Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas from Dad and Mom

Well, I have uploaded about 10 pictures of our Christmas decorations TWICE!! Both times, right in the middle of the process, my computer goes blank! I promise you it was not my fault. But I have been working on it for over an hour now and must stop. I will try again after my errands. You may be seeing the pictures on New Years', but I wanted you to know I did try.
Love,love,love, Mom/Grammy

Merry Christmas from Mom and Dad!



My Santa collection in my kitchen clock. The top on is a Jim Shore that Katie and Cody gave us this year. The others are my little, round Santas collected over the years. The "Believe" sign is new this year and will stay up there...it is not just for Christmas.


The original creche and nativity that G'ma and G'pa built for us many, many years ago. It sits on the piano.



Family Room fireplace corner...I LOVE the mantle. We had our YSA FHE last night and lit all the candles. It looked so pretty!


Our little tree from our apartment living...2004...it has the family decorations on it in the Family Room.




Fireplace decorations














Dad's village...added a popcorn popping vendor this year




Celebrated Dad's and Joe's birthdays together this year! Fun times!






Our absolutely darling Papa and Grammy signs on the mantle.


Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The good part of snow.


Today we had a true Christmas vacation day. 

Ben rode his snowboard some of the time and sledded some of the time.
What a cute snow bunny!
Benji flies by!
Uphill, uphill, uphill
Just takin' a little break.
Still just takin' a little break.
Group shot, my sister Katie was with us.
We had a fun, fun time, but sledding is a lot harder than I remember as a kid.

Late Christmas

I apologize, but the gift from us is going to be late! :( I have been working a LOT lately which is a HUGE blessing but it has made it nearly impossible to finish your gift and get it to the post office! do forgive please! Merry Christmas eve eve.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Merry Christmas From The Zandts!!


Oh Christmas Tree!


Thank you for our great ornaments! We put them on our tree as soon as we got it up. They were the first ones and only ones on it for about a week! Thank you!


The bells are hung by the doorway with care, in hopes that St Nicholas soon will come here.......and buy our New Mexico house and pay of our student loans and get us a house here.....I am glad G'ma made our stockings stretchy! Thanks for the bells, Dad. We LOVE them!


These letters mom gave to me a while ago and I love them. We hung them on the wall last year but I like them on this shelf better I think. There are some other trinkets on this shelf too......limited apt space.....I am decorating still mom.


Here is a little guy from Germany that Walt brought back. You put insense in the middle of him and when you light it the smoke comes out of his mouth and he looks like he is smoking. Cute. For the record, all insense stinks.


More from Germany. The little windmill turns around on it's own when you light the candles underneath it. Cody literally spent DAYS gathering the right materials and fixing it so it would spin. It is pretty cool but the effort that went into it is cooler. Nutcracker, also authentic Germany.


I got this lantern at Ikea. I really love it. I think mom bought it for me- I know she was with me which leads me to believe she is the one that bought it......sounds about right. Thanks mom!

Cody got the whole Willow Tree Nativity set for me for our first Christmas. It is definately the thing I look the most forward to setting up each year. I just LOVE it! It is so beautiful! This picture doesn't do it justice!


Here is a closer look at Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus. I love how tender Joseph looks.

Finally, a decent snowfall.


Hooray for snow!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas at our house

Welcome to our Christmas house:

Peek inside our window and see Santa Clause.

This is our pretty tree with red and white decor.

Santa looks on...
Behind Santa is my favorite little nook in the house.

I love to sit right here, read, and listen to Christmas music.

It's probably hard to see here, but the little kids on this pillow look like Ben and Roxy to me.

There's our bells and our magical key that lets Santa into our house. 

Now please let me see your decorations.