Bye, Bye, Christmas...You Will Be Missed

 The decorations are packed away, the floors have been vacuumed and mopped...

and things around here seem fresh and renewed.

There is a calm about the house and although I miss the Christmas decor,

I am enjoying the fresh cleanliness that has come over the house.

This is how home looks today, without any "staging"!

Here are pictures of the "mess zone"...our shared home office/craft room/dining room.

My "desk" is to the right, 

you may have guessed that, the hubs is messy, his work and computer are on the left.

Fireplace in the Living Room, the stone goes all the way to the upstairs!

I am not a minimalist, but everything in my home has purpose or meaning.

Now, I look forward to having more time to enjoy the 1000 hobbies I already have.

And time to explore something new...

I need a new craft for the "new to you make along" challenge that I will be participating in.

 If you have a suggestion, mention it in the comments.

I am thinking about watercolors, I have worked with paint, but never with watercolors.

If You Own Just One Book...

 I don't have a large library of books,

 memory issues keep me from enjoying books...but I use to love to read.

If you were to have only one book in your collection, it should be

"The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse"

by Charlie Mackesy

It is a wonderful work of art, 

a book about love, friendship and kindness!

I have read it many times and I read it again to write this post, it's such a wonderful read.

I have several of my favorite pages bookmarked.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"kind" said the boy.

"Being kind to yourself is one of the greatest kindnesses" said the mole.

"Most of the old moles I know wish they had listened less to there fear's and more to their dreams".

Another wonderful book...

"maybe"

by Kobi Yamada

A story about the endless potential in all of us

Maybe you are here to help in ways that only you can?

One thing is for sure, you are here, And because you are here...

...anything is possible.

- reading gives us someplace to go, when we have to stay where we are -

Isn't that a great quote!

Silver Lining...

 I wanted to sleep in on Monday, but I had an appointment and had to rise early.

The hubs got up with me, and opened the blinds to this...

The sky was on fire, a golden orange, not the pinks and purples I generally see...

I must stop sleeping in, this is such a beautiful way to start the day!

- dance...when the sun comes up -

Celebrating Christmas At Home

Here's a little tour of the house when it is decorated for Christmas.

It looks about the same every year, I use the same decorations and I don't move things around much.

If you have seen pictures of the house before, you can exit now, it's all about the same as last year.

First up, the Family Room

Kitchen

Santa hangs on the back of the fireplace,

I bought this when the boys were little and just can't part with it!

I decorate the Living Room with shades of gold...

These snowman are my favorites!

Zero Days Until Christmas

I always feel a little bummed when this says "0"! 

Not Christmas morning, but every day after!

"We" finished the Gingerbread House and I am only a tad proud.

I picked up a lot of great ideas when we visited the Gingerbread Contest.

And what about that roof, so cool, right?

The trees are my Christmas cookies,

I would have put more in the snow, but the hubs did not want to part with them.

The hubs bought me an official KC Chiefs Jersey.

Patrick Mahomes of course.

He is an awesome player but more than that, I love his story.

He is engaged to his high school sweetheart and lives a very humble life,

except for his sneaker collection.

He's so kind and at only 26, he already has a Super Bowl ring.

He led the Kansas City Chiefs to a Super Bowl Championship when he was just 24.

The Bucket List is going well...now, all I need is snow!

My great nieces got a puppy for Christmas, Lucy, is she not adorable?

- let the light of christmas, make the "season" extra long and extra bright -

The Lights...

 We drove around to look at Christmas lights twice.

The "more serious" ride was Christmas Eve, Eve...where we had our hot chocolate, 

The Scavenger Hunt and "the list"!

Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt

I lost!

The local dance studio,

Dance For Joy

entertains the community with their "live" window dance shows.

They have two sets/backgrounds that they dance in front of, 

they do approximately 10 dances in total to beautiful Christmas music.

Viewing is done from outside, in the cold, and that makes the entire experience wonderful.

- let's dance and sing and make good cheer, for christmas comes but once a year -