Merry Christmas

I don't have many visitors at my house. It makes it hard to get motivated to put up a lot of Christmas decorations. Especially this year, since I am still unpacking/moving boxes around my house. 

But I didn't want to be a bah humbug, so I did pull out some of my favorite decorations.

The garland is hung around my french doors. I ended up using it to hold my cards and photos. 

The wrapped packages were just a temporary decoration. 

My favorite tree. It belonged to my Grandma and Grandpa Hill. 

This is a new decoration. I bought it last year, but did not put it out at my bro's house. It is from A Holy Experience blog. 

This is my other favorite tree. This one holds some of my favorite ornaments. 

 A gift from my CFAs.

My dear friend and former co-worker, LLL, gave me this beautiful ornament. It was part of the M-P office ornament exchange tradition. I always loved getting LLL's ornament.

This was a thank you gift from a wonderful lady who was from Wyoming. When I started grade school, she was the school secretary. And she went to the same church as me and my family. And she lived "up the road" from us. I'll always have fond memories of Mrs. Cox.

One of my first years working in the 4-H world, the office secretary made these for each of us. Then in true 4-H fashion she taught all of us how to make them and we enjoyed a fun craft day at work.

This is another one of the office exchange ornaments. Most years, the ornament exchange was random. But sometimes, people found ornaments that were perfect for someone specific. For those times, the "draw" became a little strategic.

In 2001, my co-worker Mrs. R gave each of us one of these beautiful tear drop ornaments. If my memory serves me correctly (which if a rare occasion) this was the year following her very serious cancer treatment and recovery. I'm so thankful for many happy years working with her.

Another beautiful ornament from the office exchange. This was the only time I ever got one of B's ornaments. He (or his wife) always splurged and bought really fancy/special ones. It's a treasure - just like him.

This is a duplicate of one that I gave for one of the exchanges. I loved it so much I had to buy one for myself.

My dear friend T made this for me. And she taught me how to make them. I have a box full of supplies and have made many German Stars over the years. 

Joy was a gift from a former 4-Her. 

My volleyball ornament came from Goodwill. Not the prettiest ornament, but anything volleyball gets special attention at my house.

 I also bought this one for myself, simply due to the tulips. 

This is a new ornament from my new boss. He gave each of us a "mouse" ornament for Christmas. The real gift was the story that he told while handing them out. Each ornament related to the receiver. 
The naughty or nice list refers to the list of improvements I have been working on around the office. I think they have all been super nice. I'm not sure which ones he thinks have been naughty. Maybe my ideas just make him nervous and until he sees the finished results he considers them naughty/bad. But let me tell you, the office looks so nice - at least 200% better. 


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I'm still working on editing the family photos from Christmas day. The traditional family photo didn't turn out so well. I'm trying to combine three different photos. As soon as I get it perfected, I'll post it and a recap of the day.

Everyone was in good moods, so it was a happy day! I hope yours was too.