Christmas Decorating

I finally accomplished the thing I was most worried about. Decorating for Christmas. Why, you ask? Because honestly, I had just got most everything in its place. Only to have to undo some things to do Christmas things. Most of my Christmas decor has been packed away for 2 years. We decided we would only put up our Christmas tree for the two years we spent in our little apartment and nothing else.
 I also begin to think about the fact that I had decorated our little blue house for 25 years and everything had a place. It was a no brainer.But in this house I was feeling quite overwhelmed.  We decided to just bring the tree down, find a place for it, and decorate that first.

Once that was done, Doug would bring down several boxes at a time. I begin to open things I hadn't seen in so long. It really was like Christmas. 

Enjoy the photos of my Christmas home!

The Dining Room

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The Living Room/Mantel

 

I found this ribbon online. I had seen this on pinterest and loved the black & white check to match my drapes. Added a little pop of red and put it on all the wreaths. LOVE.

Office/Library

I really do love this room and promise to one day show you around. It has treasures.

Kitchen. Heart of the home!!

I most enjoyed taking out my Christmas dishes. I missed them so.

I made these trivets for my WW leaders one year.
"He sees you when you're eating"

I still have one more thing to show you, but this view did not take place here at Clearview. It happened down in Savannah a week ago today. My youngest son returned from his deployment in Afghanistan. We decided not to go down there so he could have space to be with his wife Lisa & son Tyler. Lisa was so good to keep me posted throughout the day with texts & pictures.

I still cry looking at this picture.

This is what all the decorating is about. 

Filling the house with laughter, stories, trucks, baby dolls, grilled cheese sandwiches, goldfish,and especially that look that my boyfriend gives me when no one else is watching that says, I love my life with you!

 This is the view I get to have for Christmas.

Thank you for serving well, Justin.
 Thank you Lisa for being one of the strongest military wives I've ever watched go through a deployment.
Our thoughts
and prayers are with all  our troops & their
  families who are still deployed and will not be home this Christmas. We are forever grateful. 

And we wait for your return.

The First Thanksgiving

I honestly don't know if I have the words to put on paper the thankfulness that I feel this year. I do believe that as you get older, you become so much more reflective of your life, past, present, & future. That pretty much describes where I've landed this Thanksgiving.

As most of you know, I started this blog when my daughter, Rachel, suggested this would be a good way to document our house build. It has, in fact, been an awesome way for me to download my own thoughts & keep a record of this journey. There is still so much work to do. Decorating has been so much fun so I thought on this Thanksgiving post, I would share the dining room process.

 In all of my married life, I've never had a formal dining room. I took so much time picking out the right table for this space. I wanted one that seated 10- 12. Yep. That's a lot and we won't use that often, but I wanted the option. I love how it turned out. Take a look!

Here is a before pic.

I am IN LOVE with my buffalo check curtains. My good friend, Sabrina Morgan, was the sew master of these beauties. They are FABULOUS. Or as she would say, DIVINE.

I found this sideboard at Habitat in Goose Creek. It has a great story.

This is the only before pic that I have. It was $50 in the store. Doug asked if there was a military discount. They told us no, but because he was military she gave him the discount anyway. $40. Once we got it home and cleaned it out, we found a $10 bill in the top drawer. We got this for $30!!! I used chalk paint & distressed it. We redid the stain on top, added the new drawer pulls & it turned out beautiful. 

I found this ugly ole mirror at Goodwill for $15. I painted it with the same paint and hung it above the sideboard. Surrounded it with some of my grandmothers plates & it was simply stunning.

And here it is all pulled together for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun pulling out all my pumpkins, turkeys, & dishes. 

I'm in love with this guy right here. He was a hideous golden brown color when I found him. So I spray painted him to make him feel better. 

As fun as it was putting this table together, it did not compare to the people who were sitting around it. I had invited my parents to come for Easter this past year, but we had not finished the house at that point. They live in Cleveland, TN so it was not a quick trip for them. I was so happy that they came.They had never met their two youngest great- grandchildren, Hannah &Tyler. 

Mom & Dad aka Marvin & Joella. These two are a hoot. They call each other darlin & sweetheart. They repeat themselves a lot. Dad gets mom's coffee every morning. They still hold hands. Mom is the craft queen and dad will watch cowboy movies forever. They are a stunning example of what being in love looks like.

When we sat down for dinner, Doug prayed  from his heart that day. I was a sobbing mess by the time he finished. He prayed over the generations that were represented at the table. Mom & Dad being the foundation for what the rest of us stand on. He prayed about what the table represented. The stories that would be told. Stories being handed down to our Grandchildren. For new friends. Old friends. Our purpose. Grandchildren that are yet to be born. It. Was. Powerful. And then it happened. The stories. My parents told old stories. We told new stories. The kids told stories. We laughed. We cried. We ate. We were FULL. Fullness of heart. 

And then this happened.

And this. Yes. We jump on the furniture at Papa & GG's.

This was also a special moment.
We all got to skype with Justin. As of this posting, he should be out of Afghanistan.
 He will be HOME on Friday, Dec. 5th. He gets home in time to see his second son born in January. This makes for a ridiculously full heart.

What an awesome first Thanksgiving at Clearview. So many things to be thankful for.

One generation passing on to the next & the next.

Every time I look out at this, my view becomes even more clear. We are here for a reason.

 To tell the story to our children. 

"Tell your children about it in the years to come, and let your children tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation." Joel 1:3

She's FIVE & This Is How We 'Let It Go"

Zoe Grace turned 5 on Oct. 21. I tell people all the time not to blink cause their children grow up so fast. I didn't blink. I take in every waking moment of this child. I watch her expressions. I listen. I read her the same book over & over. I watch every dress up session like I'm watching my favorite movie. I drink in her eyes. And yet, here we are at her 5 year birthday party. 

We had the best time planning this party. It was Zoe's choice. So her mom, Elizabeth, her Mimi, Phyllis, her Aunt Rachel, & me came up with our best party yet. And yes, we partied at Clearview. So come join us for Zoe's FROZEN birthday party.

I usually don't have a birthday party without making tissue poms. They are quite easy, but time consuming. I used mostly white because, hey, it IS snowing. We hung these in the breakfast nook. (See how I'm kinda taking you on a house tour here)

I then turned my kitchen counter into a snow like story using a plain white sheet. (I love finding different color sheets at Goodwill for projects like these. About $2-$4) I spread out white Christmas lights, then added white tulle over the lights. I pulled out some small Christmas trees and made a forest. I really was trying to use things that I already had to save money. I also added the frozen purple & teal color poms to the mix. Phyllis had some leftover flowers from another party & we just added them in. They really brightened things up.

Elizabeth made these printouts and we tucked them into the snow.

Rachel made our birthday banner from handy dandy sillouette.

I must get one of those. 

Phyllis drew Olaf for our pin the nose game and we added cut out snowflakes everywhere.

Elizabeth, my daughter in love, really did a wonderful job with all 

of the 'frozen foods'. Take a look at everything. It was so stinking cute!!

And then, Zoe, aka Elsa, showed up.

We gave her a few minutes to take everything in before she transformed into Elsa.

Her Mimi, Phyllis is an extremely talented seamstress & has been making Zoe & Hannah's

Halloween costumes every year. And that usually dictates what the birthday party will be since they are

only weeks apart. I must say that Phyllis outdid herself this year by making Elsa & Anna's outfits for Zoe & Hannah. Well, just take a look.

I have not seen an Elsa or Anna costume that even compares to these in the store. There were beautiful!! I wish there were a MIMI AWARD because she would win!!

Her mommy is great at Elsa hair.

When Zoe put on that dress, she completely transformed into character. It really was amazing & fun to watch. She loves to act, sing, & dance. Look out broadway!!

Tyler made an appearance which always makes us happy.

I honestly think it was such a good birthday party because of Zoe. I've never seen a child totally be in the moment like she was. After opening her presents, she just looked at all her presents and said, 'I just love everything!' If you were to have a frozen heart, it would have melted on this day. 

Zoe. Hannah. Tyler.

These 3 right here fill my heart. They give really warm hugs.

And please stay tuned because Tyler is having a little brother in January. 

I just got goose bumps.

So I choose this year to take in all of her waking moments. Even her sleeping moments. I see purpose, inheritance, dreams, a child's love, and even my own reflection when I look into her brilliant blue eyes. 

It's a reminder and a 'clearview' of how much God loves to look into my eyes. 

Happy Birthday, Zoe.