This has always been one of my most favorite times of the year. When I was a kid this time of year always felt so magical. Now, that I’m older, the magic has died a bit, but I’m determined to still make it a special time of year. One of the best ways to do that, in my opinion, is to decorate!!
Here is my house this year, and if I do say so myself, it looks magical!
Welcome in!
Of course I have a giant blow up, do you know me at all?
Candy canes lining the walk way!
I love changing my flags for the seasons.
A real wreath this year.
You might notice a theme, JOY! Joy is my middle name, so I have to!
My little Santa figurines were a gift from my Grammy years ago!
A flamingo with a Santa hat was a no-brainer!
This one lights up!
I saw this on Tik Tok and thought it was so cute!
A little touch to brighten up the stairs!
I painted this one.
My chocolate fix every day!
Another wreath welcoming me in from the garage.
My gorgeous tree! Do you see Jackson?
Anyways, it’s not much, but this time of year can be awfully depressing, the sun sets so early, it’s cold out. This brings me Joy and it brings me happiness to turn all the lights on and enjoy them. I’m wishing you all so much love this time of year.
Happy November everyone! I know that Halloween was yesterday and before I take all my decorations down and decorate for Christmas, I wanted to share how I decorated my house this year. Mostly because I love decorating and I love how my house came out this year!
So, Welcome in friends!!
I took this picture on Halloween night!
All of our pumpkins!
I love this flag because it isn’t just Halloween, but good for all of Fall.
My front door!
I like this because it works for Thanksgiving too!
These pumpkins light up!
These ones light up too!
An easy way I like to decorate is just to get a few wall signs that I can exchange for winter, summer, fall, etc. It makes it look like a whole new wall when I put them up!
Sunflowers are my favorite!
A great reminder!
I’ll leave this up until Thanksgiving!
I love these signs! I swear I have one for every season!
And lastly, something that I got from my Mom! Changing the hand towels to match the seasons can do so much for your house!
It’s Jackson on the towel!
I will ALWAYS get a decoration with dogs if they have it! I love dogs!
And that is it! I really love decorating my house for the different seasons. It makes me happy, and it makes me smile when I come home from work!
I am so excited to decorate for Christmas too, I’ll try to wait as long as I can, but I really just love Christmas decorations and want to enjoy them as much as I can, so it’ll probably be pretty soon by the time I put them up!
Hello Blog World! I must first apologize, I am terribly sorry I haven’t written a post in a while. I was sick, and then I went back to school and suddenly every professor realized finals was almost here and assigned lots of work. But, on the train this morning, I had an idea for a story, so I knew I had to make time for it.
I took this on the It’s A Small World Ride in Disney Land last year!
Christmas is coming, and personally, I absolutely LOVE Christmas season, and I’ll tell you why. It’s not because of the presents, I actually like giving presents more than getting them. I love to see the look on people’s faces as I give them something I knew they’d love. I love the magic of the season, and I’m not talking about Santa Claus, I’m talking about people realizing that they can make a difference in a person’s life.
One of my faves!
I believed in Santa for a long time, probably because I just loved the magic of it, I believed so hard that I even thought I heard him on the roof one year.
Bruce and I on Christmas Eve!
But, I remember when I stopped believing in Santa, I was so upset. Christmas was ruined. I didn’t believe in the magic anymore, and I hated it.
Santa Santa I know him!
But then, I found a newspaper in the street that same year that I stopped believing and right on the front page, an article called “Is There Really A Santa,” and I knew I had to read it.
My Truest Form
And what I realized from reading an article in a newspaper that wasn’t even ours, was that, maybe Santa isn’t real. The man that we like to call Santa. But the Santa that is about hope, joy, magic, he’s real. The spirit of him lies within all of us. No matter your religion, your race, or your gender. Santa is about giving, it’s about lifting other people up when they need it the most. It’s about hope, knowing that each year on December 25th, Santa will arrive. It’s about believing in things you can’t see, can’t touch, can’t feel.
We can all be Santa. We can all go out off our way to give to people who can never repay us. We can all go to the Food Bank and volunteer for a day, knowing that they’ll never be able to do that for us. We can all spread joy, love, happiness, even if it’s just for a day. And why does that day have to fall on December 25th? We can all be Santa, all year long.
There is so much goodness in this world, every day people do things that surprise us and make us realize how amazing this world truly is. So, when I stopped believing in the magic of Santa, I started believing in the magic of the world, the magic that lies within every single one of us, to make this world better.
I believe in goodness, and magic and I believe that somewhere deep inside every single one of us lies the potential to be Santa. To make somebody so excited, so happy, and so joyful, without ever expecting anything in return.
Today we have a very important- dare I say life threatening- topic to discuss.
Every year we know it’s coming, we try not to think about it and the havoc it is going to wreak on our credit cards, but each year it arrives anyways.
That’s right, I’m talking about the holiday season.
The time that is supposed to be merry and bright and the season of giving, but instead causes more stress and craziness than any of us needs.Â
But, I’m not going to talk about that, instead I’m going to talk about my favorite aspect of the holiday season, and if you know me at all, i don’t even have to say it.
Hallmark Christmas movies, playing non-stop from November 1st through December 31st.
Photo Cred: news4jax.com
Many will roll their eyes, many will say, really you watch those, and many will act as though they think I’m insane when I tell them I have a favorite.
But, I don’t think I’m the only one who enjoys watching them, or else, why would they keep them on the air. Sure maybe I’m more open about my love for the movies than most, but I highly doubt I’m the only one to smile at the ending we all saw coming.
Personally I love the fact that I could sit down and write the plot of one of these movies.
Man and woman meet, they have something they don’t like about each other, whether it be their job, the other one is trying not to be in a serious relationship, but over a series of scenes set to a backdrop of fake snow, Christmas trees and holiday songs, they fall in love and kiss, the end, movie over.
See, I practically just wrote a new movie, all we need is a few famous actors and we are good to go.
That still doesn’t stop me from watching them, and looking up the times of the ones I knew I loved last year to try to be around to watch.
Hallmark Christmas movies are a staple of the holiday season, as much as people complain and groan when they release the non-stop schedule, we all know that there would be protests and very unhappy people if they cancelled them.
Me, I like them because they are predictable, they are silly, and yes they are unrealistic. they aren’t going to happen.
Photo Cred: Hallmark Channel
I’m never going to fly to a new city without my fiance, only to meet a person with the same name as my fiance’s brother in the airport, and travel with said brother to their home where I know no one, because fiance got held up at work, only to find out it wasn’t said fiance’s brother at all, just another person with the same name, only later on to realize I was never in love with my fiance, I’m in love with fake fiance’s brother, so I drop everything to be with this guy I’ve known for 3 days.
That would involve me having a fiance, and no boys are exactly scratching at my door.Â
I guess what I’m saying is that I really don’t care that they are never going to happen, I mean a spider is never going to bite me and I’ll wake up the next day with super powers either, but people love spider-man just the same.
Or maybe I’m just more of a romantic than most. either way, you can find me on Christmas Eve glued to the couch watching a hallmark movie.Â
Elizabeth Joy Hadley 