Killer jeans and Christmas snow

Well, I think my Christmas celebrations are finally over.  And my pants are way tighter than they were this time last week.  Christmas seems to have this odd way of doing that. 

Or maybe it has something to do with the honey ham, red velvet cake, cheesecake and pecan pie I've been eating for the past week.  Ya think?

Today officially begins my "cutting back" diet.  I don't really like the word "diet" or saying that I'm on one because it just messes with my head and makes me want to eat everything that's not nailed down but for lack of a better word, there it is.  

My diet plan is to cut back on calories and desserts when my pants start to feel like they are trying to kill me by cutting off my circulation.

And I am there. 

Our first Christmas celebration started on the 23rd and my favorite jeans felt comfy.  I wore them again last night when my bestie and her family came over and I had trouble focusing on the conversation at hand because those same jeans were trying to murder me.  Or at least it felt that way.  

Aside from eating way too much, it was one of the best Christmases ever.  Because, for the very first time in my 39 years of living in the South, there was snow on Christmas day!  And it was absolutely breathtaking.  We ended up with about a half foot of snow in the yard. 

So I thought I'd link up with Dumb Mom over at Parenting by Dummies today for Wordful Wednesday and show y'all some of my snow pics...

Y'all have a great day!  I'm gonna go see what I can find to do today that will keep my mind off the cakes and cookies that are still lurking around my kitchen.  

My Memory Tree

I've been watching all those tearjerker Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel for the past couple of weeks and they keep this little ornament with the number of days left until Christmas in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. 

I swear that thing just said "15 days until Christmas" yesterday and now it's saying "4"!  It seems to come faster and faster with every passing year.  I can remember keeping a countdown calendar when I was a kid and marking the days off and the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed like an eternity back then.

But since it is indeed only 4 days until Christmas, this will be my last post of Christmas ornaments this year.  I've already shown you my cherished redbirds, elves, nutcrackers, Santas, nativity scenes and angels.  So this post is about everything else...

I have been collecting Hallmark ornaments since 1995 and a few years ago I started the tradition of trying to find a new ornament at each new place we travel to.   So you will see a few of those here, along with memorial and honorary ornaments and a couple of those priceless ones made by or given to me by my boys.

One of my very favorite new decorations this year is the reindacshie that now tops my tree.  It's exactly what it sounds like, a dachshund with antlers that I found at the North Carolina wiener roast we took the Darlings to in May. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas filled with much love, joy and happiness!


Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making. ~Leigh Hunt






I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens

 

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened. ~Anatole France

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. ~Peg Bracken

Christmas is the day that holds all time together. ~Alexander Smith 

It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. ~Charles Dickens



The magic of Christmas lies in your heart!

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. ~W.T. Ellis

For the spirit of Christmas fulfils the greatest hunger of mankind. ~Loring A. Schuler
 

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

 



When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things - not the great occasions - give off the greatest glow of happiness. ~Bob Hope







One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly. ~Andy Rooney
 

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!  ~Charles Dickens

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder  

As long as we know in our hearts what Christmas ought to be, Christmas is. ~Eric Sevareid
 

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
he spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.
~Ada V. Hendricks

At Christmas, all roads lead home. ~Marjorie Holmes 



May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love