Primitive Rug for Christmas

Here is my new primitive rug hubby got me for Christmas. I just LOVE it! Bit by bit, piece by piece, I'm turning our home into the Colonial/Primitive decor I love!

Early Christmas Present! New Grand-baby Evelyn

Christmas came early for us this year! Evelyn was born last night weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs 11 ounces. Mother and Baby are doing fine. I probably won't be around much the next few days so I'd like to take this chance to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Here are a few more pictures of our home decorated for the holidays. 

Remember the real REASON for the season and keep CHRIST in CHRISTmas and in your Heart!

A few more Christmas photos

Here are a few more photos of our home decorated for the holidays.

I have a few more to post but right now Grand-baby is calling! 

Blast of Winter

Old Man Winter decided to come callin' today and is supposed to continue his visit for another day. I went outside and took a quick picture of the 2 small trees I have decorated in the yard. There's a lot more snow now than when I took the photo. In fact, I think we have more snow on the ground now than we did all last winter. 

Notice the perfect snowflake at the top middle of the picture...pretty cool!

~It's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas~

Fun Facts about Christmas Trees

- It’s estimated that two million Christmas trees are sold across Canada every year.

- Canada harvests around 5.5 million trees annually. Of those, B.C. produces 300,000.

- In 2008, Canada exported most of its trees to the United States. The breakdown of sales per province was as follows: 860,900 from Quebec, 540,000 from Nova Scotia, 307,100 from New Brunswick, 11,400 from Ontario, 3,300 from B.C. and 51,600 from Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan combined.

- Canada exports to other countries, including Mexico, Japan, the Cayman Islands, Panama, Venezuela, the Bahamas, Aruba, Barbados, Guatemala, the Netherlands, Honduras, British Virgin Islands, Colombia, Jamaica, El Salvador, Antigua and Barbuda, Turks and Caicos Islands, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Singapore, Ecuador, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and Grenada.

- The species that sell the most are the balsam fir and the Fraser fir.

- It takes six to 15 years for a tree to mature and bring to market.

- For every tree harvested, two to three seedlings are planted in its place

- A newer Christmas tree option is the "rental" idea. One company offering this service is Burnaby’s Evergrow Christmas Trees, which will deliver a potted tree to you and pick it up after Christmas.

The facts about artificial trees:

- Most are produced abroad — in China, Taiwan and South Korea.

- On average, an artificial tree lasts between seven and 10 years.

Source: The Canadian Christmas Tree Growers’ Association and the Recycling Council of B.C.

Keeping it simple outside too

I'm keeping true to a simpler Christmas outside too. In past years I've been so stressed out trying to 'do it all'  so this year less fuss + less stress = more enjoyment time and I'm already noticing a difference. I'm actually enjoying every bit of preparing for Christmas this year.

 Here are a couple of gatherings outside my back door (the one visitors come to).

An old milkcan holds a bunch of silk poinsettias. An old rusty bucket and tool caddy await fresh greens that I still have to go cut in our backyard. The vine reindeer was purchased for me by my oldest daughter a few years ago :)

I got this wooden toboggan at a garage sale this summer for $5 - can't beat that! It will be put to good use this winter when we take Grand-baby for rides. And Santa is there to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

I hope to get out and do some shopping today but they're calling for a major storm so we'll have to wait and see. 

Decorating Fun

I thought I would share a few photos of what we've been up to the past week. We've been busy baking and decorating and will be doing more baking up until the big day.

 I'm  trying to keep things simpler this year and I've noticed I'm not alone in that area. A lot of the blogs I visit have the same idea. I think it's time for our family to tone down Christmas and get back to the main reason for the season - Love of Christ and spending time with family.

Just being together and spending time together preparing for Christmas is a blessing in itself and the only gift I need!

Here's a photo of Grandbaby Hailie picking out her very first ornament to hang on the tree and I LOVE the fact that she chose one of my old rusty jingle bells! She's got primitive in her blood :)

Shelby and Hailie starting to decorate the tree.

Shelby making Sugar Cookies. I forgot to take a picture of the cookies and they're all tucked away in the freezer now. We made chocolate chip cookies too but they're all gone now...LOL

Here is the finished tree. It's an artificial tree that my parents purchased the year I was born and I only use the top half of it due to lack of floor space. 

This display is on top of our entertainment unit. 

I'll be posting more as time permits. I hope you all take time to relax and enjoy the blessings of the season.

New Prims for Me!

I recently stumbled across a blog while browsing the other day and was so pleasantly surprised to find just what I was looking for....a mini version of Santa's red long johns! Melissa of Prim In The Country had them to offer from her blog at such a reasonable price, I just couldn't resist! She also had a prim Santa that I fell in love with so I ordered both and let me tell you, her work is incredible! So well made! She's got a lot of talent and I just thought you should all know so if you haven't already found her blog, stop by for a visit! Prim In The Country