Decorating For Christmas!

We normally don't decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but this year we had to switch things up. We ended up decorating on Saturday, November 23rd because we were having friends and family over for dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That was the earliest we'd ever decorated, but I actually really liked it since Thanksgiving weekend is always so crazy busy! 

The day after Christmas in 2018, Ga-Ga & I went shopping for some deals at Wal-Mart. I got this cute 4 ft tree that was perfect for the kids' tree.

They are always wanting to use the cute kids ornaments on the big tree, but Michael likes to have the big tree be a pretty tree. 

This really was the best of both worlds for everyone. 

It was also fun having a tree in the dining room next to the fireplace where the stockings are. Another find at Wal-Mart was my big JOY sign...it was perfect for the mantle. 

So proud of their tree! 

A close up of the pretty tree in the living room! 

Of course we had the Bethlehem journey hanging up in the kitchen. I had to make up a schedule again so I could remember who was supposed to do what everyday. For example if Jack moved Mary and Joseph then Ella got to hang the number star on the wooden tree, Zeke got to open the number box and get a candy on the other wooden tree and then Owen got to change the numbers on both the Christmas countdowns we have. Everyday it shifted and even with that schedule I got messed up sometimes! I do change who starts Bethlehem every year so it's not the same kid to bring out baby Jesus. This year Ella got to bring Him out so next year it will be Zeke's turn. 

We just loved our Christmas Village last year and we were super excited to put it up again this year. I didn't want to have little tables in front of the TV cabinet though so Michael attached a piece of pile wood to the top of the cabinet so there was more space to spread the houses out. 

My most favorite addition to our village this year was the ice skating rink. I had wanted to buy one last year, but they were SO expensive. This year I found one on Michael's website and it was on a great sale and I even had another coupon code so I got it for $35. Of course I also bought the skate rental shack! And yes the skaters do move around on a magnetic track...it's so fun! 

We did get some other additions, but these had to be put on the coffee table. I loved this Tree Lot. It played 8 Christmas Carols and lit up! Behind this we also got a B & B and a Toy Shop. Zeke really wanted the train so we had that go around the coffee table. I ended up not liking the village on the coffee table though so next year we aren't going to do this. We will have the train around the Christmas Tree until we start putting presents under the tree. The rest of the houses will be up with the other village homes as Michael is going to expand the pile wood area even more next year! 

I really love decorating our porch now that all the work is finished on the house. We did have quite a bit of wind a few days so all the stuff on the left fell over numerous times! 

Another new piece I picked up this year was for my bathroom wall right next to the sink. I like having a small little plaque there with a saying on it and I loved this one! 

Christmas Villages!

Life has gotten in the way again! So here it is the end of January and I'm finally finishing up our Christmas posts. 

In 2017 my Aunt Donna contacted me and asked if I wanted to have a few of my Grandma's Christmas Village houses. I remember being at my Grandma's house (my Dad's mom...she's still living, but she has Alzheimer's) and looking over every single detail of the houses. I loved them and of course was super grateful that she offered. So Aunt Donna packed up 5 houses and sent them to me. 

When I got the box I was so excited to open it. I didn't know exactly which houses she chose to give me as she split them between me and my cousins. Sadly only 2 of the house made it during shipping without any damage. I was just sick! I hated to text my Aunt and let her know so I didn't say anything. A few weeks later she asked and I told her what happened. She felt so bad about it. 

At this time I couldn't throw out the houses, but I also didn't have the time to put them back together. It was honestly a daunting task! So many pieces!!! So I just put the box out in the garage and sort of forgot about it. 

Then Christmas 2018 came around and Michael brought in the box so I could get the houses out that weren't broke. I still wasn't up for putting the broken ones together, but the kids were so insistent! I tackled one house while Michael worked on the other 2. We were able to fixed them better than I thought we would be able to, but of course they aren't perfect. 

It's been so nice having the TV mounted on the wall since it now opens up this whole area for use as my Christmas Village. At first I just set them up there since I didn't have any accessories yet. These are the 5 houses that my Aunt gave me plus one that I found at Value Village for $2.99!!!

Shortly after setting them up I went to Wal-Mart to see if they had the things I needed. I was able to get a roll of snow, a bundle of trees, a gazebo, four light up lamp posts and some people. I also ended up moving one of my Grandma's houses into the kitchen since it was just too crowded for 6 houses and everything else. 

The house on the left is the Craft shop. The house on the right is a Victorian house that was one of the broken ones. The only thing you can really notice is the crack on the left side of the roof. The kids say it just looks like a string of white Christmas lights. 

The house on the left is the Canine Pet shop and then the cute gazebo and the light up lamp post. I love the lamps, but they are battery operated and they go through batteries like crazy. So for the most part I left them turned off unless we had company. I'm really hoping to find some that can be plugged into a USB plug. Also love the kids that are having a snowball fight!!! 

The house on the left is just a regular house. I did let the kids put down some of that sparkly snow, but I didn't let them get too carried away. 

Here is the house I got at Value Village. I was so excited because it's called Black Bear Lodge. The kids love Black Bear Diner so they thought that was cool! 

Sprinkling snow! 

Side story: 

On January 5th I took Kim out to Queen Mary's Tea Room for her birthday. She got to wear a tiara! 

The food was yummy! Here is our sorbet....and a tea cookie. My favorite thing I think was the carrot ginger soup.....YUMMY!!! 

Such a beautiful day to celebrate my beautiful friend! 

During our time together we got to talking about everything that had been going on since the last time we got together. Kim mentioned that her Dad had just recently purchased a new battery for their Honda Odyssey and that reminded me to tell Kim all about our crazy battery situation. 

I have to back up a bit to tell this part though! A few months ago the button that turns the radio on and off had stopped working. It wouldn't push in far enough. It was super frustrating, but we had been dealing with it. Thankfully the volume would still go up and down. 

Right before Thanksgiving I had the oil changed in our van and found out that our battery needed to be replaced. Michael honestly doesn't trust the dealership so he wanted to go to the Auto Parts store to see for himself. Michael had taken a day off during the week so we had a date day together. We went out to lunch and then decided to stop and get the battery checked. Sure enough it was bad! So Michael got a new one right then and there. They even installed it for us. Once it was all done Michael got back in the van and started it up. The radio didn't turn on because the battery had been disconnected. For Honda's there is a safety feature where you have to turn the radio on and then input this special code to get the radio to actually work. Super....the button to turn the radio on wasn't working! 

Off to Car Toys we went to see if they could help us figured it out. The guy was super nice and he said there wasn't much they could do. Mainly they are taking out old radios and putting in new so they don't have to be gentle...he said they pretty much break the old radios getting them out. His suggestion was to take it to the dealership. 

While we were driving home I called the Dealership and made an appointment to take the van in, but I also wanted to find out how much the part was going to cost. If it was something outrageous it might end up being cheaper to get a new radio. The guy in the parts department said the button that wasn't working would cost $40. Not bad. 

When I was talking to Kim she mentioned that her hubby Micah had just recently worked on his brother's Honda Odyssey radio so he might be willing to look at it for us. When we got back from tea I actually dropped Kim off and then drove away completely forgetting out it and then I circled back to ask if Micah would mind checking it out. He was all for it. 

Micah actually showed me how to get the panel off that gives you access to be able to remove the radio....it was super cool! 

We set the panel on the dash for safe keeping. 

Right in the middle of this picture is a screw that's way down there that has to be removed in order to take the radio out. 

Micah brought my radio into the house and he also had his brother's old radio as well since they ended up having to purchase one from a junkyard. Micah is always great at figuring things out. He was really wanting to get to the bottom of it. At first he was trying to access the button from the back, but then he figured out that wasn't working. He had an idea of how to get the button off, but instead of trying it on my radio he tried it on the other one first. He tugged really hard and the button came right off. So he did the same thing to my radio as well. He was looking around trying to see what might be the matter and that's when he said...."Wait a minute" and then he tipped the radio over and out fell this....

This teeny tiny piece of plastic. I have no idea how it broke off, but it got stuck under the on/off button and made it so the button wouldn't go all the way down. I was so crazy happy and grateful! Micah got the radio all put back together and put in the van and it was all fixed. Yay for not having to take the van to the dealership!!! 

What might this have to do with Christmas Villages though?? While Micah was working on the radio I was just chatting with Kim about Christmas decorating and I mentioned the Villages and she looked at me and said, "You have a Christmas Village? Let's go downstairs!"

Kim had 5 houses that she had been holding onto that were her Mom's, but she never would put them out. She ended up giving all 5 to me!!! Left to right - Schoolhouse, General Store & Train Station. 

Church and a Fire Station. 

So I had a super amazing time celebrating my best friends birthday, got my van radio fixed and doubled my Christmas Village all in one day. It was such an amazing day!!! 

It took me a few days to figure out how to set them up since the TV cabinet didn't have anymore room on it. Jackson ended up bringing in these two end tables we had in the garage and putting them right in front of the TV cabinet so we used those. 

I ended up going back to Wal-Mart to buy more snow and I found these brick walkways. I didn't putt out the train station since I didn't have a train. 

As well as the house there were other things in the boxes like a few people and trees. 

I loved this clock that was in one of the boxes. I bought the family decorating the tree. 

Owen or Jack I can't remember set it up so it looked like this tree had been chopped down by the woodsman. It was quite clever! 

The Black Bear Lodge got a horse drawn sled and rider. 

We moved a few things around from there original location. Like having the kids throw snowballs at the other kids that were trying to make a snowman. 

It was so much fun having a Christmas Village just like my Grandma and I can't wait to add to it every year. Michael is planning on building a table top to sit on top of our TV entertainment cabinet to give me more space. The next additions I hope to make is an Inn and a skating rink where the people actually skate. I love those!!! 

Black Friday & Decorating!

For Thanksgiving we drove down to be with Michael's Mom's side of the family. It was so great to see everyone and visit even if it was for just a few hours. We had so much fun I didn't snap one picture. We left at 7:50am and headed for Salem, OR and then we pulled into my parents in Orting, WA around 9pm. It was a crazy day! 

Unfortunately since we were in the van so much I didn't drink enough water so when I went to bed I felt like I had a UTI. I ended up coming downstairs and drinking a bunch of water to try to keep it from turning into a full blown UTI. Because of that I was up until 3am. I eventually fell asleep on the couch and then was up by 6:30am when my Dad came down and the kids got up. 

There's wasn't anything that was going to stop me from going shopping with my mom though. It's one of my favorite things to do. 

Our first stop was GNC to see if they had any D-Mannose, but they were out. The guy did offer to look at other stores and he found some at the GNC in the mall. After that we went to Fred Meyer's, Kohl's, Walmart, Taco Time for lunch and then the mall. 

At Walmart mom and I both got a Time & Tru coat for $20! I found out about them from a lady I follow on Instagram. She lives in Bentonville, AR where Walmart started. She bought this coat and talked about it because she loved it so much and people went crazy for it. It almost completely sold out online and it was really hard to find in some stores. I got blue and mom got mauve. It's such a warm coat and not huge and too puffy. I love it! 

The next day we pulled out the Christmas decorations. 

Last year I went to Walmart after Christmas and ended up getting some great deals. They were having 90% off and I found these really pretty ornaments and only spent $4 for all of them. 

Every year we try to see if Jack can actually put the star on the tree. 

Every year he tries and every year Daddy ends up putting it on! 

This was our year to have what we call a pretty tree. Next year we'll have a fun tree with all the kids ornaments. It's a nice compromise! 

I really love how it turned out this year and even the kids said they like it! 

Now that we don't have a screen door....still not sure if we are actually going to get one...we are able to have a wreath on the door. I usually put this JOY sign that I made, on the door, but our old door was red so you could actually see it. With the door being white it didn't really have the same effect. Plus Michael put the wreath upside down. 

Much better! 

The stockings were hung! 

Our Bethlehem journey where Mary and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem where baby Jesus is born. This was the first year we rotated who starts the journey because whoever starts the journey ends up being the one to bring out baby Jesus. Since we always go in birth order Owen was always the one that got to bring him out and as you can imagine that was not okay with the other 3 kids. So this year Jack started the journey. Then next year it will be Ella's year and so on and so forth. I actually have to write up a schedule so I can keep it straight. Every day each kid does something different for the countdown to Christmas. Jackson will move Mary and Joseph, Ella will get to open the Candy Advent Tree, Zeke will get to hang the star for the day on the star tree and Owen will get to turn over the number blocks. It's crazy, but it works and they all take it very seriously!  

Also this is the first year I took all the decorations down from the ladder shelf in the kitchen. I just love having bits of Christmas everywhere.

My mom's nativity that she painted years ago is sitting on the coffee table this year. There are some other fun decorations, but I want to do a whole separate post for them!