a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season filled with fun and happiness. I took a bunch of Christmas pictures around my house. I hope you enjoy them.....

This is the mantle in my living room. I decorate it for every holiday and season. It's so much fun and it keeps things festive all year. This year I decided to use 2 bears from one of my favorite artists, Sheryl Wells of Simple Blessings Bears. I put a toy store display that I created in the middle, then filled in with old dolls, vintage style Santa's and bottle brush trees. The 2 "stockings" are from an old estate and probable date from the early 1900's.

This sideboard belonged to my great grandmother. I always loved it as a kid. I love using it for displays. I decided to put my vintage Putz houses on it this year. My Putz houses always remind me of my grandmother. She would set up a big scene every Christmas on her dining room side board. She had houses, people, santa, reindeer and trees. I loved looking at all the houses and I would imagine living there. What fun!

The white primitive cabinet was a gift from a husband one year. I just love it! He bought it in this really neat little town called "Bell Buckle" that is about an hour south of Nashville. The white shelf on top my dad me when I was a kid. I used to have it hanging on my wall with all of my treasures in it. Now I use it display my bears. The old primitive ladder makes a fun display for bears and other vintage items.

The desk and chair belonged to my maternal grandmother who passed away a couple of years ago. I love the little trunk on top, it's perfect to display my dolls and bears. The little metal head doll in the trunk belonged to my paternal grandmother.

This is a display I have hanging across my curtains in the living room. I took some jute and then I hung different Christmas "art" pieces that I have. The reindeer were made by my 7 and 2 year olds this year. They traced their feet and hands to make a reindeer. The plate with Santa was made by my dad when he was a kid. There's a picture of me at Christmas when I was about 7years old. I have several other pieces that I did not show made by my kids.

The Fantasy of Trees

Christmas is offically here...well, I guess it's been here since right after Thanksgiving, but I'm a little behind. I do have most of my shopping done, but I'm behind on everything else!

Every year the East Tennesse Children's Hospital sponsers the Fantasy of Trees in Knoxville to help raise money. It's lots of fun and the kids love it. There are lots of Christmas trees, gingerbread houses, crafts, a few rides and photos with Santa. We go every year to start off the Christmas season. I hope you enjoy the pictures :)

Fall in the Mountains

We decided to take a fall drive the day after Halloween, Nov 1st, to look at the beautiful leaves. I love fall and it was a beautiful crisp day. We had such a wonderful time. My kids even enjoyed being out and seeing new sights. We decided to head over to Asheville, NC, one of our favorite places to visit. We took a new route this time. We started in Knoxville, Tn and headed up to Newport, Tn then to Hot Springs, North Carolina and over to Asheville from there. It was such a nice drive and Hot Springs was a quaint, inviting little town. Then, of course, we ended up at Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. We love going there and always see something new inside and outside the house. It was a fabulous day that everyone really enjoyed!

This is a gorgeous Antebellum house that we just happened to pass on our drive. I had to turn around and take some pictures. Boy I would love to see the inside!

This is a shot of Hot Springs, NC's quaint little downtown.

This is Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. It was built by George Vanderbilt in 1895 and is an magnificent home.

Happy Halloween!!!

Oh, it's been way too long since my last post here...I'm going to try and do a better job keeping up with my blogging :) I decided to post a few pics from last Halloween, with the exception of the photo of our kitty.

It's really raining here right now and I hope that it slacks off by this evening for Trick or Treating. My kids my been excited about going for weeks and I would hate for it be rained out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!! I hope every one has a great Halloween and gets lots and lots of candy!

We're planning on going to the mountains tomorrow to look at the leaves. Hopefully I will have lots of beautiful fall photos to post.