A Christmas like no other (2010 story)

 

Well now, that was quite a Christmas!

Going through two dead trees in one year... beat that! :)

 No, wait. How about a shopping trip like no other?  Realizing sticking to simple pleasures ARE in vogue. For me anyway. Huh...

Decorating

The season sure felt like it came early. TOO early. I wasn't ready, which I shared HERE. However, after getting into the swing of things, I realized I felt better about it.

 

Putting out many mom memory kind of pieces proved to be just the right touch.  It honestly helped to keep me on the right track. 'Don't be sad, be glad!' And I was.

My own full Christmas decor reveal is HERE.

~ Christmas Eve ~

Church Service

Check! This one's a must. We always take in the Christmas Eve service. With the stage lit only with gorgeous trees in bright white lights, it was yet another magical experience that had you riveted on your feet bellowing out the rockish tunes that I favor.

Christmas eve at my mom's

Christmas Eve, we gathered at my mom's empty house. By the time we arrived, everyone was sitting in the kitchen with their lawn chairs in a circle waiting for...

this little number. :) 

Our family has never done stockings, but rather plates. So in true mom and dad tradition, I set bright white plates around the base of the tree we brought and we filled them up with nuts, candy and fruit.

I created simple name tags from paper bags and some of my mom's Christmas jewelry. We had tons of food strewn all over the counters just like mom would have done. And guess what? We forgot to feel sad. :)

Christmas Day

This shot was taken at midnight, complete with our traditional baking soda snowy footprints.

Come Christmas morn, "Mom! Why did you do that? He isn't real you know."

The footprints will be there whether he's real or not or my son is living at home or not. It isn't just about Santa. It's about believing in things we can't see.

Friends and family

My son and I were not alone on Christmas day. Not by a long shot. 

For lunch, we were invited to an amazing full spread to our close friends' place. Wonderful food, some board game playing and friendly banter had us giggling until dinnertime.

Then we head to my sister's for another feast. And my 'seester' packed us such a large goodie bag I was eating lavish dinners for days! She's such a good 'mom.'  :)

Downtime

My son then went to his other parent's place for a few days, leaving me to create decorating havoc once again. I took down Christmas early due to the dead tree scenario and crashed and burned my blog office, which I'll share with you next week.  No worries... I fixed it again and made it even better. :) (how cool is that license plate crate?!?)

My son is home now and over the next two days we'll be playing board games and doing things we love to do to finish this year off right!

Presents!

Magical. Not only did my son open and love his gifts, my neighbor was VERY good to me. She made sure this sole parent single mom had something to open. A robe, chocolates, bath set, homemade ornaments, a coffee gift card, dishcloth, notepad... etc etc...  and a whole lotta love.

 Now, how does a sole parent shop with a son that's always with her anyway? And how does he get something for me?

 Easy! We shop together. We show each other a bunch of things we like then go our separate ways. At check out, one goes before the other, requesting that the cashier bag the goods separately. It worked out fabulous and we both got what we wanted. :) 

 Tell me these measuring cups and spoons aren't the cutest thing evah! I can READ them without my glasses too...

Generosity from blogland

To my complete and utter surprise, I also had three Christmas angels from blogland come forward. In the form of donations.

One was from non blogger but avid reader.  She read a post that hit her right when she needed it.

Coping through tough times

One was from an anonymous blogging friend. Her family had saved up all their change for an entire year into a special jar, in which they do every year. Then they donate it to someone they feel can use it, adding a request I do the same for next year. The unbelievable idea also came with a book which I haven't finished yet. Why us? She read my last year's Christmas story of going without and decided then that we'd be the recipients of their jar this Christmas.

Loot from Blogland? Unlike any other.

The 3rd was from a blogging decorator. She read a post that touched her. There were many similarities to our stories and she knew what it was like going without. So she made sure we didn't this year.

Summer Changes

Putting the non shiny aspects of my life out there for all to read isn't the easiest thing to do. But I have to say, the amount of emails and gratitude I receive from them far bypasses any difficulty. Helping others WILL come back to you in some form, even in the most unexpected of ways!

Thank-you dear friends. The funds are special and will be spent in such a way where I'll be able to give back to many many MANY of you. Count on it.

Giving comes in many forms.

And I wish to thank all of you in blogland. You don't need to make a donation to make my days special. YOU are there encouraging me every time I post. I wouldn't get a fraction of the amount done if I didn't show and tell it to all to you. 

Know what? I have every right and reason to pout and feel massive loss right now. Losing my mom in March did not come without difficulty. But choosing a good direction FEELS better. And right. So, in my mom's honor, I'm choosing to get up, shake off the sadness, and get motivated in directions I've yet to touch on.

I hope you choose a similar direction. And if you don't have it in you to do this on your own, keep reading here. I'll make sure I help you along your way. That's what this blog is all about.

"Mom, I sure hope you're watching. Because there's no stopping me. Thank-YOU for encouraging me and letting me trash and redecorate your own place every time we came for a visit. I'm going to make you proud. :) And I'm going to help others along the way. When I see you one day soon, I'll tell you all about it just like we use to do.  xo"

Thank-you all from the bottom of my heart for help making 2010 one of the most incredible Christmas seasons to date!

Let's rock 2011 like no other. Are you in?!?

Got your own Christmas 2010 story all put together yet? Share it with us this weekend on SNS' 3rd themed linkup! See ya then. :)

Did any one thing make this season special for you? I'd love to hear about it. :)

When a junker ventures into a retail zone

When visiting at my sister's for Christmas dinner, the gals were showing off some new duds they just got. You know the kind... skinny jeans, cute longer tops, and boots. I sunk lower in my chair wearing my frumpy baggy jeans, short tshirt and hoodie ensemble.

 Let me give you a visual. This is pretty much what I wear every day, minus the scarf belt.

NOT to be confused with a slightly more trendy and form fitting (and skinnier) this.

I know how to look 'cute' if I really want to. I worked in retail clothing for 13 long years so I use to do cute every single day. But these days kneeling down in dirty truck bays or slinging paint doesn't exactly constitute dressing to the nines. So thrift shop clothing finds do just fine.

Until I saw what the 2010 cute was all about of course! But I didn't know WHAT to really look for these days to be hip. So, they prepped me well. They told me what store to go in, and what to look for. Instructions: look at a mannequin you like, then GET IT.

Well heck... I can stare at a mannequin and copy this look, right?

 So, I had to run into town today to drop off my son and and stopped by where I knew the store was.

It was the BIGGEST MALL ON THE BUSIEST SHOPPING DAY ever.

Everyone and their dog, entire families and long lost cousins were shopping for the best smokin' deals ever. And made sure they brought 3 vehicles per person. Not sure how they pulled that off but they did. The parking lot told me so.

Me, small town folk with one 3 way stop as the 'busy' intersection.  I was clearly out of my element. But I got there and by golly I was gonna get cute today!

So I strut in with my dirty runners (sneakers to USA'ers)  completely optimistic to become brand new today and then my jaw dropped. I didn't know which isle to walk down.  I'm use to one isle in our local yokel mall. This one needed a MAP.

Here's a technical difficulty to make things interesting. I suffer from small bouts of what's close to vertigo from time to time. It's a neck injury thing. What the condition basically does is temporarily remove your smarts. You're left with virtually no memory of what you just did. Some call it getting old. Call it what you wish. You're safe, but it's best to do the same 'ol over and over again some days so you don't HAVE to think. You'll soon see why I told you this.

So I ask a shopper where the certain store is and they point me in the right direction. No need to work at this more than I have to, right? One store and I'm outta there. EASY.

 I get to the store and it's a zoo. And everything under the sun is on sale. Ok, bonus I guess.

All the manniquins are dressed in SALE tshirts. Red shirt, big white letters. That's it. Nice.

So I go to a salesgal and spew out my troubled frumpy story and asked if she could help me look cool. She couldn't. She was suppose to fold stuff. I asked another and they were suppose to do something else. They could help with my sizes but I had to take care of the rest.

So I whip around and find some rather cool combos. Long black T with short short sleeves and scoop neck, a nifty scrappy looking scarf, worn looking skinny jeans, a cool black jacket with a fur lined hood and head for the fitting room. This was gonna be gooood....

Fitting rooms CLOSED. Apparently sale day is too busy to let you try on things.

So I start trying on stuff over stuff I wore in. Not fitting and not working. I leave the store.

I go past other stores and enter a couple. Nice, but expensive. And everything's starting to look the same. And expensive. I apparently have exceptional taste and after you see the best you cannot back down. NOW I remember why I don't go to malls. I leave the expensive pretty stores and resolve to try and find what I desire in a thrift some other day. I was now well educated after all.



And then I get lost. I had NO idea where I came from or what I just walked past. None. It was all gone. And let's just mention the isles looked like ant filled highways.

I walked for awhile and I mean, I didn't panic or anything. But I also didn't want to come off as a wacko so I simply went to a shopper and calmly asked where a certain street was. Good job, he led me the right way. Except I wasn't parked on that street. Riiight... So I resolved to go for a NICE LONG WALK outdoors in the rain to look for the right entrance so I could find my truck. What the hey, it beat ant filled isles.

I found it in no time. But I'll admit it felt like falling into the arms of my mom when I spotted my truck. And I couldn't wait to get home, jack up the heat, put on my pj's, cuddle my cats, eat Christmas chocolates and turn on the computer. I wanted all the comforts of home NOW.

Are you still here? You deserve a treat! Help yourself and see you when you get back. You rock. And thank-you. Here, I'll mark off where you left at...

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You're welcome.

So I drive home and I pass my fav coffee shop. Pumpkin spiced lattee... wimper... next one I pass, I'm stopping I promise myself.

30 min later, I pull in the drive through and get one. YES. And on my way out of that mall strip, I pass a store I haven't frequented in some time. And I had a gift card for it from a year ago! So I park and start wandering in with my fluffy coffee to enjoy the browse.

And I see thing after thing that blogland is making for free. Good golly... this was going to be difficult.

(below photos were taken with the iPhone, not too bad!)

Hey Miss Mustard Seed, does this look familiar? (wasn't priced)

MMS' mirrored side tables.

How about these? $350@

MMS' were approx $65 each, for chair and materials

Now these were cute! Burlap covered trunks! But for all 3 it was just over $100. I got jittery over these.

 Check it out.. this one even had my name on it. Think it was a sign I was suppose to buy it? Nahhh... don't even go there. Now looking at it again and my house? They could totally work in front of my picture window...NO. STOP IT.

Now, I really did like this pillow. Ruffle city! But at $25, it stayed. I was after deals after all.

 What did I end up getting? Some Christmas stockings, pj pants and new white shortie sport socks. Not exactly the cute I originally had in mind but new socks are a good start, yes?

Getting home, I was excited to hang the cute new 1/2 price stockings. But to my surprise, they were too fancy for my decor.

 So I rehung my grain sack, burlap sand bag and pillow case and called that a bust as well.

I then yank out leftover turkey fixings and have a nice freebie dinner. (thank-you my seester!) While wearing my new flannel plaid pj pants with my old hoodie and old frumpy black tshirt.

The lesson I learned today? 

All it takes to apparently make this girl happy is the odd $5 fluffy coffee, new white sport socks and flannel pj pants. Because she has, will find, or will make the rest.

Lesson #2. 

Malls are for SHOPPERS, not junkers.

Besides, I'd probably end up feeling like THIS GIRL anyway.

p.s. my 2nd Christmas tree dried out too. I give up.

So my thrifty friends, have you too stopped shopping retail for the most part?

Where's your fav place to pick up cute and chic clothes?

Merry Christmas from me!
Enter through HERE

NEW Whoville tree with a WhoDroop feature

 

Remember my Christmas tree?

Yes. The Whoville Junk Memory tree to be exact.

Bad news. It didn't make it.



 It was one of those fluky things. I went back to the tree place and inquired why it dried out so fast wondering what on earth I did wrong, and they didn't hesitate. They wanted to replace it immediately. Apparently some cut trees make the grade and some don't. And mine just got unlucky.




You know you're a blogger when you document every step. Even the 'gone' step. Good grief...

'scuse the darkish photos. They're taken at midnight. My son isn't feeling well again and wanted me to stay up abit longer 'in case.' So.. nothing a midnight photoshoot won't cure, eh?

Sheesh... I felt guilty! But I really did want a tree for Christmas that I wasn't scared to light up. 



Welcome home, quirky tree #2! Oh how I love how long your hair is! And right before I gave it a haircut so it would fit in the room, my son halted me. He suggested I hang an ornament off the tip so it would bend over in fine Whoville style.

I'm so proud of my son! *sniff*

 But the branch needed some help. So one wire hanger later....



... instant WhoDroop!

 I just twisted the wire around the branch and bent it to the desired shape. I still can't believe it worked.

3 stars complete the crazy little feature.

The tree is so skinny, that the license plates REALLY show up now. :)

I just love this Virginia one... total rust!

(plates are from Anything Goes Here Etsy)

I even got fancy and put the sleigh out for a few gifts. We went shopping on the weekend. My son wrapped my gift in a burlap sand bag.  Genius I tell ya...

The little cutie is so pretty and green all over again. And the lights are on! :)

Thank-you Christmas tree place in my hometown. You're the best!

I'm going to bed now. It's just a tad (way) beyond midnight.. eep! Nighty nite!

Ever gone through more than one tree in a season?
How do you keep your tree lush and green and flu free? :)

SNS #61 brings you ~ Christmas full home reveals

Welcome to Saturday Nite Special #61, the Christmas full home reveal edition!

If you're new here, join in! There are three categories to link to. Home Decor as well as Crafts, Sewing, Recipes, plus the 3rd themed link up. Check below for this weekend's theme.

Party starts Fri night and ends Sunday 11pm pacific, so you have all weekend to join!

I LOVE to highlight inspiring posts during the event on the sidebar, so make sure you check in several times over the weekend. You may be next. :)

~ your Christmas full home reveals ~

The most common comment I received during my own full home Christmas reveal was, "I like your style!"

#1. Thank-you!

#2. I wish everyone felt that way. You see, this is what I go through each time I lift a finger towards a junk artifact.

me - "Hey son, let's decorate for Christmas

son - "Yay! Just not Funky Junk! I want NORMAL like OTHER people."

Boy was he talkin' to the wrong person. ;)

 

This junk did not please my son.

Until it was done.

Now, if you think I have it easy because I don't have to convince a spouse that junk is the new distressed glazed heirloom white, allow me to correct you. I indeed have big time proving to do in this here house!

And should that fail...

Divert their attention to something else. A good movie on TV works wonders.

Dang! I missed this one! :)

My own full Christmas home reveal was HERE.

I can't wait to see yours!

How do you convince your family that JUNK is KING in decorating these days?
Do they 'let' you, or fight you?

December deals from FJI sponsors!

 Click  

~ HERE  ~

~ Upcoming December Themes ~

Dec 24 - No theme. Just let'er rip! SNS will be up for those loving the extra browse, however I won't likely be highlighting or commenting. It's time for family. :)

Dec 31 - Share this years' Christmas story (link open until Jan 7 2011)

I hope you'll join in the fun!

Be sure to check the themed linkups master list to add your newest creations anytime.

List HERE.

 

~ SNS blah blah linkup rules ~

1. Please link up your intended post, NOT your blog homepage url. (post, then click the title of your post, then cut and paste that url) If your post has been deleted, please try again.

 2. Please put a link in your post (button or text) that leads back to the party so others can see what's up! (see BUTTONS label under main blog header)

 3. This party is geared for DIY type projects we can all attempt to make ourselves. Items for sale may be linked up IF your entry is posted on your blog and in tutorial style.

4. For Home Decor and Crafts, Sewing, Cooking, please link projects up that are new to SNS and/or within 1 month old.  This helps keep content fresh!

The 3rd weekly themed link may have older posts and not brand new to SNS and will remain open for your new additions at any time. Click HERE for the main list.

If you can't decide which category to enter yours in, please just pick ONE and go with it. It's all good!