O' Christmas Tree's

This tree in the girls room. They put their barrel of monkey's on their tree.


Allie's Ornament


Abby's Ornament


Our Family Tree

one of our newest ornaments ~ to remember our trip :)

Decorating Meemaw's Tree

Saturday night while Raymond and I went to dinner the girls stayed with Meemaw and decorated her Christmas tree. They had such a great time decorating it.

All done

Christmas Crafts

Christmas Crafts


I took white uppercase letters bought at Hobby Lobby and modge podged paper on it for the girls teachers at church. I also made one for Raymond's sister and one for me.



Gift Tags ~ Made with a scallop punch and my Slice.

Allie's speech teacher gift ~ small candle holder (from Dollar Tree) with Christmas rub-ons

Mother Day Out Teacher Gifts ~ Small pails, paper and embellishments from Archivers

Happy 11th Anniversary

Eleven years ago today Raymond and I got married.




We have been through a lot in our first 11 years together, some great and some not so great. I look forward to another 50 years with him. Eleven things we have done or been through in the past 11 years:

11. Took vacations before we had kids
10. A trip to New Orleans for the Tigers first Bowl game in many, many years
9. Bought a new car (for me)
8. Bought a house
7. Job changes for both of us
6. Death of family members
5. Struggled with having a family
4. Made great friends that encourage us so much
3. Took our kids to Disney
2. Survived cancer
1. Became parents to beautiful twin girls

Princess and the Frog

Wednesday I took the girls to see the new Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog. We all really enjoyed. So much so that on our way out Abby asked when could we see it again.

A few lessons you will learn from watching the movie

~ "Money ain't got no soul, Money ain't got not heart." momma Odie

~ What you want and what you need are 2 totally different things.

~ If you kiss a frog you probably will not get a prince :)

Reindeer Food

Tuesday the girls and I made Reindeer Food. It was easy to make and I found the recipe online. We made 10 bags to give to some of our friends.

Here is what it looks like in the Ziploc.

Red and Green Sugar Crystals ~ I read online to use sugar crystals instead of glitter because the glitter could harm some animals.

4 finished bags

Here is our Reindeer Food Bowl. I got this at a Homebuilders Christmas Party 7 or 8 years ago and I use to use it as a cat food bowl during Christmas. It has some cracks in it but will still work for us.

Here is the Reindeer Food Recipe we used

1/2 cup Oats

1/4 cup sugar

Red & Green Sugar Crystals

Mix together in a Ziploc. Sprinkle on your lawn or leave it in a bowl on Christmas Eve for Santa's Reindeer's!

MDO Pictures and Santa

Here is a picture of the plates the girls gave me at their Open House last week. They are clear plastic plates with a napkin on the back.


The girls teachers gave each parent this picture as well. On the door of their classroom is an 8x10 of each group. Abby & Allie are in the second group.


Tuesday we went to the Mall to see Santa. I was not suppose to take pictures unless you bought a package but the lady told me not to be obvious about videoing or taking a picture....so here are my non-obvious pictures. While I was letting the girls see Santa the lady taking the pictures told me I would get one for free since they open late and I had to wait. So I guess I could have taken better pictures.

Here is a picture of the picture I received.

Oreo Truffles

Oreo Truffles
I found this recipe a few years ago in a Kraft Food magazine and it has quickly become on of my holiday recipes. So in Bakerella style here is my Oreo Truffle post.

Crushing Oreo's ~ I have to get a food processor. My food processor is a small 1.5 cup, so I borrowed my friend Amy's. The Oreo crumbs need to be finely crushed and the best way to do so is with a food processor.

Oreo balls ~ it makes about 45, I used 4 cookie sheets to hold them all

Here is my little helper. Abby made her own Oreo balls and ate them before we dipped them in chocolate. She made four more and we dipped those.

2 Boxes of chocolate per recipe

Final Oreo Truffle

boxed and ready for the cookie exchange

Oreo Truffles

1 package of Oreo's ~ Crushed finely in a food processor

1 8oz cream cheese

2 boxes bakers semi-sweet chocolate

Crush Oreo's in a food processor. Mix crushed Oreo's with cream cheese. Make into 1 inch balls. Chill Oreo balls. Melt chocolate squares and dip Oreo balls in chocolate. Chill and once set store in an air tight container.

Kimmer's Annual Cookie Exchange

Sunday was Kimmer's Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite holiday activities. I made my Oreo Truffles (which I will post in another post). We had 8 different cookies or candy for us to taste along with coffee, hot chocolate, and wassail. We went home with some yummy treats.


Dawn, Kimmer, Suzie, Me, Stacey, & Tammy


Stacey's Famous Sugar Cookies


Samples for us to eat

Christmas Home Tour Idea

Two Sunday's ago our church had a Christmas Home Tour of 4 different homes of ladies in our church. Looks like Ms. Marka does Santa's laundry.

I like this table centerpiece

Here is my take on it