It's On!!

Yes I know - it is only November and yes I am one of those annoying people who hums Christmas carols down the aisles in Target while looking at all of the glorious decorations. I have to admit - the Brown house is decorated and ready and has been since November 1st! Bring it on! We are so excited for Christmas! November 1st is a very special day at the Browns - Halloween is over & it's time to start Christmas! Normally I don't enjoy waking up to Blake & Mackenzie arguing - but this was an exception - I heard Blake say "We are watching Elf first" and Mackenzie argue back "No we are watching Meet Me in Saint Louis". I LOVE IT! It puts a smile on my face - no not that my children are arguing - but Christmas time is here! It's not that Jake & I don't enjoy Thanksgiving - but we just enjoy Christmas so much that one month simply is not enough time to celebrate properly! So in Brown tradition - we had Ryan, Andy & Allison over on the 1st to watch Home Alone & eat pizza. Wonderful! We have probably watched about 5 other Christmas movies since and I must admit that I had some Christmas music playing last night - and I honestly could not have been happier!!

I've included some pictures of the house so far - as well as my lovely Christmas Advent Calendar. Last year I had the brilliant idea (yes I have used a bit of sarcasm) to get crafty and create my own advent calendar. Do I normally sew? No. Do I own a pair of fabric scissors? No. But why should that stop me! I started the project in November - sorry to say 2008. I got a little overwhelmed and realized that I could not possibly finish before Christmas, so I packed my half finished project away. I must admit, I have been dreading breaking out the advent calendar, all of the fun creative work of making each square pocket is done - now all that is left is the tedious work - but I MUST finish it by December 1st! So I have been working away - hoping to finish before Thanksgiving! I'll post more pictures once I've finished. Now just a LOT of sewing BY HAND to go - wish me luck!

If you're wondering what flip flops & flamingos could possibly have to do with Christmas - I decided to make this calendar very much a Brown family calendar - the flip flops represent our time in California & the flamingos the time we spent in Florida. We also have a snowflake square for our Maryland memories :)

Had to have a Cosmo square

The Dickens' Christmas village........for those of you who never visited my parent's house at Christmas - well you really missed out. My dad was crazy about Christmas. He would decorate the house to the point that every surface was covered with Christmas decorations. I honestly have never come across anyone who had so many decorations. This year my mom passed along the Dickens' village to us and we are thrilled to carry on my dad's decorating traditions - fake snow & all!

homemade Christmas pillows - this is why I LOVE our white couch- easy to change up the feel of the room - just by switching out the pillows!

I hesitated even putting this picture up - if you notice the picture in the center of the mantle - yes that is Jake & I - in Christmas pajamas. I think we both around 17 years old. Have I mentioned that my dad was a Christmas nut - well one of our family traditions was to take pictures every year in our Christmas PJs - Jake joined in on this one with our family.

The Leg Lamp - in all it's glory!


I hope to have many more Christmas posts.....but until then......

Merry Christmas!!