Christmas Visions...

As I sat there enjoying the lovely strains of "Joy to the World" during the Christmas program at church today,  I suddenly realized that I was surrounded by visions of Christmas loveliness.  Sounds lofty, eh?  Maybe.  But since it's my phrase of the week, it's what was in my brain.   

Beautiful musical numbers, uplifting talks, cute kids, handsome husband of 17 years, awe-inspiring paper program, you know....the works. 

So I came home and decided that I needed to document a glimpse into these visions.   

My visions of Christmas loveliness: 


Our tree.  We've had this baby for 16 years now and fully intend to have it another 16 more.  With Glen's allergies, this is as "real" as we get in our house. 

Our leaf-strewn snowman.   Although I'm not wishing for as much snow as we got last winter, I do like having a few snowstorms during the year to give them a taste of winter fun...and a week before Christmas is awesome! 

Our handmade nativity.  My sister AnnaLisa got on a creative kick last year and made these beautiful nativities for several members of our family last year.   I totally love it! 

Christmas goodies.  Sure, I'm getting a little overdosed on sugar and will be good and ready for our sugar diet again in January, but in the meantime I sure am having fun making and sharing all these sweet treats! 

And last, but not least, my Christmas cuties.   We're too low-maintenance for special Christmas dresses, but some cute wintery earrings sure got them excited. 

Emma was thrilled to get rid of the rats that had taken up residence in her hair this past week.  It took half hour of brushing this morning, but finally her hair is smooth and soft again and it only added to the lovely Christmas vision! 

Ellie's too little to have her ears pierced (9-years-old is when our family does it), but her flippy hair and denim dress sure made me smile today.  We needed those smiles too, since increasing her medication dose this morning, she's falling all over herself again. 

And what about my boys, you say?  Well, they had a hard act to follow with the sparkly earrings and cute hair-dos, but Spencer did his best to match up. 

Adam knew he didn't stand a chance of competing with that kind of Christmas loveliness, so he stayed far away from the camera instead. 

And my one last vision of Christmas loveliness (boy, am I in love with that phrase) is that we almost finished our shopping yesterday.  As per our anniversary tradition, Glen and I spent the day shopping.  Throw in a delicious dinner at our favorite restaurant, Sweetwater Tavern, and it ended up being a lovely way to celebrate our 17th anniversary! 

Now, I'm going to ask Spence if I can borrow his socks....