And so this was Christmas

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I hope each and every one of you had a nice holiday, filled with joy, relaxation, and good food!
A few days before...Ben and his best buddy playing XBox

A vintage stocking I repaired

My initials on some beautiful laundry tape I found on eBay and ordered from France; it arrived on Christmas eve.
Using the good stuff

The second table, which inadvertently became "the kid's table"
I don't remember what I was talking about!  (With Rebecca at dinner...)

Okay, admit it: you've taken photos with your own feet in them!
Dennis gets a gift
The boys on Christmas morning, playing with their gadgets
It seems like every photo of my son these days looks like this!
This year, we all got iPhones (back in mid-October) and agreed that would be our Christmas splurge.  So, although we've had our "gifts" for a couple of months now, we're all still novices at using them.  (Well, except for Ben, who is applying his iPod Touch knowledge to the phone...)  I haven't had time yet to fully explore all that the phone has to offer, but I'm working on it!

As you know from earlier blog posts, we're in trying financial times right now with my husband's new job paying less (but being a better fit for him.)  Therefore, Christmas was quite lean this year.  I very much enjoyed this approach.  I plan to keep spending down and frugality up during all of 2012 and beyond, as my son's college years quickly approach!
 
We got the biggest snow of the year yet a couple of days before Christmas; it wreaked havoc for those last minute shoppers -- and I was glad that didn't include me!  Here's a view of America's Mountain (as we like to call Pike's Peak) as we were leaving a restaurant after breakfast last Friday.
Me shoveling the driveway, later that same day!
The hot chocolate that we never got around to serving on Christmas Eve; other things we didn't get around to doing included showing the year-in-review slideshow I made for the digital picture frame, singing the Christmas song Ben practiced on his guitar for a sing-a-long, and eating the Dreyer's peppermint ice cream!

I'm in a post-holiday, mellow kind of slump right now, how about you? 

I will now get off the computer and go to swim some laps, as the slump has included fewer trips to the gym and that is Not Good!

Yessiree, any minute now I'm going to get off the computer and go exercise...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi, funny, I noticed the photo of everyone wearing the paper crowns from the party crackers. We have a tradition in our family where we open the crackers and wear the crowns during Christmas dinner. Makes for some silly photos. I hope you have a great New Year!
December 28, 2011 at 12:57 PM
karen hess jewelry said…
What a beautiful collage of memories, Laurie! I love each one of them...we, too, cut back this year. The girls received a number of handcrafted items from me and dh and i stopped with the big gifts 10 yrs. ago and indulge in stuffing stockings (which is the BEST!). When I think of our time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the memories of having our girls with us, sharing meals, going to Mass, and just plain loving the moments are what come to mind. Oh, and we forgot about our Dreyer's Peppermint ice cream as well!!
Happy New Year, dear friend!
xoxo
Karen
December 28, 2011 at 6:14 PM
Kathy said…
Looks like you had a lovely time and oh yes I agree - I am off work this week and need to STOP EATING for a while or I will be returning to the office in my yoga pants - LOL!
December 28, 2011 at 11:18 PM
Unknown said…
IPhone - You will get addicted to the camera options I guarantee! There are so many that make such beautiful images. I really love the vintage movie maker it has too. Love your photo of the Peep snowman in the hot chocolate - great idea. We always end up eating whatever we didn't get to at Christmas for New Years. Glad you had a great time!
December 29, 2011 at 6:44 PM
LuLu Kellogg said…
I am probably the only person that does not have one of those fancy phones! I just have a little basic one for emergencies only. We just don't use them since we have unlimited long distance on our house phone. I have wanted one for a long time that does all the fancy things! I will have to live vicariously through you!

You looked so pretty in the black top with the little ruffley jacket! That makes me sooooooooo happy to see it!

Happy New Year Sweetness!

Love,
LuLu~*xoxo
December 30, 2011 at 7:15 PM
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