From our Family to yours....

Merry Christmas!

And the Winner is...

Leslie

 with her "Out House" design.

Elizabeth was a close second with her "Tree house"

Drew completed his with a snowman. 

Porter used every kind of candy he could find.  He was so proud!

Ava is always a sucker for the sprinkles.  You can't really see them in the photo but the whole plate is covered in sprinkles.

Amy's was so pretty.  It was my favorite (other than mine) she went with a very simple and classic look.

I went with a "Log Cabin" design.  (It looks much better in person.)  I had a pond and a clothes line with little pants hanging on it.  My roof was way to big. But I was exhausted by the time it was ready for a roof.  At one point I just started squirting icing and yelled "Blizzard!"  My sister thought it was hilarious and she also felt sorry for me and let me use some of her coconut for more snow. 

We had so much fun this year.  I started planning what I was going to do about two weeks in advance.  I was very excited about my log cabin design.  I already have an idea about what I want to do next year.  We also had so much fun letting everyone vote on them and hearing their thoughts.  This is one of my favorite traditions and I can't wait till next year!

Family Fun...Gingerbread House Edition

 A few photos (okay a lot of photos.)

The building begins.  Some of us had great plans. Some of us didn't.

Harper, Porter, Drew and Ava.  They just decorated pre-made houses.

Porter was so excited to do one this year.  Mom would help him squirt the icing and he'd stick the candy and look up and say "I did it!" it was the sweetest, cutest thing!

Harper and Dad watching.

He was so proud.

My brother Patrick, Harper, Ava, Drew, Porter and Leslie in the new pjs that Nana go them. 

Harper wasn't happy.

I love this one of the kiddos.  I wish Porter's eyes were open but it's still so cute!

Elizabeth, Me and Amy with the kiddos.

The Maxwell family minus John and Patrick. 

Sister, me and Amy in our new pjs.

We're having a contest on Facebook.  We didn't have a judge so we put the pictures on there and are letting our friends vote.  After we've named a winner I'll post all the pictures of the houses and the folks that built them.

Supper Club Christmas Party

Last night my boss hosted their supper club at their home and invited Patrick and I to join.  They always have a big crowd for Christmas.  Everyone brings their kids that are home from college and we play dirty Santa.  Last year I got my awesome Snuggie.  A good time was had by all.  I took a tic-tac-toe shot glass game.  I thought it was cool (i'm not sure anyone else did).   I got a really cute picture frame and was pretty excited about it.  We have one more Christmas party tonight.  I'm not sure I'm going to make it.  I'm so tired.  I'm not used to staying up this late so many nights in a row!  Luckily I have a pretty laid back office.

Ally was scared while we were playing Dirty Santa so Daddy protected her. 

Jordan was sweet to steal his mom's gift so she could have these cute gloves and a purse she wanted. 

One of the hit gifts.  Vintage sodas and a silly straw.  Other noteables (in case your looking for a hit gift for a party)  Shake Weight, Movie tickets, and gift cards (Target, Starbucks, and iTunes).

Ally got to go with us and she loves their toy box (for their dogs).  She was in the box trying to find the biggest bone they had!

The Alabama Theatre

Tonight Patrick and I went on a little date.  That doesn't happen to often around here so when we get the chance it's usually pretty special.  I took off half a day so we could finish our shopping (we have all but two gifts bought! Yay!).  When we finished shopping we headed to the historic Alabama Theatre to watch Home Alone.   If you've never been you should go if you get the chance.  It is one of the prettiest places I've ever been.  They show holiday movies this time of year and it's always a big hit. 

Source

Isn't it beautiful!

It was a great date night.  Now we're waiting up for the eclipse.  (I doubt I'm going to make it!)

2010 Gingerbread Houses

Just a quick glimpse of the houses.  I'll have a full post up sometime, maybe. 

Beauty and the Beast

This afternoon my sister, Amy and I were so excited because we had tickets to see the live stage version of Beauty and the Beast.  I got to see it when my mom and I went to New York when I was in the 7th grade (about 13 years ago).  I didn't remember a lot of it (I slept through most of it the first time.)  It was so good.  Way better than I remembered!  Beauty and the Beast is my all time favorite Disney movie so I new I'd love it.  We all cried pretty from the ballroom scene till the end.  I just couldn't help it.  It was so good!

This was before we left the house.  No, we didn't plan to coordinate!  It was so much fun and I'm so glad I got to share it with my sisters!

 *Gingerbread House Competition photos will be up tomorrow hopefully so stay tuned for that!

The official kickoff to the Season...

is tonight.

The 3rd Annual Maxwell Family Gingerbread House Competition

This year we are building our own houses and decorating.  I have an idea in my head and I really hope it turns out.  I can't wait!

Just a few pictures from last year.  This year is going to be a lot more intense.  I've been researching plans and pictures for weeks. I can't wait for yall to see!

Dinner with Friends

Last night I met up with a couple of my girlfriends for dinner.  We had a good time.  I don't hang out with them nearly enough.  I'm the only one of our friends without a baby.  (and they all have boys...not one of our friends has a girl yet. kind of crazy)  So where our conversations used to consist of men, shoes, purses and weekends out...now we talk about sleeping habits, teething tablets, daycares and due dates (one of our friends is due any day now).  I love to hear all about the goings on in their new lives.  I love kids and I can usually stay in the conversations using my nieces and nephews.  

Natalie & Caden, me and Marion (Tucker was in his carseat on the floor).

Can I just say that Alabama weather is crazy.  Yesterday we had freeze warnings, schools closed early dues to ice on the roads the high was 32°.  Today it's 65°.  I can't believe it.  Actually I can totally believe it, but it's still pretty crazy.

Baby It's Cold Outside

It is freezing today...literally I think the high was 32°. That is cold! We've had snow flurries all day but nothing is sticking! I went to church and then spent most of the afternoon sitting on the hearth at my parents house in front of the fire.

Ally even climbed up there with me.  She loved the fire too.

This was before we left the house this morning.  I had on my houndstooth scarf and Ally was wearing her houndstooth coat.  Patrick had to take our picture since we matched!

This weekend has been fun and somewhat low key.  Friday night I worked at a Christmas party serving wine and drinks.  I did it last year and had a ball so I was excited when the guys called and wanted me to do it again this year.  Saturday I spent some time with some sweet kiddos to get a shot for their Christmas card.  Then I did some shopping.  I'm really hoping to get most of my shopping done this week because next week it pretty busy.  I need to start wrapping. The holiday season is flying by (as with every other season these days).  I guess that's all for now. 

Christmas Home Tour

 Our Christmas Tree...

I love our tree.  It looks a lot like it did last year (and it will probably look very similar next year too!)  We have so many special ornaments.  Most of them are from my childhood and Patrick and I have started tyring to get an ornament anytime we travel somewhere.  I love that I can tell you where I got almost every ornament on our tree and they each hold such a special memory!  Here are a few special ones.

We got this one when we went to the mountains this year.

I made this one in the 4th grade.  It's always been one of my favorite "school made" ornaments.

This one was given to me on my first Christmas.  Patrick's niece was at our house this weekend and was looking at all the ornaments.  I loved telling her about each one (I know she really didn't care but I still enjoyed it!)  She kept asking if she could have one.  I probably should have just let her take one but I'm not quite ready to part with any of them!

I bought this one on for our 1st married Christmas.

Mom started getting Patrick an ornament after we got married.  She tries to get him a very manly one to balance out all the Barbies I've gotten over the years.

Our Angel on the top.  I love her but she doesn't show up very well so I added some other things up there too.  I don't know if I love it yet or not!

Downstairs in our "Man Room" we have a House Divided tree.  It's Alabama and Auburn and I've also added my cheerleader Barbie and Patrick's ESPN Santa that he got last year.  I've got to add some Auburn shakers to the top. 

It's a white tree with red and blue ribbon although the red ribbon looks orange in these pictures! 

My mom made the bow.  It looks orange and blue but I promise it's red!  I think next year I might skip the bow all together and just add more shakers.

We have two other trees.  One you've already seen HERE. (It's our card tree! Make sure you check it out if you haven't already...it's my favorite!) I feel like this time last year we already had a ton of cards...we've only gotten one so far this year.  I'm afraid we won't get any since I have this super cute way to show them!

The last tree is a small table top tree in the guest room.  I'm calling it Ally's tree.  (Please believe me when I say that I didn't actually put it up for her.  It just has some cute poodle ornaments on it so I called it Ally's tree!) 

I love the way Christmas lights warm a room.  My favorite thing to do at night is sit with all the lights on and just enjoy the season either watching a Christmas movie or listening to Christmas movies. 

Our mantle.  I love the garland.  In the center is our Nativity (it's white and barely shows up in the photos).  To the right is a picture of Patrick and I Christmas morning the first Christmas we were married.  It's pretty funny!  I framed our card for the year that's in the bottom right gold frame.  Everything else is there all the time.  I love Christmas time.  It truly is the most Wonderful time of the year!

Christmas Card

I am so excited to share our Christmas card for 2010!  I have been so pleased with Shutterfly.com! Our cards are beautiful and really heavy quality!  I can't wait for our family and friends to receive them!  This was an awesome promotion and I am so thankful to be a part of it!  I have also ordered a few gifts this year too!  It has been such a pleasant experience working with them and I can't wait till next year!

 

Flourish Elegance Christmas Card

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View the entire collection of cards.

Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity!