All photos courtesy of Shutterfly. In exchange for writing this post I will receive 50 free cards from Shutterfly. This promotion is open to all bloggers great and small.