Christmas Decorations

Well, I have gotten into the swing of things with minimal complaining from the husband. {Until he sees the condition of his precious attic!} I could hardly wait to get down the Christmas decorations to see what I got last year at the after Christmas sales! I went to a cute little boutique- type store here in Redding called Dandelion (my street's name!!) and got all the stuff to do this "formal" tree!

When we lived in Texas I taught school at Rochell Elementary and the secretary there always had a Christmas party for the school staff at her house. I was in awe (I was newly married and had never had my "own Christmas tree") when I saw that she had more than one tree!! She had a beautiful all white tree in her living room and a colorful one with all the "kid" ornaments in her family room!! Ever since then I have wanted more than one tree!

Two years ago when we were in Texas for Thanksgiving I went with my SIL Lisa to get her a "dining room" tree! We did a formal tree there and put her other tree in the family room! ( I LOVE helping Stephanie and Lisa get their houses decorated when we are in Texas for Thanksgiving..missed it this year!) THAT is when I knew I would have to begin my Two Tree Tradition!

So far the living room is decorated...next is my {favorite} Tex-ified Christmas tree for the family room!

I love the white boas, I got them at a store that went out of business last year!The absolute BEST thing that I discovered this year is this device that allows your tree to be turned on by a remote control!

Just plug the tree lights (or anything else) into the box,

and push the button from across the room, the lights magically come on without messing up the beautiful vacuum marks! YeeHaw!

{I know...I am easily amused but, come on, the living room is the first room you see when you walk into my house and the peeps who live here are forbidden to step on the carpet! }




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Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Rachel from Made With Love and Glue inspired me to make a new wreath for my front door. ~wreath $8.oo (Michael's w/50% off coupon)

~ "Believe"- dollar section at Michael's

~ Christmas balls -Dollar Tree

~cross- JoAnn's $2.49 (on sale)

Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We had a wonderful day and a delicious meal. The {most important part of the meal} Dessert Bar

Scott made the most scrumptious green beans!

The Kids Table

We really really missed the "Texas family" this year, we usually spend Thanksgiving together-last year we were in Cabo San Lucas! My sister in law, Laurie is the one who always decorates the tables and she wasn't here to bail me out! We only had 12 at our table, wish the other 10 Luffs and my parents would have been here!

I found "Pumpkin Spice" Root candles for Table favors! They smell divine! {and that scent is Beckie's favorite}

Everyone enjoyed the yummy feast...

especially this guy! Gavin LOVES to eat!!

Austin kept us entertained and, as usual and of course he had to play with the vacuum before he went home!

Gavin mostly wandered all over and "talked" a lot! He did take a minute to play with the train though.

Shannon, Shae, Anna and I went to see The Blind Side after dinner (Scott and his parents stayed and cleaned up while Lindsay played with her train ) What a great movie. I am buying it for sure when it comes out on DVD. I really want Scott and his Dad to see it. Ministry like ours can take a toll on you emotionally at times (working with kids in general can) but this movie will make you feel like all the effort and time is worthwhile! (which we do already know, but it is nice to see a story with a happy ending like this one!)

I have taken all the Fall decorations down ( actually Anna and I put them in the attic while Scott was asleep on the couch!) so I am hoping he won't give me any attitude when I want to get the Christmas stuff down and decorate tomorrow!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful day with lots of yummy food, blessings and thankful hearts!

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Thanksgiving Break...so far.

We have had a fun week off so far! Lots of overnight guests. Mae, Shae and "Ra"-chel (get it!?) Lots of Facebook (Shae is having a major COW that I put this picture on here, she thinks it is heinous of her!)

Oh my, and lots of "sister fights"!!

Maeghan wanted to make some darling cupcakes to impress her family for Thanksgiving...

Yummy!

They did a beautiful job on the frosting!

Pumpkin Spice cuppies with deliciously light frosting dusted with cinnamon and sugar!

Impressive, ladies, impressive!
Now I am busy cleaning and setting the table for the big Thanksgiving Feast tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family, I am so thankful for each of you!






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Christmas Banners

My husband is sick of me sharing ideas with people and telling them that they "should sell this stuff" when I have a closet full of craft supplies and ideas that he says I should be selling.

So, here goes:

I think I am going to open an Etsy store this week! Yikes!

In the meantime, if anyone would like to buy a Christmas banner, here are 3 I have available.

Banners will be $18.00 including shipping. E mail me if you are interested.http://ingerluff@yahoo.com

Personalized ornaments will also be available for $5.00.

They will come wrapped in cellophane with a sweet bow!

I will let you know when the Etsy store is up and running. Gotta wait for my "technical help" to be available.

There will most likely be a give away this week as well, so get your practice commenting....the winner will be chosen from those who leave comments on that post! (the odds should be pretty good to win, I have had 2 comments on average per post!)

Have a Happy Weekend!

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Ya Gotta Do What Ya Gotta Do

I would rather be painting ornaments, wrapping gifts, baking, decorating for Christmas, shopping, going out to lunch or a zillion other things, but I must conquer

This: Because~

"She watches over the ways of her household, And does NOT eat of the bread of idleness."

Proverbs 31:27

{maybe tomorrow will be more fun.}

Happy Birthday, P31 :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!! You are such a wonderful mom. NOBODY compares to you. You really are P31... I'm not just saying that... I hope you had a wonderful day:) love, your eldest and most favorite child... Shae Marrin :)

There's Another "Baller" in the House...Who Knew?

Well, Shae's volleyball career is officially over! It is sad to think about not having games twice a week...or practice every day.

The Redding Christian Lady Lions ended up First place in their league! The first round of playoffs was this week...we played another Christian School, which was so nice. The girls held hands and prayed before the game! Our school always prays before the home games, but it felt so good to be in the presence of fellow believers!
I will miss watching Shae and Sarah laugh when they are in position waiting for the serve! I always wondered what was so funny.
I will miss Shae's blocks {and her Dad's face when she got a good one!}
I will miss the good "kills" that made the crowd roar!
I will miss Maeghan's loud cheering form the stands!
We ended up losing to the other Christian school. But if we had to lose to anyone, we were all glad it was them. There are 29 kids in the whole school and every girl but one was on the team. They were undefeated in their league, and we are praying that this little team will go all the way to win the Section! What fun to chat with all the parents after the game and get the story of this "little team that could."

We had a few faithful fans drive the 1 1/2 hours to cheer our girls on. The boys bball team had practice, so a couple of them hurried to come afterward...BTW, thanks alot to the boys coach who wouldn't change practice so they could all come...argh! There was practice the night of our last home game too...the opposing team had 3x more fans there than we did! Why is it that we bus the whole school to BOYS playoff games??!! {getting it off my chest, people!}

Anna is a "Baller"

Just on the heels of Shae's volleyball season, 5th/6th grade basketball started. We were pleasantly surprised when Anna agreed to try out! The funny thing is, she seems like a natural! She is one of the best players on her team!

During their first game, she had 4 rebounds and dribbled the ball down the court like she had done it all her life! I could not stop laughing!

Maybe we have a point guard in our future! But, chances are she will be a post if she ends up with her big sister's height.

Bless her heart, it is so much running! I am exhausted just watching! What great cardio!

Scott has told her he would pay her for each basket...and more importantly, each foul! (he did that with Shae when she played basketball too!) Anna is so sweet and wouldn't ever want to take the ball from someone else, or worse, bump into anyone...so maybe "moneybags" will be tempted by the $$$$.

Lindsay is thrilled to be able to "cheer" at Anna's games since they are in the afternoons. But to be honest, she associates games with the snack bar! I am sure Scott appreciates having someone to chat with during the games though.

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I'm {kinda} Over Fall Now

After a VERY stressful week of volleyball {we ended up in First place!} I was ready for something fun and festive. We have playoff games coming up this next week, so Saturday was the perfect time to go with my mother-in-law and sneak away to some holiday open houses at a few stores!I had never been to "House of Design" in Red Bluff. Wow! I sure have been missing out!
It was a wonderland of Christmas decor! The staff must have worked around the clock, everything was breath taking! { we sipped on the most delicious apple cider while we "ooed and awed"}
This was my favorite area, the "pear green" tree and garland was beautiful!
The garland, oh the garland.....
There were so many cute things and they were displayed so perfectly, it made you think you needed everything! {but, I think I better wait to get my Christmas boxes down from the attic and see what I bought last year at the sales 1/2 off!!!}
It doesn't hurt to take pictures and try to recreate it with what you already have though.
Isn't it lovely??
There were many trees all beautifully done in their own unique themes.
They had some Fall displays as well. Wouldn't it be so nice to have a friend, that had a store like this, to come over and decorate your house for all the holidays?!
Love the wheat and the unbelievable garland!
I thought I would throw this in for the Moms of girls...what a cute idea! Little lights under the tulle. This would be darling as an end table.
Later that evening, Shae, Anna and I went to see "A Christmas Carol" in 3D. The effects were awesome, but we don't recommend the movie. It was pretty scary (Anna had her glasses on top of her head for a big portion of the movie). THAT particular movie is a downer anyway, but this version is somewhat dark and dreary (and extra scary).
Lindsay has been telling Scott she wanted to "go on a date" with him all week. Saturday morning she reminded him that he promised he would take her out to dinner all by themselves without Mommy and the girls so they did just that while we were at the movie!

We had a very nice, relaxing weekend. I think I can handle a stressful volleyball game on Tuesday night now...and I think I might just be "over" Fall and ready to get my Christmas decorations out!!
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