Christmas Prep in this Flinkman Home

Hi friends.

Have I mentioned that I love Christmas?  I am so incredibly blessed to have found a man who loves it just as much as I do.  Remember last year when I came home to our tiny studio to find that he had decorated it all for us?

Here's what last year looked like.

This year, having a "little" more room, we upgraded to a tree that's actually taller than us.  It's rather nice, considering I had to switch to colored lights for the husband.  I'm getting used to them.

 

Mom sent me home with an extra box of ornaments since we only had a handful to our name.  Now we have ornaments from John and Mary, the ones Grandma Lynn made, one or two that Mom made in school, some I made in school, a couple from my Great Grandma Gray, and a bunch that I grew up with on our tree at home.

 

The few sentimental ones we did own are the pickle we got for our wedding, our first Christmas ornament with our wedding picture, and some ornaments that I made with the kids I nannied.

 

Our homemade stockings found a new perch this year.  Someone's is already full of goodies... Apparently we're being more trusting this year...

And of course, one of my favorite parts: Our candlelit nativity scene.  I decided to cozy it up this year by adding some fur under it.

 

The husband mentioned to me earlier this week that I haven't done much baking since we've been married and that he would enjoy some chocolate chip cookies.  So I remedied that by making almost four dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that turned out quite delicious, if I may say so myself.

 

I also thought some cinnamon sugared almonds sounded delightful, so I cooked some up real quick.   Naturally, one batch did not sound like enough, and I ended up with two big mixing bowls full of them.

 

Unfortunately, my poor husband came home from work last night with the flu.  He has been sleeping almost all day with a fever, and the only one to test out the cookies has been moi.  Poor guy.  So after watching several movies cooped up on the couch, it's now time to see if some football is on for the sick boy.

At least things are looking nice around here.  We decided to keep our first Christmas tree around.  It's now an end table decoration.  (In case you can't tell, that photo is of me and my favorite little guys. They sent me home with it last time I visited and it's been in this special spot ever since.)

As far as Christmas shopping goes, I only have one more item I need to go out and get, and few more I'm checking the mail for everyday.  Other than that, I'm all set! 

Well, I've got to go wait on my patient.  Til next time,

Aim