New!

So I thought I'd show you what I did new this year in the Christmas department.

This is my favorite tree. 

My mom loaded me down with gingerbread men, and then I added the yard ornament candy canes.  Kyle is my Christmas tree light turner on-er, and he tells me every night, "Mommy, this is my favorite tree."

And though Kyle hasn't tried to eat the giant candy canes, he has engaged in quite a few "sword fights" with Reed.

This bookshelfy thing usually sits behind my couch, but I moved it into my kitchen this year.  It's been a perfect place to display all my smaller trees. 

 Soooo glad my DELI sign is red.  It goes perfect with Christmas decorations!

I call this my Snow Baby Tree.  I picked these blue ornaments up at Pier 1 after Christmas and had no idea what I'd do with them.  I love how they look with the icicles.

I surprised JR with a Cub Scout tree for his room.  He squealed when he saw it, so I guess that means he likes it.

And finally, though it's not a new tree, it's in a new location. 

Jason had to move the mountain lion to our room so we could put up our big tree in the living room.

I figured the lion wouldn't mind wearing a Texas cowboy hat, even though he's a New Mexican.

Who Has Time To Blog....

when pink Christmas trees are naked, and need to be dressed in fabulousness?!

They're not just gonna decorate themselves, you know.

Countdown Time

You know what today is, right?

September 1st. 

Officially two months until I start putting up my Christmas decorations!

*Woohoo! Happy Dance! Jazz Hands!*

(But let's be honest, Halloween falls on a Monday, so I'll actually probably start putting them up on October 29th...wouldn't want to loose that weekend.)

Unfortunately, I'm already bothered by a very serious decorating dilemma.

Jason's mountain lion has moved into the spot where I put our biggest tree.

There's no place else in the house the tree will fit. 

I've already threatened told Jason that if he doesn't move the lion, it will be wearing (at minimum) a Christmas tu-tu. 

 I don't have girls to dress up, so I will go there on this lion.

And just so you know how big this thing is, here's Kyle and Reed as height/size gauges.

Anybody want to babysit a lion for 2 months?

Can You Believe Jason Let Me Do This?!

Because 9 large, fully-decorated Christmas trees just aren't enough, I talked Jason into letting us go get a real tree.

Now had I been wanting Jason to go to Walmart to get a real tree, it would have been a no-go.  But since we can go out in the National Forest and cut down our own, he was all for it. 

(Normally, we wouldn't be able to do this since you need 4-wheel drive during the winter, but since we haven't had much snow, we didn't have any problems getting there.)

Our $8 Christmas tree permit. 

We had two tree requirements: small and close to the road. 

This one fit the bill!

 Not sure what Kyle was "ang-a-ree" about.  I think he thought Reed picked out the tree.

The big guys bringing in the equipment.

We started out with the "traditional chop" with everybody taking a turn swinging.  Kyle perked up when he saw tools appear.

After it fell, Jason and JR cleaned it up with the chainsaw.

Reed was scared of the saw and wasn't letting go of Ayi's leg!

Our tree held up by JR.

The hike to the car.

Soooo, the tree wasn't quite as small as we thought.

 There wasn't a place it would fit in the house, (without blocking the TV) so I now have a back porch tree! 

I wanted it to look "natural", so I used white, sliver, and light blue ornaments to resemble snow and ice.

And BTW, real trees are much harder to decorate than fake ones!

Spotlight On...

my favorite Christmas tree this year. 

I finished up decorating last Wednesday.  It took me a full week, but it's done, and now I can sit back and enjoy it until Christmas night.  (That's when it starts coming down.)

All the regulars are up this year (Texas tree, Chinese tree, JR's artwork tree) but I have a new one this year that is my favorite (right now, anyway).

Pier 1 (Where else do I have to shop?) was selling this tree as an Easter tree.  I kept my eye on it, and the day after Easter I was there to buy the only one left in the store.  But as Pier 1 does, it's in the store right now, and they're selling it as a Christmas tree.  Thanks for continuing to keep me in style even after I buy your stuff on sale, Pier 1!  These butterflies are also Pier 1 after Easter, and the silver balls were just in my Christmas stash . 

As you can imagine, I just adore it.  I mean, can you get more Jan than a tree that looks like a giant feather boa! 

 Loves it!

Paging Dr. Jan

My mom gives me an amazing Christmas present every year.

She helps me take down my decorations.

The best thing about my mom's ability to "get the decorations jerked down" (as she would say) is that she's super fast.  The worst thing is that she's super fast.

Needless to say, fragile things may or may not live to see the next year.

Although some victims never made it to the operating table, many were broken but salvageable.

All they needed was a trip to Dr. Jan's office, and an appointment with my handy-dandy glue gun.

(Oh, and you'll never believe it...I didn't burn myself at all!)

And no, these weren't all my patients, just my most critically injured.

As you can see, both Santas were pretty perturbed about being sliced in half and loosing a hand, respectively.

They actually didn't seem much happier after leaving the recovery room.

Appendages seemed to be a big ticket health care item this year.

 Happy Family. As good as new.

Poor Baby Jesus got put through the ringer last year.

But now he's sleeping soundly in the manger...Until Kyle finds him.

But, my biggest operation couldn't be performed on the kitchen counter.  I knew it was bad when I heard Jason say, "Come here. You're going to be upset."

We didn't know if Santa was going to pull through or not, so Kyle held his hand during the tense procedure.

Hallelujah, he made it!

Hot glue, you are a wonder drug!

That's Entertainment

So what do Kyle and Reed do while I'm busy decorating for Christmas?

(Besides "help".)

They play Wii with the extension cords.  Best I can tell, Extension Cord Wii has an awesome Tom and Jerry game.

They also ride around in their car. 

Reed is the driver (no surprise there), and they go "running and to WalMart".

Guess that shows you how exciting my life is!

And Now It's 'Beyond' Ridiculous

My friend, Cassidy, sent me a text picture today. 

Here's what it was:

So now it seems I have to add Bed Bath &Beyond to "my list" too. 

It Really is a Conspiracy!

Alrighty.

So this has now escalated to ridiculous.  And when I say 'ridiculous' I, of course, mean it should definitely be one of Wendy Williams' Hot Topics. (How you doin'?)

Remember my post about how Hobby Lobby refuses to supply products for us I People?  How I really wanted one of their cute, decorative, initial pumpkins (which were 75% off this week, BTW) but they didn't order any 'I's'. (After my post both my mother-in-law and my friend, Adrienne, went to the Hobby Lobbys by their homes and came up 'I' empty handed.  Adrienne even asked the manager and was told "we didn't order any I's...and lots of people have asked for them."

Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg, my friends!

Because I have the inside scoop on what's going on over at Pottery Barn.

Oh yeah, I do.

My opera-singing-boy-BFF, JD, works at Pottery Barn as a side gig, and just check out what was on his blog yesterday. 

To summarize:

Pottery Barn has been and will again be selling Glitter Letter Ornaments (a circular ornament with letters at the center) and there was a directive from the top with the following statement:

Glitter Letter Ornaments should be organized alphabetically in red shelf organizers. …

NOTE: Due to small projected sales, the following letters will not be produced: I, O, Q, U, X, Y, Z.

Um-hum.

So that puts you on my list too, PB.

Watch yourself.  I have a few phone calls to make.

Who She Think She Is?

Or if you prefer we could use my alternate title: Who Dat Be?

I bought the most gorgeous nativity scene this weekend at the famous St. Francis Cathedral Basilica. I was so excited that I'd bought the last one, that I didn't notice a problem right away.

Cows and sheep? Check.

(I just love their big Restylane filled pale pink glossy lips!)

Wise men bearing gifts? Check.

Angel, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus? Check.

So if you're keeping score, that means we're missing the shepards. 

Now being raised a good Southern Baptist with a German Jew Presbyterian mom, I'm not well versed in Catholicism.  I do have lots of Catholic friends, but I've never heard them mention anything about the pretty girls visiting Baby Jesus at the manger. 

Shepards? I'm thinking not.

Don't get me wrong, I love these girls, they're precious.  I'm just honestly trying to figure out who they are! Ideas?

Exciting, Exciting Stuff

Two months from today my Christmas decorations go up!

One's Down!

We were getting ready to go to a Christmas party Saturday night when I realized I hadn't seen the babies in the last 5 seconds. About that time Reed (master of everyone's business) ran in to tattle on his brother. Reed thinks he's carrying on a full conversation with me, but when I heard the "Uh-oh" and "Oh no!" part of his story, I knew I needed to investigate. It didn't take me long to find Kyle placing Christmas "ornaments" in his bed. And with the tree now on the floor, it made his ornament picking that much easier. (I put 'ornaments' in quotes, because in Kyle's defense, the ornaments on their tree are actual toys.) But not only did I find half the ornaments in Kyle's bed, but seems he also decided he was going to sleep with the top of the tree. Kyle just looked at me and said, "Oh No!" It was if he was saying, "I was just standing here, and the tree came falling down, and then these ornaments and the top of the tree just jumped in my bed. And Oh No! How will we ever go on when such a horrible thing has happened and I had nothing to do with it?"

But hey, I think we're doing great. 8 trees and only 1 down!

Lip Service

Just add this to the list of things I never thought I'd say.
It was right before bedtime when I found myself chasing Kyle around the house screaming, "Get Baby Jesus out of your mouth!" "Kyle! Stop! You can't eat Baby Jesus!" I guess JR's Christmas play didn't have much of an impact. Poor Baby Jesus. He was almost eaten by a hippopotamus, He's been thrown down the stairs more times than I can count, and last night He was a stand-in for Kyle's pacifier. I'd say that's a Savior you can count on!

Breaking News!

Whew! Baby Jesus has been found!

I have all the Nativity scenes that the kids can play with on shelves they can reach. ("Fancy" Nativities are out of reach.) Baby Jesus, a camel, and a sheep were missing this morning. We found the animals, but Reed and I just couldn't find Baby Jesus. Reed was very upset about missing Baby Jesus and even took the empty manger to show Jason. But not to worry, just a minute a ago I found Baby Jesus hiding on the island in our kitchen. I quickly went and laid him in His manger, but then noticed something was amiss. It seems that according to the Ingersoll version of that night in Bethlehem, a dangerous African animal was also present. And is it just me, or does it look like a Wise Man may need to step in before things take a turn for the worse?

Little Miss Christmas

Okay so I'm pretty proud of my decorating progress. Chinese tree-done. JR's tree-done. Texas tree-done. And as I type this, I've got my little Christmas decorator extraordinaire working on the family tree. I've said it before, but as much as JR is like Jason, he's actually really good at decorating Christmas trees...yeah for the Reynolds' Christmas decorating genes! But even more exciting than decorating this year, was a few days ago I got a surprise from my friend, Julie. (We were buddies in China; she's in Ohio now.) Knowing how much I love Christmas decorations (we used to make an annual trip to a Christmas ornament factory in Beijing) she sent me this super cute T-shirt. Christmas and costuming (okay, almost costuming) what could be better? Nothing I can think of. So here I am (in my Little Miss Christmas T) , in front of my completed Texas tree. Yeee-Haw!

T Minus 2 Months

I finished Reed's Christmas stocking today! And how appropriate since it's exactly two months until I start putting my Christmas decorations up. I'm so excited since I only put up one tree last year due to the babies and the move. I've even started rearranging furniture in my head so they'll be plenty room for the trees. Last night I informed Jason that I'm going to need to buy some new Christmas ornaments this year. He actually took the news much better than I thought he would. (Of course I waited until he was almost asleep before I let him in on that little tidbit.) Jason's comment: "Um, I thought we weren't putting all those trees up this year." My comment: "Um, No. We're putting them all up, having an open house, and actually I'm adding a Colorado tree to go with our Texas and Chinese trees." (Hence the reason I need some new ornaments.) I was talking to my friend, JD, this morning and we were laughing about what would be appropriate decor for a Colorado tree...Let's just say my "W" paraphernalia on my Texas tree probably won't work for both!

Back to Work

So the last time I wrote about this was waaay back on December 12th. I never finished Reed's Christmas stocking (relying on the excuse that at less than a year old, he'd have no idea if he had a stocking or not). But Friday night I went back to work. I'm determined to have ALL my Christmas decorations up and ready to go at the appropriate time (just like a good Reynolds should). And that 'appropriate time' should be right after Halloween. I thought if I posted my stocking process I'd do a better job keeping up with it. I've been sewing green leaves since Friday night. See those leaves? Each one has to be cut out and sewn on individually (and green leaves go along the bottom too). Go, Me, Go!

It's Never Ending

As you can see, stocking number 2 still isn't finished. If you're keeping track, I've been sewing Christmas stockings for 56 days, 29 of which have been on this stocking. Now Jason will be quick to tell you I haven't actually worked on this stocking everyday, but he'd also be quick to point out that he's had to look at stockings and the craft supplies that go with them on our coffee table and couch for 56 days...so he's ready to get this over with too. There's still so much more left to do, and I just don't see it getting done by Christmas. I could be working on it right now, but complaining about it on my blog is just so much more fun!

Candy Land

I bought JR a Christmas gingerbread house to decorate way back before Halloween. I found it at Costco, and as I have learned, if you don't buy it when you see it, it'll be gone the next time. I knew JR would beg nonstop to put it together, so I told him he wasn't allowed to ask about it until after Thanksgiving. So today was house building day. I was certain that JR would want me to help him with his gingerbread house. I mean, come on, I should have been a total shoe-in, right? There's the Christmas stockings he's been watching me make, he's seen my handywork in hat decorating, and he even watched me embellish Kyle's lion Halloween costume (which Jason thought made it look "too girly"). But even with my extensive craft resume, he still wanted Jason to help him. He made up some excuse about how "Daddy is better at following directions than Mommy" and "Daddy can build anything by reading the directions". Whatever. He really picked Jason because he thinks his daddy's more fun. I know what you're thinking...Jason more fun than you, Jan? No way! Well, I guess to a 5 year old, Jason would be the fun one. JR hasn't been out on the town to witness my Oops! I Did It Again Britney routine, he doesn't know how much fun a themed dinner party with costumes can be, and he certainly doesn't know how close I was to the front row at the Justin Timberlake concert (Thanks again, Allison). No, it's probably best he think that Daddy is the fun one. And they can make all the gingerbread houses they want...I'll just take the pictures.

Baby Talk-Fun New Game

Kyle: So I saw where Mommy blogged that she doesn't think our game of "open and shut the TV cabinet doors" is so much fun.
Reed: But I know she just has to LOVE our new favorite game of "run off with the Christmas tree ornaments" that we've been playing since the tree went up.
K: She won't let us crawl around downstairs because she's afraid we'll pull the tree on top of us.
R: Ya know, Kyle, we probably would.
K: Of course we would! How cool would that be?
R: But since she won't let us crawl, we try to talk her into letting us cruise around in the Tijuana Taxi as much as possible.
K:And as you can see, the Tijuana Taxi is the perfect height for getting right up to the Christmas tree...AND....

K: picking out just the right Christmas tree ornament, you can see I'm making my selection very carefully.

R: I'm more of a snatch and run man myself. I grab whatever I can and then take off. Look at me go!

K: I'm always on the lookout for my favorite Santa. I pick him every time. I love you, Santa!

R: Dude! You can't chew on Santa! Have you lost your mind? He's in charge of the presents, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want your baby slobber all over him!

Santa, My name is Reed. It's my brother, Kyle, that chews on you. Feel free to contact me if you need further clarification, I certainly don't want any kind of a mix-up on Christmas morning!