tis the season

::  made 20 costumes for our Christmas pageant this year. can you guess who they are for?

roman soldiers of course! it was such a lovely pageant too.  the kids always do a great job and the music gets better each year.

::  christmas eve brunch was not my shining moment this year.  i woke up at 5:15 in the morning to go grocery shopping to buy food for the brunch.  the eggs turned out rubbery and cold, the pancakes were overdone, the biscuits were from a tube and burnt and the potatoes were bought frozen from a bag!  coffee carafe broke as i was filling it with water. no mimosas even though i had both the juice and the champagne (oh wait - we ended up just drinking champagne so i guess that worked out ok!)  everyone was polite and ate and said it was good - b/c that is what family does and that is all good.

::  while i didn't get to make christmas crackers this year as i had planned - i was able to hide the pickle for the kids....well that is my 18 year old nephew in the front of the tree still searching...so maybe its not only for kids afterall. 

::  after breaking 2 glass pickle ornaments my youngest son decided to sew one that was sure not to break in the future.  my niece found it and is proudly showing off the new unbreakable pickle.

::  christmas eve is huge at my mom's house.  all us "kids" gather in the living room.  here everyone is answering the questions my husband and i have written for our family feud game to be held at our new year's eve party this weekend

:: one of our 2 trees.  this one is fake and is downstairs.  i keep it b/c i bought it off my friend's grandmother.  she was getting old and didn't want to deal with it anymore so i gave her $35 for it.  every year i think of her and the years of happiness she had around this tree. funny thing is - i've never even met her.

::  this one is real and is upstairs.  it stopped drinking water for some reason and didn't get decorated until christmas eve morning.  i think its so pretty though - whatever type of tree it is...... 

:: magically on christmas morning mushrooms appeared on the branches. if i knew how to use my camera i could have taken a nicer picture of them.

::  and finally tea.  my oldest has to have a cup of tea every night.  see that water kettle in the back? someone was cleaning out her cabinets and found it shoved in there - and she gave it to me.  it has become one of my favorite things.  while boiling water on the stove is not hard - i often turn it on and forget about it...and since it doesn't have a whistle i have gotten dangerously close to causing a fire.  this kettle shuts off automatically.  its awesome. 

::  oh and see that bottle of wine in the very back? chocovine.  chocolate wine.  yummy and dangerous