Happy New Year . . . Part Deux

Ok, time to finish December and FINALLY face facts that it is January 8th!

My youngest made this at school.
They had to do blueprints first, then figure out all the building supplies they would need.
Next they had to add up all the costs and then construct it.
I think the finished product just looks great!
(No comment about the items laying behind the reindeer on the top -
they fell out when I moved him for the photo!!) 

Next on our holiday plans was my annual cookie exchange.
I did not take ONE picture of that night because I always have too much fun
catching up with all my friends!
I do however have photos of my containers for my cookies.
I took Dollar Tree glass jars, sprayed them with frosted sealer, painted glue
on the side and sprinkled the glue with Martha Stewart glitter
(I have a slight addiction to that stuff!!). I then hot glued a snowflake
ornament to the front and I think they look great!
Truth be told, the containers were better than my cookies!!

Our Christmas Eve tradition is the early service at church,
then we look at lights on the way to visit one of our favorite families in the whole world
(The Griffins), after a quick visit,
we head home and the girls get to open one gift that is always cute holiday jammies,
we eat dinner by the fire and watch the Christmas Story.
I just love Christmas Eve!

First gifts of the morning are always stockings.

Being silly!

We have always done colored lights on our family tree and when I mentioned
to the girls I wanted to do white lights, they both protested!

Our last big event of the year was that I had to go into the hospital
for a hysterectomy. I know, big fun, right?
I have really been uncomfortable for the past couple
of months so it was something that needed to be done.
I am still sore and on strict restrictions from the doctor but go Friday
for my first follow-up and will hopefully be able to resume
some sort of regularity!
Now do you understand while Christmas is still up?

So that basically catches you up with my family. We have a long list of things we want to have done around the house. We are planning a few small vacations this year as we are taking a VERY big one the summer of 2014 but I will fill you in on our goals for the year but that is for another post!

Happy New Year . . . Finally!

Well yes, I am ashamed to admit it but it has been seven weeks since my last post (not a Catholic but totally sounds like a confession, doesn't it?!?).  This holiday season is truly a blur (thanks to some really good drugs - prescription of course - but back to subject). I will give you half a quick catch-up and then start fresh in 2013.

We ate turkey (fried by my husband and delicious), I took the girls to the So You Can Think You Can Dance show, and let me stop there for a minute. I have seen some of the best dancers perform, The Joffrey Ballet (with Ron Reagan, Jr., LOL!), Alvin Ailey, The London Royal Ballet, but the SYTYCD show was hands-down, one of the best I have ever seen!! The girls and I got into the TV show during the summer and it is the only show I have ever voted for . . . like ever! We loved Cyrus and was bummed when he lost but understood that Cheon was a better dancer. What we really loved was that they performed some dances from the show and some new ones. It was a nice evening with the girls and we are excited for the next season.

Right after that, the girls played hooky from school and we headed to NYC for our first NYC Christmas ever. We had the absolute best time and would love to make it an annual trip so here's a quick recap -

Saw our first Broadway show ever (mine included) and we chose Wicked.
It was fantastic and the fact that I was able to get a double wine made me love it even more!!

After the show we had to check out all the city lights.

Love the big ornaments!

The whole family at the famous Rockefeller Center tree.
It was big and beautiful (kind of like me?). 

Caitlin acting like Elf on the Macy's OLD escalator.
That store was SO crowded, we bought one ornament and got out.

Enjoying our first real holiday windows. They were truly worth it.

Of course, we HAD to visit One Direction World.
For those not in the know (which was me a couple of months ago)
One Direction is an all boy band put together by Simon Cowell.
My youngest has a major crush on Harry Styles,
one of the members, so here she is signing the wall at 1DW.

This was a window at Sak's. The whole display constantly turns so the snow globes
were always in motion. We all agreed they had the best windows
(and not just because I know someone who works there!).

Later that night, one of our gifts to the girls was the Z100 Jingle Ball Concert
The had an impressive line-up this year - One Direction, Taylor Swift, Olly Murs,
Cher Loyd, Ed Sheeran, The Wanted, Ne-Yo, B.O.B., Jason Mraz, Justin Beiber, and my
personal favorite FUN. It was the best way to see a lot of acts and hear all their hit songs.
Basically the band came out, sang their hits and they were gone.
I knew every song that was sung! 

Taylor Swift performing. We were super close to the stage but had the seats behind it.
I loved those seats as we were able to see everyone getting ready to go out and perform.

We met up with one of my husband's college buddies and his family for a great brunch
at Sarabeth's. The food was fantastic. We then all walked through the park and
watched the ice skaters and played on the rocks. A really nice was to spend the day.

After that, we met up with one of my husband's colleagues and his partner.
They were staying at the beautiful Dream hotel so we all had drinks
and then got to see Times Square from their room (the only balcony room in the entire hotel).
I will add that picture when we get it.
We left them and ran (practically) to Smith and Wollensky's for a great steak dinner.
We always have a great meal there.

We decided to see one more show before heading home and we chose Mamma Mia.
Now us getting from S&W was quite an adventure. NYC during the holidays is always busy.
The valet could not get us a cab but did get us a hired car. This driver was the
craziest driver I have ever ridden with. He went around an ambulance with it's lights on,
got into a yelling match with a traffic cop (according to him, no real power) and
got us to the theater on time! My heart is still racing!
The show was wonderful and you can't help but tap your toes and singalong!

One last stop with all the lights.

Once home, I was full steam for my youngest daughter's school's Winter Store. This has always been a favorite event of mine and will be my last one ever so I decided to be in charge of this year's. I had been busy shopping for the past year - I had a garage full of merchandise and couldn't wait to get rid of it!

I always tell everyone my Winter Store story so I will share with you - real quick - why it's important to me. During my oldest daughter's first year at Lakeview, she went shopping at the Winter Store and bought me a pink ring. My real wedding ring had been stolen a couple of years before (by a house painter) and we were saving up to buy me a new one. When I opened the ring, my daughter said it was because I was a great mommy and I deserved to have a wedding ring. I immediately burst into tears, put the ring on and did not take it off for at least a year. My finger turned green and some of the stones fell out but I still wore it.

Isn't it a beaute?

Well ok, that takes us to the middle of the month so I will stop here for right now! I am beat recapping and really need to go start taking down our Christmas. Yeah, I know it's the 7th, no judgement!

The second half of December to come but that is for another post!

The Art of the Shot . . .

Ok, so here's my second day of Christmas! 

I am not a great photographer but I do enjoy taking photos. Most importantly, I like taking photos of my girls and of course, taking the requisite photo for our annual Christmas card. Taking photos in the "ye olde days" was so much harder. Remember taking pictures with film?? Then you rush your film to the local photo shop and pray you got a good picture! If not, get another roll and start all over!! Nowadays, the "digital age", you can take hundreds of photos, load them onto the computer and delete the bad ones, email the good one to the photo shop and Voila! However, there are still bad photos but some are real funny! Last year, I decided to print out some of the bad ones and hang up for a fun and whimsical photo collage.

Here is the result! I ran a ribbon behind the frames and added a large bow on top. I think it came off looking great and  I always get a chuckle when I walk by it!

My girls started out cheesey!

We thought we would have them open their annual Christmas jammies.
They got a little too involved!

The girls are starting to get punchy!

Here's a winner!

So not every shot is a Kodak moment but I think this is really a fun, different and memorable way to remind us how much fun our Annual Christmas Photo Shoot is (well, not every year was, but I choose tonight, to look on the positive!)! So I'll touch base later, but that's for another post!

Holy Holiday Season . . .

Ok, so had this great idea to do the 12 Days of Maselli Christmas and share 12 posts leading up to Christmas of fun things happening around our home. However, I just sat down and realized that Christmas is in T-E-N days!! So much for that plan.

So, here starts the 10 Days of Maselli Christmas! I will start in our family room. It's attached to the kitchen and as most rooms in our home, needs a Christmas tree.

It's small, only about 6 1/2' but smells delish and looks perfect in that corner!! In this part of the house, I love red, silver and lime green decorations so I use those colors for ornaments on the tree.

This is a handprint wreath my youngest daughter made for me in preschool. I love it when crafts are made that are quality and something you can really hang onto for years to come.

This is one of my favorite decs. I tie a big red ribbon onto the curtain rod and hang a beautiful hand-painted ornament with some solid colors as well. Yes, you can't close the curtains but that's ok because it looks great! I do this in both windows and it looks pretty from the front of the house too.

Just add a matching ornament on a bed of "snow", hang a metal sign and add a fun ribbon to jazz up a wreath and light the best smelling Peppermint candles ever! Put them on red mercury glass candleholders and Voila! Looks great!

LUURVE my three Pottery Barn ledges! This year, I went with inspiration from Pinterest and made it all red, white and silver. I bought inexpensive ornaments in the dollar section of Target and filled up my milk glass and white containers ( I cheated with crumbled up paper in the bottom to take up some room). I then glittered two styrofoam trees with silver on one and red on another. If you do it, use Martha Stewart glitter. It costs a little more but you use a lot less. She has the best colors and quality! Thanks Martha for making me want to glitter everything!! I put the red glitter tree on a brass candleholder I bought at Goodwill for change and spray painted a glossy white. The other piece I made is the snowflake wreath hanging above all the ledges. That was a trial and error. The Pin I got the wreath idea from said to use a styrofoam  wreath. I found the snowflakes at the Dollar Tree (the dollar store that actually charges a dollar for their merch; not like $4 at the fake dollar store!) Once I put it together, I didn't like the looks of it. So back to square one (or circle one in this case - I know, lame joke!) I found grapevine wreaths at the Dollar Tree (yes, they were a dollar each!) and spray-painted them white. Added the snowflakes and STILL didn't like it. I have a lot of time already invested in this Dollar Tree wreath! I then bought some white grosgain ribbon, wrapped the grapevine, hot-glued the snowflakes on and finally had something I liked! I added a red ribbon and then topped it with a white one. Looks good!

I actually put a coat of white spray paint on the snowflakes because I didn't want them sparkly (which is the way they came from the Dollar Tree). I liked the way they turned out because it added a layer of texture and made them look more snowflaky (is that a word??)!

Here's my hutch. It's a bit cluttered by I use the all the items in here so want them for quick and easy access when cooking and setting the table.

On my chandelier, I add a green bead garland and hang some glass ornaments.

Add a jingle bell wreath above the door. Why above the door, you ask? The wreath use to hang on the door but it was annoying to hear it jingle ALL the time. I know I sound like an old lady complaining but the older I get, the more quiet I like!!

Hang your holiday aprons on the side of your armoire for a splash of color and this room is ready for the holidays!!

More of our home to share but that's for another post!

'Tis the Season to Give . . .

Ok, so I totally can't believe it's been 20 days since I last blogged!! I really couldn't believe it when I actually checked the date or that tomorrow is December 1. Now I am sitting in pretty good shape for Christmas. Half my gifts have been purchased. I just finished making (yes, you read that right!) our Christmas cards (blog post to follow this month). 95% of our Christmas decorations are up (uh, ok maybe 85%; make that 80%!). Both trees have been purchased and are in their stands, no lights or ornaments though but we are well on our way.

Once the turkey has been eaten and a crazy shopper has pepper sprayed other shoppers during Black Friday (seriously people, is this what we have come to?? So glad I no longer work retail!), the holidays hit us hard. One big sign that the holiday season is here is the sound of the Salvation Army bell ringers. They are out in front of every store!! Does anyone feel guilty every time you walk by the bell ringer without putting some money in their bucket? I know I do but I can't afford to give money every time I pass one (does this mean I need to get a job or go in stores less?? Hummm?)! My girls also like to give so we came up with what we think is a great solution! A roll of quarters!

Now, this little roll has a lot of power. When my girls were younger and we took road trips, we gave each girl a roll of quarters at the start of the trip. If they misbehaved or asked "are we almost there?", they lost a quarter. When we reached our destination, they were able to use the money they had left for their souvenirs. Genius, I know (I think I stole this idea from Family Fun magazine but don't quote me on that!).

For the holidays, I give each girl a roll of quarters on December 1. They keep their quarters in a coin purse in the back pocket of the front seats of our car. That way they are out of sight but the girls know where their money is at all times. Then they have the power of the of giving - and they love it! Anytime they want to give some money to a bell ringer, they can. They can give it all to one person (I do try to discourage that though) or spread it out for the holiday season. This way, they are not asking me for money in front of the bell ringer (especially embarrassing when I don't have ANY money in my wallet, which is more often than not!) and they feel like they are also giving back. At the end of the holiday season, we have given $20 to a great cause (in addition to our yearly charitable contributions) and the girls feel like they were a part of it. Just had a brainstorm while typing - maybe have the girls earn their quarters. I like that! There are already pine needles all over my house and they are not going to sweep themselves!

Well, off to work on that other 20% of our holiday decorations. I won't wait so long to blog next time and will start posting Christmas decorating photos in the next week but, that is for another blog!