Lovato's Lives: Top 20 additions of Christmas 2011

OK...I am feeling just a tad bit guilty about the whole blog posting thing....sometimes when it comes to birthdays, holidays, special events, etc...it just seems like TOO much effort to put things on Facebook AND the blog. AND since pictures are more easily uploaded to Facebook-most of the cool stuff goes to that. Well...I thought that I would put some unique things here on the good old blog. SO...here are my top 20 new additions to Christmas 2011. I got this blog idea as I was sadly putting all the decor away this year. Tee hee hee.

In no particular order....

#1 One of my besties-Heather Lyons made this advent calendar for me for my birthday last year. I LOVED it and this year the kids loved taking turns getting their treats out. It was so much fun!

#2 I kept hearing ads about Home Depot having these 20 gallon totes for $5.88...so I talked Matt into taking me there and I scored 4 of them. I LOVE having a place for everything and everything in its place. I thought about being saucy and putting a blue lid on the brown tote and a brown lid on the blue tote. Oh yeah, I am cool like that.

#3 Ever since 1995 Matt and I have taken turns giving each other ornaments (he has odd years and I have the even years). They are usually cute bears or Disney themed, etc. Matt bucked the system this year and decided to get each family member one of these blingy initial ornaments. I resisted at first and wanted to stick to tradition-but they actually grew on me and I love them now. However, 2012 is MY year and we will see how I feel when I start to shop. PS. I could NOT tolerate them not having the year on them-so I wrote 2011 on the back of each of them in black permanent marker-a rebel I am NOT-or does that make me a rebel...hmmm...

#4 If I had ordered these this might be #1!! I got a new phone for Christmas. It was my entire budget. I love it, I love having the internet like 24-7! I will NEVER be bored again. I can't believe I went so long without a smartphone! I feel so much more efficient.

#5 My cute neighbor Denise (mother of adorable 11 month old twins) gave me these magnets. OH I LOVE THEM! SO very cute. The moment I got them I stuck them on the fridge....then one by one they fell off and broke. The magnet was stronger than the glue. I was so devastated I asked her if I could buy more off of her. She gave me a new set for free! I think Matt might have been embarassed by me telling her that they broke...but I really loved them!!

#6 After YEARS and YEARS and YEARS of owning both of these classics on VHS tape-we FINALLY bought them on DVD. I was worried we were wearing the tape thin! I think Matt knows every word to ONE of them and I know every word to the other one...can you guess which one goes with which one?

#7 OKAY this is totally cheesy but I got this CD for Christmas. I saw him sing "Mistletoe" on a TV show...and I wanted it. It is a really good CD and one that might become a regular at our house.....

#8 My cute little sister Sarah was sooo creative with her gifts this year. I was pleasantly surprised by her amazing presents! (I should have taken pictures of all the things she made!). This one was my favorite- I have always wanted something like this-I can't wait to write love notes to Matt. Aww.....

#9 Matt's Dad and his wife Tina gave us these knives for Christmas. I shoulda taken a picture of the ghetto knives we had before! The last set was given to us for our wedding-almost 13 years ago. Well...one day when we were laying sod, Matt's dad asked to use our old knives...and I told him...um my "old knives" are my only knives--aka the good knives. Well...that experience got me thinking. Every year Tina asks me for suggestions...so this year I made this suggestion...and I was extremely pleased that she got us this AWESOMELY CLASSY set of new knives. I am actually afraid to use them.

#10 This new TV was a bit of surprise. Matt found this TV for a killer deal and now my house feels like a brand new house. We now hang out downstairs and I can't believe we didn't do this earlier! It is nice to watch TV while you cook dinner...who would have known!

#11 This was actually a birthday present not a Christmas present....but Matt got me these remote control LED candles. Which is awesome because I have had these empty candesticks above my door for like 2 years! Super cool.

#12 The fireplace isn't new...but using it is! (forgive the ugly wire-Matt is working on it).....it was such a treat to wrap presents by the fireplace especially when it has been so cold lately.

#13 Matt decided it was time to upgrade our tree. I was sad at first-but trusted his vision. He came up with this idea to refurbish our old ornaments. He came up with this idea all by himself and I happily obliged....and we have a big staircase! (aka-lots of ruberbands and lots of slapping myself with them).

#14 DOH...this picture is sideways and I can't fix it! So please turn your screen. My adorable bestie Misty made me these blocks that spells out words. It is so fun...and festive! I am really trying to channel my inner-Misty....I am just not as cute as her but I am really trying.

#15 On the other hand...Matt's old secretary Kathy, unlike me, IS totally talented and crafty and made us these wooden letters. I love them. Jamie also loved that it had a big "J" like in his name and I loved that he is recognizing his letters! Pure JOY for this cornball.

#16 Here is the aforementioned tree. With its 2011 makeover...ala Matt. This was ALL him. He decorated this tree with such ferver it was a hoot. He was on a neverending quest for dark blue ornaments-they are harder to find than you think they'd be. It took him forever to get the new LED lights on the tree..but I loved it afterwards. The new tree grew on me too!

#17 We have a little shindig at our house every New Years Eve with Matt's brother and sister. Matt and I spent ALL day cleaning the house for our party...then shortly after midnight Lauren SOMEHOW got a hold of some confetti! I don't think I have seen Matt that angry in a long time. This static-confetti might be lingering around for a long time despite our many attempts at clean up. Look at Lauren smiling even though she was in BIG trouble.

#18 Even though I am not very crafty, I LOVE crafts. I bought this foam kit and the kids and I had so much fun assembling it, okay I had fun assembling it. I was quite proud of the final product. I need all projects to be this easy!!

#19 I love love love Christmas Cards! It is the only time of the year when it is FUN to get the mail. At my old house I used to put the cards on our front door...but ever since we moved into this house...I haven't known what to do with them. This year...I taped them to the wall. I LOVED it! The wall seems to bare now without it.

#20 Okay-this isn't new...-I just thought I should mention it. I probably need to invest in a new nativity scene-maybe it will be the first addition to 2012. Well, I don't know where I got this and it isn't very high quality. BUT, I just can't bring myself to throw it away and I have tried a few times. Many years ago-like before Lauren was born-our dog Dixie ATE baby Jesus. I tried to tell Matt that it was the proof that she was really a devil dog. However-I think that it now symbolizes how empty Christmas is without "Christ", literally.