Merry Christmas from The Shewbridges

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Well, as usual, I'm late.... But know that I love you all deeply an pray that you had the most wonderful of Christmases, surrounded by those you love.

I sure did.  I was with Bill, Nano, Mia, Mandie, Mumbo, and Wiggles. Don't they all look so adorable in their Christmas clothes? We also heard from all our children, who were having a fantastic time, except for wishing we could all be together. 

Praying for those who cannot be together as they are serving our country, protecting us so that we may have our religious freedoms to celebrate all our holidays in the way we wish. Also a prayer that they will all return home safely and soon to their loving families!

HUGGLES to you all!!

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Countdown to Christmas..... Elves Light the Way

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3 Days Until Christmas

My neighbors, "The Griswalds," have taken it upon themselves to now decorate the street lights on their street (that is perpendicular to my street) with colored cloth and little elves. So now the whole street is guarded by elves and lit by candy canes.

I swear it can be seen by the ISS.....

 

 

I hope you are enjoying the Christmas decorations in your neighborhood.... and I hope you are continuing to stay safe and sane, my friends.

 

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Does Your Kitchen Need a Little Lovin? Mine Does...

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As I bake my Christmas cookies this year, I am continually reminded how much I hate my refrigerator. There just isn't enough room in either the refrigerator part or the freezer part - hence the reason I haven't started baking sooner.

I don't know how many of you are in a similar situation, or have other appliances that you just cannot stand... I recently was able to replace my washer/dryer - thank heavens. Appliances are a necessary evil in our homes... we have to have them, they get a major work-out, especially those in our kitchens, and they can be expensive!

 

Well, have I got news for you that you are going to LOVE!!!

 

The fabulous people over at Sears are offering up to 30% off our favorite appliance brands. Plus, you’ll get an extra 5% off when you use your Sears Card.

 

 

 

Now what are you waiting for, go give your Kitchen some much-needed love. This offer is available online and in Stores through January 5, 2012 (can you believe that year).

 

Head over to their website to look at all the fantastic products: http://bit.ly/ZPtqlN

 

Here's the fridge I picked out and now have to save money for, since I have until Jan. 5th:

 

Click for Specs

 

Hope you can find something terrific for your kitchen, I know one of my girlfriend's needs a blender, so I'm headed back to look for one for her.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year...... happy shopping!

This is a sponsored post with http://brandfluential.com, I am a Sears blogger, though all opinions are my own.

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The Singing Bloggers are Back... and I'm One of Them!!

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Toni of A Daily Dose of Toni arranged for several of us to sing all these parts and worked her little tukus off to put it all together. (Thank you SO much, Toni!) We first present to you the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas.....

And now for our next performance:

 

 

Next, Toni arranged us all, with the help of Trisha and Lynsey, to sing The Twelve Days of Blogging. We all had SO much fun with this and I'm sure you will enjoy listening to it... make sure you listen to the end (it is a little long) because it gets funnier as it goes along.....

 

 

 

Don't forget to visit all the bloggers who participated in this amazing video:

Nicole Olea

The Shewbridges of Central Florida

Yellow Tennessee

A Daily Dose of Toni

Mostcato Mom

Mom Dot

The Blonde Critic

Frosted Fingers

Between The Kids

Dirty Floor Diaries

My Little me

Life With Levi

Joyful Musings

Momma D And Da Boyz

Serendipity Mommy

Mom Luck

 

Thank you so much to Toni again for all her hard work on the videos and for the great graphics  - YOU ROCK, MOMMA!!

 

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Countdown to Christmas..... Nano and Mia's New Christmas Outfits

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6 Days Until Christmas

We got all the babies new outfits for Christmas... actually we got them more than one each.  But you probably figured that out already if you know me. HaHa

Here are Nano and Mia in one of their outfits each, if you notice, the bow on Mia's dress matches the print on Nano's outfit. Too cute. =)

 

Hope your Christmas plans are going well..... Stay safe and sane.

 

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Countdown to Christmas..... The Landing Strip to Christmas in myNeighborhood

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8 Days Until Christmas

I have showed you photos of the "Griswald House" around the corner from my house during the day, but now I'd like to share with you what that house and the entire street looks like at night with all the lights lit up. There are even candy canes along both sides of the street lit up making it look like a landing strip for Santa - on Christmas morning, you can see the sled tracks, hoof prints, foot prints up to the houses and even some reindeer droppings near the houses. =)

So tell me what you think... over the top, huh?

Countdown to Christmas.... We've Finished Decorating the Outside of ourHouse

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19 Days Until Christmas

 

Bill and I worked all afternoon today to finish decorating the outside of our house and we wanted to share our completed project with you. (Click on any photo to see the whole thing.)

 

 

Welcome to our home - and that is the ONLY kind of snowman that we like to see!

Mickey Mouse wants to welcome you, too - are you surprised to see him?

An overview of the entire front.

The deer we've had for years and named "John Steed" and "Emma Peel" (L to R)

Skating Minnie & Mickey Mouse - they get a lot of attention

Our first gifts  =)

This means a lot to us because it was Bill's when he was a little boy.

We have put it up every Christmas that we have been together.

I hope you are all having a great time putting up your decorations and you share them with me... please leave me a link so I can go check yours out and leave you a comment.

Stay safe and sane.....

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Countdown to Christmas.... The Dry Cleaners is Decorated!

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20 Days Until Christmas

 

 

I went to the Dry Cleaners that Bill works at for a while the past couple of days so that I could help him decorate for Christmas. How do you think we did?

 

It's just a little tree, but it sure is pretty.

It will have gifts under it in a few days. =)

 

 

 

 

So, now all we have to do is finish our decorations at home! How are your decorations coming along? Leave me a link and I'll come over and take a look. I just LOVE Christmas decorations.

 

Be safe and sane.....

 

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Countdown to Christmas..... It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmasin Celebration

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21 Days Until Christmas!!

These are some photos I took during my walk with the doggies around the block near our house. I really love the way (most) of our neighbors decorate their houses at Christmas. It really looks beautiful at night with all the lights on. 

I really adore the soldier standing sentry on the porch on the 2nd floor.

This is our welcome mat - you'd never have guessed that, huh?

This is our front door, we had just begun to decorate, it looks much better with all the lights now.

This is the little tree at the dry cleaners where bill works, isn't it cute?

This is the house next door to the "Griswald House" - I think they have taken everything in stride. It looks adorable, without going overboard... I love the Santa and reindeer climbing up the front of the house - too cute!

Hope you enjoyed a view of some of the decorated houses in my neighborhood. I'll post our decorations when we are done with them, and I'll definitely post the "Griswald House" all lit up - or you can wait for the photos from the ISS. =)

Stay safe and sane.... <3

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Countdown to Christmas... Our First Christmas Event

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Bill and I attended our first Christmas event tonight, we went to the Noah's Light Foundation Festival of Trees Charity event.

I have more photos for a later date, but I just wanted to share this one with you to (hopefully) make you smile.

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Countdown to Christmas... Maxine the Great

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26 Days Until Christmas

 

Stay safe and sane.....

 

 

 

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Countdown to Christmas... The Holiday Socks have Come Out

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28 Days Until Christmas!!

I have a huge collection of Christmas socks that I used to wear in Connecticut all the time, but with Florida being USUALLY warm, I don't get to wear them as often.

However, we have been COLD over the last couple of weeks, so I've pulled the socks out to wear..... and share.

Hope you're having fun this month... Stay safe and sane. HUGGLES!

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Countdown to Christmas..... Griswald House in my Neighborhood

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29 Days until Christmas.....

So, I really LOVE Christmas decorations and lights..... up to a point.

Right around the corner from our house, there is a Griswald house... you know the kind, decorated to within an inch of it's life. This house is so tacky, I hate it... but every year the decorations go up and traffic comes driving by and even stops - causing a back-up almost every night.
 
Well, this is how it starts out... and what it looks like during the day. Have you noticed the candy canes on the sidewalk that line the street? They go almost the entire length of the street (there's one house on the end that is a hold-out).
 
At night it looks like a landing strip on the way to our house... plus it is SO bright. I'll post night photos later in the month when all the decorations are done.

Do you see the white shade on the windo on the right? Notice the bench on the grass, too... Christmas movies play all evening long on that shade.

There is even a 24 hour "A Christmas Story" marathon on that shade - we can see Ralphie right around the corner.

 

 

 

So, what do you think of this house? How much is too much? Let me know, and PLEASE share any links to photos of Griswald houses in your area.

 

Stay safe and sane, my friends.....

 

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Countdown to Christmas...Mia's Christmas Sweater

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With only 30 days until Christmas, I wanted to share with you a photo of Mia in her new Christmas Sweater.

She loved it so much that she was strutting her stuff as we took our walk this afternoon. She just knew she looked pretty.

Hope you are all enjoying your holiday preparations. 

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The Countdown to Christmas Begins.....

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I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with those that you love.  I know I did, I spent the day with hubby, Bill, and all our little babies: Nano, Mia, Mandie, Mumbo, and Wiggles.  Everyone (and I DO mean everyone) loved my meal, which made me feel grateful for such a loving family.  Not to mention the leftovers we have for the next couple of days.

But, with Thanksgiving over, that means that there are only 31 days until Christmas.... AARRGGHH!!!  Have you got everything ready, are you still shopping, or are you pulling your hair out in clumps already?

To lighten you day, I'm going to (try to) post something funny every day until Christmas. It may be a joke, a comic, or just a funny photo of one of my doggies (I know there are a few of you out there that aren't sick of them yet).

So let the countdown begin, this first one if for all my lovely blogger friends:

Photo Credit

Stay safe and sane.... HUGGLES!

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"Let it Glow" Festival of Trees to Benefit Noah's Light Foundation

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On November 30th, Celebration Town Hall will be all lit up with the glow of festival trees to benefit Noah's Light Foundation, as you know one of my favorite charities. There will be many ways to help the charity:

~ Purchase one of the beautifully decorated designer trees for your own home
~ Shop for holiday decorations; let your children shop on their own, too
~ Enter raffles to win great holiday items
~ Purchase a photograph of yourself with the Big Elf, himself - SANTA CLAUS
~ Enjoy the delicious holiday goodies, including the "Glowtini," the special drink of the event.
~ Of course, direct donations are always accepted  =)

Tickets in advance are $10 for adults/$5 for children 12 and under; tickets at the door are $15 for adults/$5 for children 12 and under.
 
To purchase tickets in advance head over to Noah's Light Foundation Event Page.
 
To make a donation at any time, head over to Noah's Light Donation Page.

‘Twas the night of Noah’s Party,
and all through Town Hall,
The people were laughing and having a ball.

 

The goodies were passed by servers with care,
As cocktails were flowing from bartenders with flair.

 

The music – it played, the raffles were won,
The carolers sang and the night wasn’t done.

 

For out of the blue, the Guests stopped and they paused,
And they knew they were there for a wonderful cause.

 

To help our Foundation find the cure; find the answer,
So that no other child loses their life to brain cancer. *

 

Hope to see you there!

*From Noah's Light Foundation Page

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