Toadfrogs and Elephants

I was looking around the living room today and realized I never posted about our new chairs or rug. (Or if I did, I have forgotten.) My mom found the chairs at an auction and offered them to us. The eventual plan is to get them recovered, but they actually don’t look too bad as they are.

A friend of Wade’s from work suggested we look for a rug at a factory rug store in Anderson. We actually found a few we liked, but we weren’t sure of the color. Then we found one we both liked for $35. We decided we would buy it for now and then buy a new one if we found something we liked better. We will keep this rug until we get our new couch and then make a decision. At least we now have some seating in the living room.

Happy Birthday MA!

Before we bought our Christmas tree, Wade had told me he would take care of the star. I wasn’t quite sure what he had in mind, but I told him to go for it. It was a little late in coming, but we now have a star over our tree. Wade hung the star from the ceiling, directly over the tree. He put a spotlight up where we used to have the hideous chandelier. When the spotlight is on, it lights up the star and puts an awesome star shadow on the wall.

Wade and I were in a rush (as usual) to leave the house for bible study. Madison followed us out the door so we put her in the backyard. Tubbles has been left alone inside before and never caused trouble so we didn’t hunt her down to take her out. When we got home, we noticed the tree looked a little funny. Upon closer inspection, we realized Tubbles had eaten the bottom row of popcorn. I thought it was well out of her reach, but she much have climbed on top of the presents. The lights and beads were all falling off, ornaments were on the floor, and pine needles were everywhere. At least the popcorn was air popped. Tubbles didn’t fall off her diet too much!

Sadly she did seem to tear one package apart. Jamie’s bag is now in shreds, but the present is still in one piece. I have one more gift to wrap it seems.

Tonight we had our first Host Team Christmas Party. Wade prepared the invitations, I planned a canned food drive, and Kendall coordinated dinner. We had almost everyone attend. The best part of the night was definitely the gift swap. No one was exactly sure of the rules, so Wade made them up as he went. Our newest recruit, Miller, ended up with Wade’s odd purple noodle. That just goes to show you that the interestingly wrapped packages might not be the best. I brought home a new cookbook and Wade brought home a Moose Pooper (which dispenses jelly beans in just the way you would think). The hottest gift of the night was the box containing a hidden $20. Too bad that wasn’t discovered earlier!

The Traditional Gift Swap

Since I already learned about my Christmas gift of a new front door, Wade decided to get to work. He picked up the large cut sheet of tempered glass and removed the screen door.

He took off the screen and hardware, sanded the door and trim, and secured the glass in place. It was about midnight when Wade came inside in a bad mood. It turns out he was putting the last nail in the trim wood and slipped. The slip meant the nail hit the glass. Now there is shattered glass where there shouldn’t be. Poor Wade.

I’m ready. We can have Christmas now. I have mailed my Christmas cards, finished all of my Christmas shopping, and wrapped my last present. Now I am ready for the unwrapping!

I have also learned my mom’s trick of making neat gift baskets. Here’s hoping the recipient likes IBC root beer.

Wade and I have been very slow getting our tree decorated this year. We bought the tree Monday night. Tuesday night we rented the Bourne Identity and strung the popcorn. The dogs were very attentive. Due to the dogs, the popcorn isn’t on the bottom of the tree. Wednesday night we bought some more beads and began decorating the tree. Today I finished. The tree is decorated. There are presents around the tree. Now I just need to remember to keep checking the water or we’ll have a dead tree.

Danielle called and asked if I would watch Emma today. I was more than happy to spend a day playing. Emma turned three yesterday and her favorite gift was a tea set. We played tea party most of the day, but took a detour to my house to make cookies.