I Hear Those Sleigh Bells Ring-a-ling!

It is officially Christmas at the Smith household. The tree is lit, the stockings are hung, there is adequate taunting of who got who what for Christmas, and the dogs are steering clear any time they see the camera come out (they are frequently submitted to reindeer ears and Santa hats in hopes to get a good Christmas card).
This year I decorated EXTRA early. I am usually stand my ground on the whole "no Christmas before Thanksgiving" but this year I swayed. Coby took the decorations out of the attic before he left for the opening weekend of deer season.
-side note, deer season...does this phrase only make sense in the south? it makes
it sound like it is the "Season of the Deer" which I'm not so sure the deer would
agree with. i guess same goes for duck season.
Anyway, he took the decorations down and I had an entire weekend to myself to drink holiday Starbucks, watch lifetime, and make Christmas. I'll have to admit it was nice to get it done by myself. I really enjoy decorating and Coby pretty much despises it. He will hang ornaments (all in one area, close together, with out much thought as to get it over quickly) to appease me but I know he is not enjoying it. So...I have found that I enjoy doing it myself, the way I want to. Then he admires and ohhs and ahhs when he gets home. It's also been nice to have the tree up a little longer this year. More time to enjoy.
I also made our stockings this year. I wanted them to have our names on them. All the ones I found that I liked were super expensive. So I talked Coby into letting me get a new sewing/embroidary machine. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! The stockings are a little uh, homemade looking but that's what makes them so great. Right?

Dog Montage

This is how Tasso fell asleep in the car on the way home from Hot Springs. His head wedged between the seats.



What I find most every morning when I get out of the shower.


Both dogs competing for attention in the "not big enough recliner".


Chox being pitiful after Coby and Tasso left him for a weekend of hunting.


Sweet boy Tasso.

Martha, don't be jealous.

I was off for Thanksgiving Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We had Coby's side of the family's Thanksgiving on Wednesday evening, went to my parents on Thursday, and then headed to the lake Saturday and Sunday.
My parents wanted me to bring dessert and the sweet potatoes. I decided to do it up big time. Every thing from scratch. Cut my own apples (AR black apples to be exact), made my own crust, and used REAL pumpkin! Everything turned out well. The apple pie was a bit dry but live and learn. I'll add some apple juice next time. There will be a next time because I found this all very enjoyable. If you have never made your own pie crust I urge you to do so. It sounds intimidating but is SO easy (esp with a food processor).





Sorry the set of pictures is incomplete...the pumpkin pie was gone before I could snap a photo.

Use the 4 pack for $1

Thursday night I helped my sister-in-law, Karla, chaperon Evyn's 12th birthday party. It was of course a slumber party of 12 squealing, hyperactive girls and one very unhappy 7 year old brother.
Things they did, and did not do...
DID... eat cheese dip, pizza, chocolate fondue, and ice cream cake.
DID NOT...re-enact the the 1985 movie "Clue".
DID... play a crazy game called "I hate Skittles".
DID NOT...sneak boys in and hide them in the closet.
DID...decorate monogrammed pillow cases.
DID NOT...smoke cigarettes under the porch.
DID...play flashlight tag.
DID NOT...drink parents boxed wine.
DID...call boys to find dates to winter cotillion.
DID NOT...run down the street topless screaming "Happy New Year".
DID...talk us into taking them to roll said boys houses.
DID NOT...have the one with the biggest breasts dress-up in her Sunday School clothes to buy beer at the gas station.

All in due time I guess.

Monsters In My Closet!

I took the time this Friday to attack the clutter (i.e. mad mess) in our closet. You see, we are VERY blessed to have such a large closet in this old house. In fact it was one of the MAJOR selling points. But, at times, it gets out of control. I last did closet purge a few months ago and it stayed fairly well organized until a few weeks ago. Apparently when we decide that the organization has been lost we go all out. I mean, go big or go home right? So I spent ~3 hours cleaning/organizing/purging our closet on Friday. Here are the results.
(note the amount of hangers left when clothes are sorted and given away)
BEFORE and AFTER

Nothing says Halloween like Elvis

Halloween is by far one of my favorite holidays. All about fun with none of the added pressure. Friday night I went up to Coby's work to take pictures at their Halloween party. What a fun group!
Some of my favorite costumes.









Saturday I deep cleaned the house while Coby did this...

I also finally got my Halloween decor up. It's taken so long b/c of all the rain. We had some people over for chili inbetween trick or treaters but I failed to get any pictures of actual people.



Lastly here is Coby's early Christmas gift. He can't say I never got him anything nice.

First fireplace burn of the season.

Things have slowed down a bit. We've been wading in the waters from the recent excessive rains (my hay bales out front are growing grass!) but we've seem to come out dry and the sunshine has been out for a few days now. We went to see Second City at The Rep the other night and it was really good. Now if I can only convince Coby to take me to see The Wizard of Oz at Robinson.
A friend recently coerced me into reading Twilight. And. I. Am. An. Addict. She lent me the first one and I finished it in 2 days. I called her to get the second but she informed me that her family had the flu and I might want to wait to get it. So I went directly to Target and purchased the second. I started out being a bit embarrassed when asking other people if they had read it, but soon realized- Yes- everyone else has read it. There was no reason to be ashamed. We rented the movie on Saturday (hoping to get our minds off of the defeats of the Hogs and Jermaine Taylor) and were not disappointed. Coby stayed awake during the whole thing. He now finds it hilarious to make the Hannibal Lectuer noises at me in the dark.
Leaving you with a picture of a bulletin board at one of my schools

We wouldn't want the students thinking they were ALL smart, now would we?