New Tradition: Heirloom Tablecloth

This is the third year we've had Christmas Eve dinner at our abode.  I say dinner...yes, we eat...but nothing fancy---just homemade pizza and salad!  We've been doing homemade pizza as a family on Christmas Eve for a really long time.  Can't remember how long...but we always had it at my Grandma's house and ate by candlelight out on her patio (indoor patio...it *is* December!).

This year, we started a new tradition!  I got the idea from a magazine...you can read that article here: Heirloom Tablecloth

Everyone signs the tablecloth...and then I will embroider the handwriting onto it to keep forever.  The plan is to break out the sheet...errrr...tablecloth every time we have guests over.  I will use a different color thread for each gathering that we have in order to keep track of which guests were present on which dates.

I just took a giant sheet and covered my table (and actually put a smaller tablecloth on top out of fear of getting the white sheet entirely destroyed and dirty).  We each signed our names with Crayola Washable Markers--no other kind...they completely wash out of clothing (and tablecloths) with no effort.  Once everyone signed, I went to work with the hand stitching.  I worried that my hand stitching was so poor that it would all come out in the wash, but it didn't!  :-)

So for 2011, we will always remember...

We had pizza for Christmas Eve dinner.  Although, I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of pizza to come on future Christmas Eves...

I'm debating whether I should sign it each time.  Of course I'm here!  I cooked!

Marin was here and could only offer sweet scribbles...

Emory could write his name forwards...and backwards...

Annnnnnnnd...we had toilet troubles this holiday season, as evidenced by Evander's drawing of a plunger and overflowing water.  :-P

Of course, we actually had guests who signed the tablecloth, too...I just always feel a little weird posting their photos, photos of their full names, etc. without them knowing it!  :-P

Christmas Roundup

Here's what we've been up to:

We made felt ornaments with these gorgeous sequins that belonged to my Grandma O...

I'm trying to figure out what's on Emory's lips?

We decorated our tree...

And decorated other things, too...

The boys wanted a tree in their room this year!

I got to attend Emory's Christmas party at school...

...And I received this sweet ornament from my boy.  He gave me a GIANT kiss when he handed me the gift bag.  :-)

I got to attend Evander's Christmas party at school, too!  That's me improvising, reading the kids a story as the mom who was going to do a craft with the kids didn't show up.  :-/

...And I received this to go on the fridge.  How stinking cute is this picture?

The boys were in a performance at church for AWANA...Evander had a speaking part!  We obviously missed the "wear red" memo.

...and Emory really like ringing his bells.  :-)

Look at these completely adorable snowmen our neighbor made the kids!  Chocolate bar inside.  :-)

The boys and I got to work on this tree together to help decorate the hallway at Evander's school.

And the pizza crusts are getting ready for their toppings for Christmas Eve dinner!  No one tell my dad that there's whole wheat flour in them.  :-P

And this will be served tonight, too.  Yummmmmmmmm...

The Stockings Were Hung...

This year, I had a lot of fun quilting stockings for my family.  I wanted to try out several different quilt patterns for the first time, and the stockings were the perfect size for doing so.

I really wanted to make this to hang the stockings on: Hang those stockings!  But, alas, time has run out and command strip hooks will have to do.  Maybe next year.

There's one for Big Brother...

Little Brother/Big Brother...

Little Sister...

And even one for Mommy and Daddy...

Self-portrait of apron #6 :-P

I'm totally impressed that they are cuffed and lined as well.  I just happened to have some red lining fabric from my junior year's prom dress from high school.  :-P  I always knew I wanted to make stockings with it!  ;-)

Evander just wanted his whole stocking with the dinosaur fabric.

 

Emory's was a disappearing nine-block pattern.

Marin's was a pinwheel pattern...and I had to applique a shoe to it since she is obsessed with shoes.  :-)

Hourglass pattern...

And chevron.  Thinking I want to make a chevron quilt some day...

Magazine Trees

I first saw these at our Aunt's house last week.  They looked fabulous and she showed me how to make them.  She got the idea from Martha Stewart...so somewhere out there, there is a Martha Stewart instructional five times longer than it needs to be.  :-)

The dancing doggie!  Marin always liked seeing this cover at Bumpa  & Barbie's.

Start with an old magazine.  I really liked working with the Reader's Digest size.  :-)  A bone folder helps with some magazines...not needed for RD as the pages are so thin.

Suddenly, the dancing doggie dropped her drink!

Fold the top right corner down to the bottom left.

Oh, no!  A tornado!

Fold the hypotenuse of the triangle to the binding of the magazine. 

You wouldn't have all of these folds in your photo if you didn't get ahead of yourself. 

Tuck the flap in.  The bone folder comes in hand on this step, as it is nice to fold the flap up first to get a solid crease, and then tuck it in.  Wam, bam, boom!

Do this to all of the pages.

It is best (easier) to do the magazine like an assembly line, and do all the pages with folding step one...then do all the pages with folding step two, etc.  

Excitable Emory

We glittered ours!  Having actual glitter spray would have been more efficient...but we only had clear coat spray and shaker glitter.  Then we added jewels with the hot glue gun.  :-)

And here are your rocket ships...I mean, trees!  They're rocket ships if you are a six-year-old boy.  

So What, I Peeked!?!!

Of course I peeked into my present from Evander!  It's just what I do.  :-P

Evander was soooooo excited for school on Thursday because it was the day his class was allowed to shop in the Santa Secret Shop.  :-)  Multiple times during the bedtime process, he would ask, "My money's in my bag, right???"  It was so fun to watch him leave Thursday morning (usually, kind of sad to see him go), but he would put on the tease of, "I can't tell you what I'm getting you."  :-)

Once he ran off the school bus and came inside at the end of the day, he dumped his bag and all of the goodies with it.  He gave me my present and told me to open it now!  I really tried to explain to him that I wanted to wait so that Mommy had something to open on Christmas Day.  We settled on opening the gifts from him on Christmas Eve.

I knew right away what it was...small, square box.  I tried to drop hints all week:  "Mommy doesn't have pierced ears," "Mommy doesn't really wear jewelry," "Boy, I sure do wish I had a calculator that worked!" ;-)  I just thought, I didn't want to get stuck with a piece of chincy jewelry that I would feel obligated to wear a lot.  Evander didn't get the hints.

But, last night, when I opened the box, the ring just became sweeter, and I fell in love with it.  Granted, he may have been convinced by the mom helper to pick a ring...or convinced by his buddy, Brycen, who bought his mom a ring...but, *this* is what my son lovingly picked for me and this is what he is so eagerly anticipating giving me.  I love it.

I can't wait to hug him on Christmas Eve and thank him for it.  I can't wait to wear it with happiness that he is my son and as a reminder of our love for each other when he is at school.  Almost like an engagement ring, huh?

O, Christmas Tree Trip Ornaments

I'm just looking at my Christmas tree, and I love it.  I hope it stays in its shape and form throughout the Christmas season.  Ha.

Last year's tree

You just never know with boys and a little curious girl in the house!  Oh, and neighbor friends...and a cat...and trying to get the laundry basket in the little foot-wide path we have between the tree and the couch.  :-P  I am ever increasingly afraid to put the breakable ornaments on, of course.  I had one of my favorites break last year when the tree crashed to the floor.  :-/  But, things breaking are a part of having little kids.

I love pulling each ornament out of the box and remembering where it came from and who I was with at the time.   I had to move lightning fast this year as three pair of little hands were very interested in helping me and pulled out ornaments at their pleasure.  New this year, was that Evander wanted to put a little tree in his and Emory's bedroom, so he was pulling the ones out that he liked and claimed them for his tree.  Let it go, Michelle....let it go....

So here is a little stroll down memory lane.  There are certainly many, many more ornaments on the tree that I treasure, but this was fun to remember the trips we've been on.

Captiva Island 2004

Obviously, this ornament came from Captiva Island from our Honeymoon.  My camera got lost in the wedding shuffle and I ended up not having it for this trip!  :-(  I had to buy a stupid disposable camera, which took really lousy pictures.  It still upsets me!  Ha.  :-(  Oh well...guess we'll have to go back some day soon.  

New Hampshire/Massachusetts 2005

I got this ornament from the Yankee Candle Flagship store in Deerfield, Massachusetts, just down the road from where my sister lived at the time.  Nick and I went to visit his brother and sister-in-law in New Hampshire first, then to my sister and brother-in-law's in Massachusetts.  We visited Hampton Beach, Portsmouth, the UMass campus and lots of hidden places in The Valley.  I was three months pregnant with Evander and we hiked 7 1/2 miles with my sister (phew!  Hard work being pregnant), therefore, there is a picture of Nick carrying me on his shoulders...ha!.

Arizona 2006

We visited Nick's parents in Arizona before Christmas when Evander was 14 months old.  Can I just say how simple it is to have one child?  Man, I'm looking back on these pictures and goodness.  Although, you think it's difficult at the time.  The ornament is from the Casa Grande gift shop, one of the first things we did on the trip.  It is one of those hand-painted-on-the-inside ornaments.  We also visited Saguarro National Park, The Grand Canyon, the PHX Zoo lights and went to a church from which I received the thimble ornament.  It represents that we only really know a thimble full compared to what God has planned for our lives.

West Virginia 2008

We got together with all of Nick's extended family for a family reunion at Black Water Falls in Tucker County, West Virginia.  I rode seven hours sharing the middle seat sandwiched between two car seats in the back of my in-laws' truck.  Ouch!!!  I consider that one of the craziest things I've ever done.  What a BEAUTIFUL place.  Oh my.  It's breathtaking.  The mountain laurel was in bloom (pictured above) and there were rhododendrons everywhere!  Getting ready to bloom, sadly, they likely did about a week after we left.  We had an awesome time together hiking, whitewater rafting and just hanging out.  We didn't see any black bears, but they are supposedly abundant.

Arizona 2008

Again, we were blessed to visit Arizona at Christmas time.  This ornament was from Popper & Cinder to Emory, and he was asking for it as soon as we brought the ornament boxes in this year. We visited Saguarro National Park, Tombstone, Montezuma Castle and the Red Rocks of Sedona.  The trip ended on a crazy mountain road in snow/rain mix in the dark, peeing on the side of the road, and poor Emory got carsick.  :-(  That's another crazy experience.  All my crazy times seem to happen with the Fedors!  Just kidding.  ;-)

Cincinnati 2009

Thank goodness there's spell check because I can never remember if there are to n's or two t's in Cincinnati!  We went to Cincinnati to visit Entertrainment Junction, but we went to the zoo and Skyline, of course!

Cincinnati 2010

And we went back to Entertrainment Junction a year and a half later!  The boys love trains and this is such an awesome place for train lovers.  Note that this trip, there is one more passenger!  :-)

I sure didn't buy an ornament when we were in Arizona this year!  Bummer.

***UPDATE***

I sure did buy an ornament in Arizona this summer!  It's been staring at for four and a half months above our kitchen table.

Must have been camouflaged

Arizona 2011

We visited Arizona during the hottest time of the year.  It's completely fine as long as you do indoor things in the afternoon, and have a swimming pool nearby.  :-)  So yeah...we were in the water so much, Nick got sick of the pool!  Evander learned to swim by the end of our week-long stay, which was awesome.  We did cowboy stuff, Nick and I got away to a hotel, and we visited the Grand Canyon where Nick hiked to the bottom and back up to the top in one morning.  I thought the ornament was a Ringtail when I bought it, which is a Canyon animal, but when I read that tag once we got home...it's a RACCOON!  Sure didn't need to go all the way to the Grand Canyon for a raccoon.  Ha.

Hers, Mine, Ours

Her deerie

My deerie.  Will I ever be able to do something crafty with it if she keeps carrying it around all day?

My hair

Her hair.  Ha...she claims my hair as her own and calls it, "My hair."

Her silverware

My silverware.  Commandeered while I was cleaning the bathroom.

My cheesecake

Her cheesecake

Our cheesecake.  Baby Girl in a cheesecake coma.