December | 2015 | OUR LIFE IN 3D

21 Dec 2015

25 Comments

Where are my elves!

OK I have a quick Christmas question for you.

Did you hear one of Santa’s helpers went to see a therapist? Do you know why?

Give up?

He had low elf-esteem!

Get it?

OK, I will stop with the Christmas jokes.

Well if some of you think this post looks familiar its because I posted it last year. And the year before. But I am trying to catch my blog up to the Christmas season so I am pulling out all the Holiday Reblogs!

But, if you are like me, as Christmas draws near and the stress begins to rise around you, you can’t help but call out:

WHERE ARE MY ELVES?

How’s the Christmas shopping going?

I go by our mall everyday on the way to and from work. Let me tell you, it takes about 30 extra minutes to make it home once I hit that Christmas mall traffic nowadays. I wouldn’t go out in that gauntlet if you paid me. It’s insane! Good thing my wife buys all the Christmas presents or we find them online and have them brought to us. I’m just her lowly ~~rapper~~ wrapper.

Every Thanksgiving and weekends in December my wife tries to ~~guilt~~ drag me to go shopping with her. Call me weak but I don’t have the patience for all those masses, time wasters, and crazy people out there. Every year she tries. And every year I stand my ground. So my Grinch-like, selfish self has developed a Top Ten Reasons why I think it’s crazy to step one toe into the crazy Christmas shopping pond, that I had to reinforce once again these past two weeks. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE Christmas traditions. But this is not one of them for me.

So what are your biggest things you hate about the Christmas shopping? Do they look like my Top 10 Reasons?

Top 10 Reasons Not To Go Weekend Christmas Shopping:

10. Who can focus on great gift buying with all this great football on?

9. I would rather be raking leaves! OK, that one is a toss up.

8. There are some really scary looking Santas at the Wal-Marts that look like they came from…ah..Wal-Mart.

7. All the great gifts for the people I need to buy for are hanging neatly on the ‘Gift Card display’ in the grocery store. Really! They asked for these.

6. There is NOBODY in the gym right now. I like working out when the Nobody’s are there

5. If I want to see spoiled ~~women~~ kids fighting over toys I could just watch the ‘Real Housewives’ episodes.

4. My fragile self-worth can’t handle the standing in the long lines at the registers.

3. Shopping on-line! Let the stores bring your Christmas list to you!

2. Santa doesn’t stand in line! Where are my elves?

And the Number One reason to stay home Black Friday weekend:

1. Staying home to watch your favorite college team score the go ahead touchdown while your daughter cheers with all your same enthusiasm, Priceless!

OK, sometimes I have been known to ‘embellish’ a bit in this blog so I have to come clean. My wife actually did trick me into going Christmas shopping with her Black Friday (score one for Mom).

We had my parents in town this year so my wife and I tried to fit in a date (movie night). When it was over, the mall was almost closed so she asked for ‘my help’ in trying to find some bunk beds in Sears for the girls.

I fell for it!

WELL, Sears doesn’t carry bunk beds for kids, at least not in ours. But that didn’t stop us from canvasing the whole store 2x looking for them; and her trying to get me to pick gifts for the kids along the way.

Sneaky! Very sneaky!

Her IQ dwarfs mine (ok so does Dylan’s) in her sneakiness, which reminds me why you Should never Marry A Nerd. That was sarcasm Sheldon. If you watch the Big Bang you know what I mean.

So what do you love or hate about shopping for Christmas this time of year?

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

(Mele Kalikimaka!)

…to all my readers, where ever you are:

Feliz Navidad!

Joyeux Noel!

Froehliche Weihnachten!

Zalig Kerstfeast!

Kala Christouyenna!

Nollaig Shona Dhuit!

Ruumsaid juulup|hi!

Buone Feste Natalizie!

Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto!

Sung Tan Chuk Ha!

Sarbatori vesele!

Hristos se rodi!

God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År!

Nadolig Llawen!

Srozhdestvom Kristovym!

Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!

Posted in Archives and tagged All I want for Christmas is YOU, big bang theory, Black Friday, Christmas shopping, Cindy Lou Who, co exist peacefully, Elf Bowling, football, gift wrapper, Grinch, Marry Christmas!, Real Housewives, Santa, Somebody is WATCHING you!, the Big move!

20 Dec 2015

20 Comments

Old Fashion Christmas

Hi Everyone!

And Merry Christmas!

I am sorry about being so distant. I had a day or two of some photo harvesting of my girls it appeared and so I got concerned and shut down a bit, hoping it will blow away and on to some other blogs.

We went to our favorite Christmas party last night and it reminded me of the blog post I did last year about these nice people, their great food, conversation and Christmas ambiance. And so I wanted to revisit the post again (and not take pictures of their home again) with wishes you and yours are enjoying the Spirit of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!

Is there anything wrong with being old fashion and clinging to tried and true ideas?

Last night we went to an annual Christmas party, hosted by some friends of ours. Does anyone have those friends that love to entertain that they just take it to a whole new level? I know some of you reading this are that way. That’s the way this couple is. They enjoy hosting. They love to entertain. And they take great pride in their final product.

Their house is always decorated for Christmas tastefully yet still above and beyond. They maintain an ‘old fashion Christmas’ theme. And it truly is! We enjoyed our evening so much the food, the wine, the decor that I leaned over to my wife, gave her a nudge and a wink and whispered, “This house is truly blog-worthy.”

So come and join us down Christmas’s past and a truly festive Christmas night.

I missed the pic of the life-size Nutcracker man at the front door of their house, but here is a glimpse of what you see when you walk inside.

See what I mean by a theme of Christmas’s past? Here is a glimpse of their living room…

See the Santa Clause picture? Every single picture in their house is switched out to a Christmas picture. In fact, ALL normal house decorations are removed for their Christmas decor.

Like that end table, the toy blocks, they actually made them themselves.

They should be ‘the first toy maker to the king”…….. it’s a difficult responsibility..

The toy blocks actually do stack one inside each other for storage.

See the jacks on top?

And those skates?

The skates actually have wooden wheels. Can’t get more old fashion than that.

And more signs of their handy work and their pride in decorating sits beneath their tree…

Yes, that’s a toy drum they made to enhance their theme.

I swear, I have to take a testosterone enhancer every time I leave their house as I am so humbled by their wood skills, crafts, and initiative. I was so impressed.

Other ‘old fashion’ parts of the living room looked like this beside the entertainment stand..

There are some vintage dolls, bunnies and bears there. And the camera doesn’t capture the magic of Santa’s Sleigh, but that is brightly finished metal 3D replica, suspended from the breakfast bar above by fishing wire to give the illusion of Santa dropping his gifts and flying away leaving all to a ‘good night’.

The golden snowflakes also had the illusion of hovering as well, don’t they?

There were some vintage reindeer above the entertainment stand

The walls had all the normal accessories removed and replaced with Christmas themed eye candy..

I know, I know what you are thinking, where do they store all this? They told me they leave that to their little elves!

Even the dresser in the bathroom hallway has an old letter to Santa with it..

The house was so adorable it was hard to remember we were there for a bit of a party. The buffet line was equally magnificent

With some very special ornaments there as well..

See the fishing line now?

The dining room (and dessert buffet) had equally charming decor…

It looks like they were preparing for the King of Kings

Joe and Deborah were truly spectacular hosts and we had another great time at their Christmas shindig.The atmosphere was festive. The food was 5-Star. And the company was the best.

And yes, I must be the guest / blogger from hell as I go and record the privacy of their home for the whole world to see.. or at least you dozen or so that read my blog.

Do you think I will be invited back next year?

I hope you too are able to recapture the joy of Christmas’s past and create some more new memories of the miracle of Christmas present this year.

HAVE A MAGICAL MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!