It took me a minute to figure out what this Christmas Tree was made of.  Can you tell?

The homeowner had painted her Halloween pumpkins green and then stacked them on top of each other.  She also added a gold star.   What a great reuse of pumpkins!

I hated to throw my out pumpkins when Dec 1st rolled around.. too bad I didn’t walk past this house sooner!  I told Mr. vB I definitely wanted to try this out next year.  Will someone remind me of this come October?? {ha-ha}

My brother and his wife hosted Mr. vB and myself for xmas this year, along with my parents, and Mr. vB’s brother, his wife and their kids.  {Unfortunately the other vB’s came down with a horrible respiratory virus just days before xmas and they all had to stay quarantined.  Don’t worry- we sent them food and presents!} We normally celebrate Christmas at my parents house in Newport News, but since their house is still under construction from the fire, we decided to switch things up this year!  Thanks so much to Travers and Marty for hosting us!  We had such a great time and your new house was the perfect spot to celebrate Christmas.

Christmas Eve

At least he wasn’t putting the crayon in his mouth!

Baby T was quite excited about his new name puzzle from Cece and Honey.

Honey read Twas the night Before Xmas and then it was time for bed!

Next was the fun part! Putting together Santa’s gifts for Baby Travers.

Everyone was in on the fun!

Christmas Day

After a yummy breakfast we opened our Christmas Stockings.

Then we moved all the presents downstairs and tried to get Baby T to come see what Santa had brought.

He seemed to be in a bit of shock when he saw it all!

Santa was very good to me this year and he apparently read my blog post about my dining room face-lift.  My mums has offered to help me sew new dining room drapes and recover the new dining room chair seats.  I’ve got an idea of what I want- now I just need to find it.  No sweat-right?!

Hope everyone enjoys the last days of 2009!  2010 is going to be here before we know it!!

]]> http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/12/twas-the-night-before-christmas/feed/ 1 http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/12/merry-merry/ http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/12/merry-merry/#comments Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:40:34 +0000 admin http://www.bootsandtotty.com/?p=2413 Mr. vB and I have spent a wonderful Christmas Day with both of our families.  We took a slew of photos and are currently uploading them all.

In the meantime, I wanted to tell you guys about the Christmas dinner I had with my girlfriends on the Eve of Christmas Eve.  We have started a great tradition of swapping letters to each other, versus swapping gifts.  The first year, we each drew another person’s name and were in charge of making that person a keepsake box.  Here’s mine…

Every year since, we have added notes and photos to the box.  I cherish looking back through the box and reading all the notes.  These gals and I go all the way back to Freshman Year of College and have been there for each other through the highs and lows of life. I love ‘em like sisters.

So back to dinner.. we all LOVE the restaurant Acacia mid-town.

{from left to right: Jennifer Saval, Sarah Wilson, and Greta Kidd}

We enjoyed some fabulous food and wine, and the amazing company of each other!

Merry Christmas to all! Luh’ you girls!

Christmas Tree + Snow= White Christmas

Virginia is getting slammed with a winter storm this weekend.  I think we currently have 9″-12″ of snow on the ground in Richmond and we are expecting more by afternoon.

Mr.vB and I have not ventured out yet, just the dogs.  And let me tell you, Boots is NOT a fan of this weather.  I couldn’t get him to go out this AM for his morning tinkle.  I swear he kept his back 2 legs in the door as he relieved himself!

Here’s some shots of our backyard from the warmth of our back room.

So much for finishing up any of my xmas shopping today!  I don’t think we will be going anywhere anytime soon, unless it is on foot!

After a small fight with the xmas tree stand, to which the tree fell over TWICE, we were up and ready to get decorating!

Here’s a close up of my homemade Angel atop the tree.

She still needs a face and some hair, but I think she is pretty cute.  My mom and I made this angel last year out of an old sheet soaked in liquid starch and then molded around a cup until it dried.  We copied the one she and my dad made over 30 years ago.  Thank goodness we did, because my mom’s angel was destroyed in the fire.  She and I were hoping to make her a new one to put on her tree this year, but we have run out of time.  Look for a tutorial after the new year- they are super easy to make!

Here’s the finished product!

I’m in love with Christopher Radko ornaments- a bad habit that my mom has started.  Here is one of my favorite’s- the bride and groom.  Here’s another I grabbed for Mr.vB last year..

And here’s the rest of the house.

I love my view from the sofa.

Why isn’t it acceptable to have Christmas Tree’s up year round??

]]> http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/12/deck-the-halls/feed/ 6 http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/12/mixing-it-up/ http://www.bootsandtotty.com/2009/12/mixing-it-up/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:17:31 +0000 admin http://www.bootsandtotty.com/?p=2192 When it comes to exterior Christmas decorations, normally Mr. vB and I stick to the basic wreath on the door and white candles in the windows.  This year, however, Mr, vB has decided to mix it up.  This is what I found when I got home from work today.

9 boxes of LED rope lights on the counter and 6 more boxes on the floor.

When I asked what exactly we were going to do with all these lights, Mr. vB let me in on his little plan.

Here is the exterior of our house before..

And After 15 boxes of LED lights…

The inspiration came from houses we saw on Monument Ave with similar rope lights spilling over the balconies.

Kinda funky.. kinda fun!

It’s making me rethink my wreath though! I might need to do something a little less traditional than the ornaments that are on my current wreath.  I saw in a magazine yesterday the idea of spray painting a wreath.  Wouldn’t a bright red wreath be cool, or maybe a lime green wreath??

I did also replace my Confederate Jasmine with the cutest little fir tree ever.

Guess I gotta get some funky decorations for this guy too!

I see a busy weekend in my future! Stay Tuned!!

As I got older, the arguing over the ornaments got less and less.  But the excitement of getting the advent calendar out every Dec 1st never faded.  My mom had passed the calendar on to me a few years ago, and then I passed it on to my brother for them to start the same traditions with the Baby Bird.  It was hard to give it up, but my mom promised that she was going to make a second one for me and Mr.vB.

Well unfortunately my mom had just gotten the advent calendar back from my brother and had placed it in the spare bedroom at her house for safe keeping, when the house fire happened.  Along with all the things my parents lost that day was my beloved advent calendar.

It took my mom and I several days to remember all the 24 ornaments that adorned the original calendar, but we did it.  It’s amazing how you can look at something for so many years and then have such a hard time remembering everything about it.

So along with working on rebuilding her house, my mom put in time remaking the advent calendar.  Two in fact, one for me and one for my brother.  She ended up purchasing pre-made advent calendars very similar to our original one, and is currently using the ornaments.  But she hand made the felt tree and backdrop for the ornaments to hang on.  The plan for 2010 is to hand-make the ornaments as well.

Here is my NEW Advent Calendar.

Isn’t it cute??  See why I was so upset when we lost the old one?

Some of the pre-made ornaments are cute, like the gingerbread man, but some have got to go.  The original calendar had a Santa Claus ornament that was always last to be hung on Christmas Eve.   My mom agrees that the Santa is the first ornament that we need to hand make!

Thanks Mums.. I love it!

Also wanted to show you guys how big my paper-whites have gotten.  Plus tease you abit with my xmas decorations.

That mirror normally hangs over the mantle, but has been relocated for the holiday season.  No worries though-it won’t be sitting crooked on the console table for 30 days.  Mr. vB and I want to add some picture molding to that section of the wall so it can be properly hung.

We still haven’t picked out our tree yet- that is on the to-do list for this week!  Hopefully by this weekend we will have everything up and decorated! I can’t wait.  Did I mention yet that I love Christmas?!?  ha-ha