Um... where did the week go?!

Apparently Christmas is literally, right around the corner!  All of a sudden it's Friday and we have exactly one week to go until Christmas.  That's nuts!  I had really great intentions of keeping you up to speed with all the"really exciting" stuff going on around here this week - but I failed miserably.

You see, we recovered from last Saturday's party.

My niece Mariah had a band concert...

 

We hosted a work party for Travis' co-workers...

 

All the while I was busy with this, this, and this!  Not to mention baking, wrapping, and all of the usual holiday "stuff"... yikes!

How are you guys holding up?  Ready for next week?  Or do you still have a lot to do?  Are you hosting family and friends in the coming week?  Celebrating annual traditions?  Whatever you're up to - I hope you're having a WONDERFUL Holiday season!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

This post is a little late, since the tree has been up for the better part of a week now, but oh well. Better late than never!

Like the lights, this year's tree has been quite the debacle! First of all it took us forever to find a place to purchase one, then ages to pick one out we actually liked. Once we got it home it wouldn't fit in the tree stand so we had to saw a bunch of low-hanging branches off. When we finally got it up it was super crooked and we were afraid it would fall! So we anchored it into the wall as an extra protective measure!

What I need to keep in my head is that it is a REAL TREE. It is not going to be perfectly straight and symmetrical. That's part of its beauty, right?

Anyhoo... we did have a lot of fun decorating it....




I love, love, LOVE unpacking the ornaments each year. Almost every one holds a special memory with it. Here are a few of my faves...

We got these two ornaments on our Honeymoon. They are hand-painted and just so pretty.

My grandmother got me this one. If you look closely you can see that the paint is starting to crack. I always put it at the top of the tree so it's safe.

This is not a good picture, but these are cherries and they jingle! It came from my parents house and was always one of my faves as a kid.

One of my oldest friends, Angela, made this for me. It has a little mini camera, scrapbook, and some other personal things inside to represent me and my hobbies.

Meg and Matt got us this last year to celebrate our first Christmas in our first home!

This one came from our trip to NYC last December with Trav's family. So much fun!

Travis' Aunt and Cousins got this for me at my bridal shower last year.

This one came from Travis' parents' house...

Cindy and I exchange ornaments at the holidays every year. This one was from 2008.

Do you have any ornaments that are especially near and dear to your heart?

(I like to go a little crazy with the lights!)

Happy Monday!

Second Annual Roehm Christmas Party!

For the second year in a row, we hosted a Christmas party for our friends. It's an opportunity to get everyone together and celebrate the season. Everyone brings a dish to pass, something to drink to share, and a donation of some kind. Last year we collected "Toys for Tots" and this year we collected pet supplies to donate.

We ate lots, drank a fair amount, and laughed a TON. There was MUCH merriness in the Roehm house yesterday evening! Here are a few highlights...

The house - all ready to go!

The bar area...

Heather and Anthony - getting the party started!

Noah really was excited to be there I swear...

I wish this photo would have turned out better. I heart them.

Pet "stuff" to be donated.

Heather and I decorated cupcakes and cookies.

Cracker time! I'm told that the crackers marked the beginning of the end of the evening...


Kelly's crown was so sweet that Bella wanted to jump up and steal it from her!


Alison and Noah rocking out their crowns (or "helmets" as Heather called them!)

Aw, they match!

Adam and his little robot guy...

Heather got a whistle in her cracker. She thought it was the best thing ever.

We got Kristen and Justin an ornament. Kristen looks sad here but I think she was just overwhelmed by our sensitivity! : )

Hands down my favorite shot of the night. Hilarious.

Classy is our middle name...

Certainly not the most attractive photo of me ever - but the only one of Trav and I from the night...

The end of the night... Kelly was out cold and Alison and Noah were fading fast...

Thanks so much for coming, everyone! We had an amazing time with you all!

Baby It's COLD Outside!

The advantage of Travis and I sharing a car temporarily is that I don't have to drive in the snow. I HATE driving in the snow. In fact - I'm one of those people who is so nervous driving in the snow that I'm generally a hazard to others. Yup, snow + Joanne driving = bad news.

The weather people have been threatening this "terrible blizzard" for days. It's kind of become a joke around here actually - because there's been so much media coverage about our "winter storm" but nothing to show for it.

We finally woke up this morning to some snow...





All the schools are canceled, but I've really seen much worse. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about? We DO live in Michigan after all - this is pretty normal. That's not to say you'll catch me driving in it... I'll happily stay at home in my PJ's until the roads are clear again!

Slowly but surely, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's so ironic - I've been looking forward to the Christmas season for MONTHS - wishing school was over so I could partake in all of the decorating, shopping, baking, and merriment. Now that it's here, I'd be lying if I didn't say that so far - it's been a bit of a pain in the ass!!!

You know how sometimes nothing seems to be easy? That's how our Christmas decorating experience has been so far. It started with the lights debacle (which, might I add, turned out wonderfully in the end!) and then progressed to a crooked Christmas tree... not enough lights for said crooked Christmas tree, garland that wouldn't stay hung, cats trying to EAT said garland... you get the picture!

Anyhoo - I'm pleased to report that the tree is UP (still a little crooked, but isn't that the beauty of a live tree?! I keep telling myself that at least!) and LIT. Tonight we'll move on to putting ornaments on it... surely nothing can go wrong there?!


The garland is also up... though I need to get some glittery thingys to stick in it and spruce it up a little bit. AND - the cats don't seem to be eating it any longer... guess the novelty wore off!




We're being threatened with a HUGE snowstorm here that has yet to come to fruition... I'm getting a little panicky only because I am WAY behind on Christmas shopping and HATE driving in the snow. If this storm comes through I'll be even MORE behind on the shopping.


How are YOUR holiday plans going? Feeling rushed, hectic at all? Or are you cool as a cucumber with everything completely under control?? I think I'm going to grab a warm up on my coffee, put on the Christmas music, and just sit on the couch and admire the pretty lights for awhile. That should put things in perspective! : )

Happy Holidays! Stay Warm!