christmas at the armstrong's

Christmas is the best time of year! I love everything about it; the decorating, the music, snow, candy making, crackling fires, hot cocoa, Christmas movies, twinkling lights, you name it. And here at the Armstrong house, we are ready for the big man to drop in.

Our Christmas banner over the fire place is filled with welcoming holiday cheer.

Our stockings have been hung with extra special care.

Here's our little tree in the green room (as we affectionately call it). All of the ornaments are made of paper.

Our sparkling little snowflakes ensure that we have a white Christmas.

Our festive dining room is ready for some amazing food.

When I was little, my mom started a tradition of giving us an ornament every year. It is my favorite Christmas tradition that I've ever had. Decorating the tree each year means more because all the ornaments have a special memory. When Curtis and I got married we continued the tradition. This is Curt's Indiana Jones ornament I gave him this year, complete with theme music.

This is the ornament Curt gave me this year; Jack Skellington, complete with light up Christmas Town sign. I love it!

As excited as I am for Christmas, I almost wish we still had another month of celebrating. What are some of your favorite things about the season? What are some of your traditions? Happy Christmas everyone!

crazy foggy weather

So all this fog is doing crazy things to the trees and shrubs in our yard. I went out earlier and took some photos.

happy festivus!

A Festivus for the rest of us! We recently had a little Festivus celebration of our own and it was a success. We slightly altered a couple of the key components so as to ensure that no one shed any Festivus tears. To have a happy Festivus follow these simple guidelines:

1. First, you need a pole. Aluminum is the preferred choice by Frank Costanza, but whatever you have will be just fine. We had a miniature version by using this nail.

2. Next, is the Airing of Grievances. This is typically where you let everyone know all the ways they've disappointed you over the past year. We chose a better and more gentler route and played Catchphrase instead. But believe me, there was plenty of 'Airing of Grievances' between Curt and Paul.

3. As Festivus rolls on, you come to the Feats of Strength. Ours were put to the test by a grueling game of Seinfeld Scene It. Alison and I came out on top (as if there were ever any doubts).

4. If you can squeeze in a Festivus Miracle it would be ideal, but not necessary.

5. We also watched the Seinfeld episode, The Strike, where we first hear of Festivus.

Well, there you have it. Happy Festivus everyone!

winter dreams

I have been wanting snow. Lots of it. I love the snow and this is the time when we need it. Snow and December just go together. I was thinking about all the great snow storms we had last winter and thought I'd post a few pics from one of them.

Keep dreaming... and maybe one of these days the weatherman will actually get it right.

all the information you'll ever need

With all the talk of swine flu and zombie invasions I thought this appropriate. Courtesy of Stumble Upon.

(click to enlarge)

halloween monster mash

Thanks to everyone who made this year's Halloween party such a good time. A very special thanks to all you dancing fiends, you know who you are. Until next year...

alison's trees & leaves

My dear friend Alison has quite a talent for dabbling in tree and leaf photography. I stand by my firm belief that she has a successful career on her hands. I was lucky enough to obtain some her most recent work. These are from her fall collection.

pumpkin funtivities

Another spectacular weekend at The Cottage filled with laughs and laughs and laughs while playing Catch Phrase and some very festive pumpkin carving.

Alison, Paul and I; no pumpkin can escape the carnage!

This is mine and Alison's Goofy pumpkin.

Curt and Paul's Jolly Roger.

What a couple a great lookin' melons!

The fabulous four and our pumpkins.

Curt and Paul on the front stoop of The Cottage.

super sleuth weekend

Last weekend, Curtis & I were invited to a "Super Sleuth Weekend" at Paul and Alison's. It was so fantastic! For any of you wishing to host a similar event, here are some key activities that should be addressed:

A very delicious fall dinner. (ours consisted of white bean chicken chili in pumpkin bread bowls. yummy.)

What better to put your sleuthing skills to the test than a riveting game of Clue. Afterwards, we watched Clue the movie. What a classic.

Saturday's activity was a sleuthing scavenger hunt around Logan. It was ladies vs. guys and we each had a list of autumn-esque items we had to capture with the camera. Each team received additional points if we were able to get strangers posing in our picture. The guys gave a valiant effort, however Alison and I were able to eek out a win with our picture of a 24-member biker gang that was taking a rest in the Hastings parking lot. Our victory earned us some pretty amazing Toy Story stickers and tattoos. The crown jewel on the weekend was a saturday afternoon showing of The Great Mouse Detective. Needless to say, we had a lot of laughs. Thanks to Paulison for an amazing weekend!

the vultures of halloween

Behind our house we have an old craggly tree that is pretty creepy looking. Every fall the tree fills with vultures and it certainly ups the creep factor. Curt took a bunch of pictures of the tree with it's visitors and used his mad photoshop skills to make it look even more eerie. The perfect Halloween picture.