White Christmas - In more ways than one

It looks like this term will have a dual meaning for us this year. First of all, we are staying home for Christmas and we are all very excited about it because we will actually have a White Christmas. You know, every year we buy a tree and decorate and get ready for Christmas, and then we leave it all to spend the holiday with my family or with Clif's family. And that's always nice, but it definitely is not as much fun to decorate your own home and get ready for Christmas when you have to leave it all behind.

So this year, I was so excited about decorating because we're actually going to enjoy it. Here are some pics of the house.

Our tree, which has a gazillion ornaments on it. I've gotten one every year from the time I was born. My Grandma Pugh always did something special. She either made them or had them engraved or picked a special picture...but always our name and year was included. Then when she passed away my mother continued the tradition with always buying us one special ornament that had our name and the year on it. So the year my softball team won states, I got a little glove and ball with the year on it. Then when I joined a sorority I got a turtle with DZ written on it. When I was pregnant with Ainsley I got a hen sitting on an egg knitting. And so forth and so forth...you get the picture. It was always something special and meaningful. Decorating the tree is definitely my favorite part of Christmas decorations because I get to remember each ornament and what it means. We started doing the same for Ainsley, but considering my mom gets her an ornament and my in-laws get her some every year...we've decided to leave that tradition to the grandparents. Just like our grandparents did for us when we were growing up.

Next to the tree, I decorated the TV stand a bit. Nothing much.

Here are our stockings, which I LOVE!!! I just bought them this year because we've never had a need for them before. Now hopefully, next year when baby brother arrives we'll be able to get him one to match. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a pet stocking for Brinkley. I did find some on line but by the time I looked there it was too late to get it here by Christmas. So I think Gatsby and Brinkley will be sharing this year.

I hang the cards on the banister, high above little fingers reach. I did not get around to sending cards this year. I tried...I got my list mostly ready, but never got a chance. I hate not sending cards, so there is a slight chance I will snap a great picture of Ainsley on Christmas day and get them out afterwards. So if you get a Christmas card from me next week...well, sorry it's late. And if you don't get one...you didn't make the cut. Kidding...just didn't send them.

I have two nativity scenes...actually I have three. I just couldn't find a place for the third one. All three my mom gave me. These are kind of out of the way from Ainsley so she's not all over them all the time. She does like the little one though. She carries baby Jesus around and talks about his birthday.

Here is one of Ainsley's advent calendars. We bought her a very cheap one, which you'll see in the next picture, and then decided she needed one with chocolate. Christmas wouldn't really be Christmas without it.

This is the island in the kitchen. Funny story about the bowl. I bought this like 3 or 4 years ago to put on our coffee table with floating candles. Well that idea kind of sucked. It was just messy. So this year I said to Clif "I think I will buy gold ornaments to go in the bowl." Well I pulled it down from the cabinet tops and it already had gold ornaments in it. Apparently I thought of this a year or so ago.

Notice that the cookie plate looks much barer than before. And there is the other advent calendar.

These are Ainsley's Christmas place mats. The Rudolph one was Clif's when he was a little guy.

Ainsley helped me put up these clings on the window. She loved helping me with it.

These are the White House ornaments that Clif's parent's get us every year. They are so pretty that we don't want them to get lost on the tree so we try and display them elsewhere. Unfortunately, I did not get a great picture of them...but they really are pretty and unique.

This is the plate and cup for Santa's cookies and milk. I think Denise bought this for us last year. Who knew they made such a thing? As a kid we just put ours on a napkin.

Finally, here is the wreath. Why is it inside my house? Well, I made this wreath a few years ago, and I thought I should buy a new one this year. Well, I never found one that I really liked at a price I liked, so it never got done. I hung this one inside while I was looking and never moved it. Since our lights outside were a big bust this year, I figure we'll just have decorations inside the house.

The second type of white Christmas, is actually a white Christmas. We got a ton of snow dumped on us this past weekend, and it doesn't look like it's going to be gone by Christmas. Let me preface this by saying I am not a snow person. I like snow if it is pretty and I don't have anywhere to go and if it goes away quickly. However, now I have a child and children love snow so we bundled ourselves up on Sunday and took Ainsley outside. Warning: you will laugh at these pictures...please keep in mind that we live in Richmond, VA and that we get a snow like this maybe once a year...but more like a few times a decade. So I don't buy snow gear for any of us. I realize she looks like a little ragamuffin.

She wore tights, leggings, jeans, 2 shirts, a jacket, a thick vest, some of my gloves wrapped with Ziploc bags and duct tape. She did have a pair of snow boots which were handed down to me from a work friend.

The dogs love the snow and are constantly asking to go out in it.

Clif taught her to throw snow balls...though with the Ziplock bag hands, it was tough.

I think she had fun. However, she was done when we decided to go inside. There was no fighting to stay out longer. She couldn't walk because the snow was up to her thighs. Mostly she liked to eat the snow and make snow angels.

Here's a video of Ainsley's first snow angel...

Clif also started to build a snow man but it turned into a snow sofa. Whatever, Ainsley liked to sit on it.

Well that's about it. We are busy, busy, busy getting ready for Santa's arrival. I probably won't post again until this weekend where I'll have lots of Christmas pics. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and I wish you could all be with us.