More Christmas Decorations

I have always loved this!  I saw it in a magazine and it was before the scrapbooking craze and so you couldn't just buy tags at Michael's.  I hand cut these "tags" and copied the script from the picture in the magazine.  I hang it over a fresh garland and tie little pieces of rosemary to some of the letters.  It always smells so good and just looks old fashioned to me.

One view of Lily's bedroom....complete with a pink, lighted Christmas Tree.  For Christmas their bedding is embellished with a Candyland Christmas Blanket.

These are the visions of sugarplums that dance in my kids' heads during the Christmas Season.  I made them out of a grapevine wreath, a white feather boa and some "sweet" ornaments.

Here is another view of the sugarplums

During the month of December we hang the stocking on their bedroom door, and if they are good, Jasper leaves a little treat for them to wake up to.

Madeleine's room with sugarplums and a Christmas Candy Blanket on the bed.

The Garland above the window in Lily's Room reads "The Children Were Nestled All Snug in Their Beds..."

The garland over Maddy's window is also decorated with candy ornaments and pastel and shimmering nutcrackers (her favorite)

Madeleine's Pink Christmas tree topped with a Leopard Print Bow!

From a sleepy girl's perspective on Christmas Eve night.

'Twas the Month Before Christmas

I LOVE LOVE LOVE decorating for Christmas and this year I waited until after Thanksgiving.  I told myself I was not going to set up the same vignettes that I always do and that was hard for me, the creature of habit.  Sometimes I think maybe I shouldn't be so selfish and decorate the way I do.  I'm not partial to crafty decor; there are no disney characters with Santa hats and no country collectible snowmen sit at my door urging guests to wipe their feet.  There is no penguin holding a sign that says "sleigh rides 10 cents" - mostly because you know how I feel about the penguin as a Christmas character.  I like all of those decorations and when I see them in the stores I stop and smile, but I can't afford to buy a whole new look and what I don't like is mixing looks.  People have said to me, "but Christmas is for the kids" and I completely disagree.  Christmas is for the kids....and for Jason....and for me!  I believe in the magic too and so I decorate in a way that I think makes Christmas feel magical. 

My kids love helping me and I have even learned to resist the urge to be rigid in deciding where every little thing should be placed.  

When we lugged those red and green bins in from the garage - the girls jumped up and down and screamed as if they were boxed full of Christmas toys and not just ornaments and glittered candles.  Lily threw opne the box and grabbed the first thing she saw...an oversized jingle bell-which she hung it on the front door.  My first instinct is to say "no, that doesn't go there."  But then I stopped myself, and let her help me.  The jingle bell is just perfect for the door because now every time we go in or out, we are reminded (quite loudly) that it is CHRISTMAS time!  When all the decorations were done, Madeleine looked around the room and said, "mommy this is just beautiful!"  I want them to be proud of their home and the way it looks and her reaction just reinforced that I'm not a bad mom because I don't have any Christmas Mickeys and the tree is not filled with handprint ornaments and popsicle stick reindeer.  I do keep their crafts and I do display them proudly....now what I need to learn is to be proud, not apologetic about the way I celebrate the season!

I hope you enjoy the pictures and I would love to see pictures of your decor because I'm always open to copying other people's good ideas :)

Giant glittered candy canes, twigs with hollyberries,

and spanish moss fill a bathroom vase

The Christmas Tree - we still do the real tree, messy pine needles and all.  You can't really see the ornaments in this photo but I like the perspective and how you see the big R on the shelf above.

This silver glittery sign hangs from a garland that surrounds the fireplace.  I found this sign at a booth while on my annual shopping trip at The Christmas Company with Candie and Pam.

Some of my favorite sayings of the season, are glittered and hanging from my tree.

This gift tag hangs from my mini tree.  I used scrapbook stickers of different fonts and styles to spell out words like "Believe" "winter" "Santa" "merry"  "snow".  They represent the gifts of the season.  I used to put this mini tree upstairs for the girls but this year it sits in an old urn and the girls each get a lighted pink tree for their rooms - so everybody wins!

Our elf Jasper watches

Jason LOVES this ornament and so do I.  He's a vintage '50s style Santa with crepe paper accordian legs and arms.  I bought him and my favorite decor store...Impromptu in San Marino.  One of the things I miss most about living in Pasadena is that store!

Okay this was my craft of the season.....

I made a wreath out of the pages of A Christmas Carol.  I saw a couple book wreaths on some other blogs and I thought I'd try my hand at my own.  There are a few things I would do different next time but overall I'm pleased with the outcome.  I love that it represents my favorite season and my love of both books and crafts.

The beloved gingerbread house!  The girls LOVE this decoration and so do I.  It doesn't really fit with a lot of my other decorations but I love it because they love it.  It's the only piece of a village I have and I would eventually like to get more.  I'm jealous of those of you who have the complete set up.

A view of my living room.

My metal egg basket filled with silver balls.

And of course some candles with glitter.  I rhinestoned the letters onto thecandles.  A bunch of cinnamon sticks tied with a glittery branch and some sugard hollyberries sit beneath the candles.

All Aboard the North Pole Express

So two years ago we started the tradition of taking the train to go see Santa Claus.  The last two years were in Fillmore but this year we tried the Irvine Park Railroad.  While the train itself was not as authentic the scenery was MUCH better!  We arrived in time to take some pictures in Christmas themed cutouts and hear a story from Mrs. Claus.  Then we got our tickets and boarded the Christmas Train to see Santa.  We traveled through a forest of colored Christmas lights and even went through a tiny snowstorm.  When we reached Santa we took pictures in his sleigh and got a chance to tell him what we want.  We assured him that we would leave cookies and he reminded us that chocolate chip was his favorite - good thing because I would have made sugar cookies.  We all wore pajamas just like in the Polar Express and in traditional Rupe fashion, we drove through Jack in the Box on our way home - because nothing says Christmas, Santa, and Magic like some curly fries and two tacos for 99 cents!

Fun on the Polar Express

Kid Quotes

As many of you know, most of my deep and meaningful conversations w/ my kids happen in the car, en route to the grocery store, dance class, the doctor.  Yesterday's conversation started out scientific when Madeleine asked, "Mommy, don't lie, is there a man in the moon?"  I answered that there was not but that a man had visited the moon.  This information intrigued her and inspired her to ask futher questions.  This is not really my area - Jason is the science nerd of the family - I am merely the reading, writing and grammar nerd of the family. 
Madeleine:  "What men went to the moon?  Presidents?"
Me:  "No, astronauts."  At least I know that much.
Madeleine:  "Why was George Washington our president?"
I'm glad she switched subjects because I was afraid she was going to ask the name of the man who went to the moon.  I would have said Neil Armstrong but I'm not entirely confident in that answer.
Me:  "Well, he was our president because he fought in an army and helped us gain freedom from another country."
Madeleine:  "Why was Abraham Lincoln our President?"
Me:  "Well, he helped get rid of slavery."
Madeleine: "What is slavery?"
Literally, this is a 7 minute car trip to dance class and it just got real....too real.
Me:  "Slavery is when you own a person and you make them do a lot of things like take care of your land and clean your house all the time.  Those people are slaves"
Madeleine:  (with WAY too much excitement)  LIKE YOU!!!!
Me:  What?
Madeleine:  Like you make us always clean up and clean our rooms......
Nice.....they equate me with slave owners.
Lily:  (sigh)  I'm bored of cleaning my room.  Cleaning rooms is bored.

The Spooky Rupes on Haunted Hilltop Drive

So at about 10:30 I sent Jason and the girls down to the Health Clinic for impromptu H1N1 vaccs.  I noticed they were offering them to high risk groups, of which all three of them are, and our doctors keep telling us "we're supposed to get them in" and "check back in a couple of weeks."  Well, there was nothing more scary on Halloween yesterday than a six hour wait for some nose spray.  We had no idea it would be six hours but the girls were troopers and I feel a little bit better now that Mr. Compromised Immune System got his swine shield.  The girls need to go back in a month for a booster.....better come prepared with a sack breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

All was soon forgotten, or at least made into a distant memory when they arrived home just in time to slip into a costume and get ready to beg our neighbors for free candy.

I decided on being a Romantic Era Vampire.  I don't know what that means other than crazy hair, crazy makeup and a lot of pearls and jewels.  Jason was a guy who took a hatchet to the forehead.  Madeleine was a broken doll and Lily was a good old-fashioned witch! 

We had the usual crowd:  A zombie and her mom, a devil, a pirate, a scarecrow, a tinman and their guardians, a bolt of lightening and his date, and the usual Halloween fare:  chili, rice, cornbread.  It was a night were fun took over and flu shots were soon forgotten.

The hatchet guy and his sad little Halloween doll

I vant to suck your blood!

Lily can't read the sign

The cowardly lion isn't too cowardly....

getting so close to that totally realistic looking lightening bolt.

Hey little dolly....

Jason and some spirit friends looming around the cemetary.

A motley crew of ghoulish trick or treaters.

Our first Trunk or Treat

What a fun time this was!  There was a time in college where I called this tailgating....but if you fill a bowl full of candy and stick it in the trunk of your car, all of a sudden socializing in a parking lot at night has a whole new feel.  Madeleine's dance studio held this Trunk or Treat party and I may be biased but I think the real treat was our performance of Thriller starring MJ himself!  The girls went from car to car begging for candy they didn't need.  I decorated my trunk to look like a haunted library complete with Lucy and her book of Poetry.  I was zombified (though I feel I could have done a better job on my deathly look if I had more time), and the only thing missing was our resident resident (Jason in his customary pair of scrubs), who had to scrub in for a late surgery I guess and couldn't join in on the family fun.  Candie helped ease my pain with some mommy drinks in a special halloween party cup and thank goodness for Lori who calmed my baby vampire (and we all know how dangerous those are), while I lived out one of my dreams dancing original Thriller choreography to an actual audience! 

The Thriller Dance!  Check out those orbs int he photo....clearly MJ himself was with us!

Zombie Moms + Zombie Juice = Smiles

Sweet little 50s girl

The ghoulish gang!

Baby Vampire dressed as Pebbles w/ Tropical Island Sydnie

My ghouls and me

Zombies...80s style

In Regards to Worrying.....

I found this on another blog that I follow and I loved it so much I had to share.

"There is so much in our head that never materializes."

It's all well and good that I tell you this.....would someone remind me from time to time?