Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.....

Our tree is trimmed and our stockings our hung.
Christmas music is blasted daily through every speaker in the house.
Hickory smoke is billowing out of my chimney every single night of the week.
We have been so very blessed.  I am so thankful that Jesus came to this earth to give us a gift worth celebrating!
Joy to the World , the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room!
And Heaven, and nature sing!

Christmas Decorations

My Improvisational centerpiece

I'm making new stockings ;) I found the inspiration for these burlap stockings in a Southern Living magazine.

I like earthy, rustic things :)

Sean made the little wooden candle holders :) these were just test pieces he is going to sink the candle in.

Sean doesn't like this....is it bad?

Love my bargain wreath! I got it at Pottery Barn the day after Cmas for $14!

 Our Christmas Tree

A shot from above

I couldn't get a good pic of the tree.

My favorite Ornaments

Love my woodsy little owl! My sis-in-law Melissa gave this to me last christmas.

I love the reindeer and the Lenox first Christmas ornament that Sean's mom gave us last year.

I love the butterflies and the pinecones.

I wanted the  ornaments like the one in this picture and the picture above this one so bad last year but I was not about to pay the price tag on them. Soo, I bought them after Christmas for 75% off....with a gift card! Score!

This is another first year together ornament from Mimi, Sean's Grandmother. I really love this one too :)

This is another love, My silk tree skirt :)

A little bit of a splurge for me but It was still a great bargain.

I know that was alot of pictures but what can I say?

Love of Decorating+Love of Christmas season=

One very excited me!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid, were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

 The line "the stockings were hung by the chimney with care" has been running through my head ever since I hung my stockings "by the chimney with care" a couple of evenings ago.
I couldn't  remember the rest of the poem so I Googled it.  I found the original version, as well as quite a few parodies of the well known Christmas poem. I thought some of them were amusing renditions so I thought I would post some of them periodically through this month. I also took the liberty of embellishing with pictures.

Politically Correct Night Before Christmas
'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa's a wreck...
How to live in a world that's politically correct?
His workers no longer would answer to "Elves",
"Vertically Challenged" they were calling themselves.

And labor conditions at the north pole
Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.
Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,
Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.

And equal employment had made it quite clear
That Santa had better not use just reindeer.
So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,
were replaced by four pigs and you know that looked stupid!

Dancer

Donner

Comet

Cupid

The runners had been removed from his sleigh;
The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.
And people had started to call for the cops
When they heard sled noises on their roof-tops.

Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.
His fur trimmed red suit was called "Unenlightened."
And to show you the strangeness of life's ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose

And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,
Demanding millions in over-due compensation.
So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,
Who suddenly said she'd enough of this life,

Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,
Demanding from now on her title was Ms.
And as for the gifts, why, he'd ne'er had a notion
That making a choice could cause so much commotion.

Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,
Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.
Nothing that might be construed to pollute.
Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot.

Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise.
Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys.
Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.
Nothing that's warlike or non-pacific.

No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth.
Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.
And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,
Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.

For they raised the hackles of those psychological
Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.
No baseball, no football...someone could get hurt;
Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt

Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;
And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.
So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed;
He just could not figure out what to do next.

He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,
But you've got to be careful with that word today.
His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;
Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.

Something special was needed, a gift that he might
Give to all without angering the left or the right.
A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,
Each group of people, every religion;

Every ethnicity, every hue,
Everyone, everywhere...even you.
So here is that gift, it's price beyond worth...
"May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on earth."