The man of the house........

We are excited to show a sneak peak of the newest addition to our family - our nephew, Owen.

We can't wait to get to Indiana to meet him!

The Christmas tree is UP!

Since we first purchased our "artificial" Christmas tree, it has been a point of contention. The location it will be placed in the house, the date we put it up, the decorations we put on in, and the list goes on and on.

But the one thing Ben absolutely gets no say in.........no matter how much he expresses his displeasure.......................is what goes underneath the tree. To say the least, I go a little overboard. I LOVE LOVE LOVE giving gifts. Its something I do well (in my opinion).

My favorite part of giving gifts (even though it really makes no absolute difference) is handing the person a beautifully wrapped gift with a perfectly well-thought out bow and the cutest matching name tag. Vain, I know......but give me this one, okay?


About the tree, we have a few notable additions this year including candy canes (thanks to the Williams' for this tradition), presents in the tree (thanks to Mom for that tradition), candy apple-green squiggles, copper colored mesh garland, and a new topper (its the 4th new topper in two years - I can't find the right one). The tree didn't go up until after Thanksgiving this year, which was about 30 later than last year....but with the tree being stored across the property and weighing about 100 lbs., I needed Ben's help to get it to the house.

In two short days, we'll be loading up all of these gifts and heading down the road to visit both families, plus the newest addition little baby Owen.

From my family to yours -

Have a merry Christmas and safe travels!