Boy's Best Friend

Did you have a merry Christmas? Ours was pretty sweet. We spent the day at my parents' house where we exchanged gifts and then I helped my mom cook dinner. We had dinner with Uncle Cracker (chiropractor, you remember) and his family. The cutie pie up there is my Boy Cousin hugging Trixie.

We brought the dogs with us, as they had not been to my parents' new house yet (packing up two dogs isn't all that fun!) and we didn't want to leave them home alone all day on Christmas! Yep, they are spoiled. Though not that spoiled, since this year they did not get any Christmas presents. We usually get them one. Trixie loves tearing up wrapping paper. She still got to tear up paper, so I'm not quite sure she missed the gift.

Trixie and Boy Cousin made fast friends. They had lots of fun playing tug of war. That dog NEEDS a kid to play with! Hopefully she'll still be playful when our kid is here and old enough to play. Baby Girl Cousin (the cute one that has a future in photography, you remember) didn't quite know what to make of the dogs. She seemed like she wanted to pet them, but then she'd touch them with just one finger, and only for a brief second. It was funny. Then she got really mad when Trixie licked her face. Can you blame her? I'd be mad too! Trixie is such a little nurturer. It's a shame she can't be a dog mommy... she'd be an excellent one.

I've got some gorgeous family, don't I? I'm glad we spent the evening with them. They're lots of fun!

Weekend Shapshot #1

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Or at least a little. I'm trying out a new photo meme to see if it helps me both use my camera more and blog more. This one doesn't have a set theme, you just post a photo every Monday!

This weekend we put up our Christmas tree, so I figured that would be the perfect photo to share this week. Yep, I have a boring tree! It's all silver and red. White lights only. I grew up with a tree full of colored lights and a large collection of mis-matching ornaments. It was cool, but I guess you can call this tree a little bit of a rebellion. LOL I did it my way! Yes, I know the bow on the top is too small for the tree. I need to figure out something else.

Hope you enjoy! *grin*

A Christmas Meme

I swiped this from Heidi. If you haven't played but would like to, leave me a comment so I can be sure to read it!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I like wrapped gifts under the tree because they're so puuurdy, but gift bags are cool otherwise. Very easy and nice looking. Plus, you can often reuse them! Gotta love that.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. I prefer the look and smell of a real one, but am too cheap. Plus, they're a little messy. Our artificial one is really nice though.

3. When do you put up the tree? To be honest, this is only the second year we've had a tree. I resisted it up until last year. Christmas was too depressing to celebrate much. But last year I decided to try to break out of my humbug-iocity and we bought a tree. We did it almost last minute though. This year we plan to put it up this weekend. I wanted to do it last weekend, but the opportunity did not present itself.

4. When do you take the tree down? Last year we waited a bit since we put it up so late. This year I imagine it will come down around New Years. It's a big tree and I will miss that valuable space in my living room!

5. Do you like eggnog? Uhh, *gag*

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmm, let's see. I don't remember a lot of what I received, but I loved the bike I got one year. I think my favorite of all had to be either the CD player my parents got me (I think I was a teen by then though) and the birth stone ring they gave me. The ring was awesome. Ooh, or these adorable earrings my granny gave me. They are little gold bows with mother of pearl hearts dangling from them. SO tiny but so beautiful. I loved those. I miss granny.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? I do! My parents gave it to me. It's very lovely. I don't know where it is. *LOL*

8. Hardest person to buy for? My MOM. Boy is she hard!

9. Easiest person to buy for? My dad. In fact, he's so easy I'm willing to bet he already knows what he's getting...

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably a dollar store toy... when I was about 15 or 16 and had long stopped playing with toys.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail! I'm so bad this year. We haven't taken our Christmas picture, nor have we written our Christmas letter. Oops.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? *singing* "You're a mean one... Mr. Grinch!" Aww, that reminds me of granny too. Big Grinch fan, she was.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November-ish.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think I've ever recycled any gift as a gift to someone else. A gift we gave to a coworker, however, was recycled... as a white elephant gift... at the following year's company Christmas party! Thankfully my husband and I share an awesome sense of humor and got a HUGE chuckle out of that.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Oooh... pumpkin bread, apple bread, pecan pie, cookies, gingerbread... aww, heck. If it has sugar and/or a carb, I'm THERE. BTW, if you have a great gingerbread cookie recipe (SOFT cookie recipe), please share! I'm on a hunt...

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? All clear. I'm very picky about this! Our tree has white lights and simple decorations that are all silver or red. Boring? Perhaps. But beautiful? No doubt.

17. Favorite Christmas song? When I was growing up, "O Holy Night" was my favorite carol. I'm not sure I have a favorite today, but I like the ones that make me giggle. Like "Baby It's Cold Outside" or "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer". But I also like a good version of "Carol of the Bells". (FYI: you know you've been in the jewelry business too long when you CAN.NOT. type "bells" without redoing it about three times because you keep typing "belles" instead.)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay at home. I'm not fond of traveling.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Well there's Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do I recall the most famous reindeer of all? Umm, he's the one with the red nose, right? Shoot. What's his name? I can also name all of Snow White's Six Dwarves. Ok, show of hands: how many of you, whether in your head or out loud, frantically corrected me? "Seven! There are SE-VEN dwarves!!"

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither, actually. We have a big silver bow. Boring? Yes, perhaps. But Martha would be proud!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning!!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Big crowds. My goodness, I hate the big crowds. They make me so nervous. And all the commercialism. But not all the commercialism because it helps our business make $$. So I'm just partially a hypocrite then, right?

23. What I love most about Christmas? Family and umm, see question #15.

I see you just got a haircut.

You want some jewelry with that?

Apparently, you do!

We made our first drop of earrings at the salon on Wednesday. Almost half of it was gone before we left. We had to make a second drop today! Apparently the locals love our stuff! All of this started because of our Open House party. We had no idea that little thing would turn into this huge deal! But my oh my, are we thankful.

We've been officially "in business" for less than a year. Most businesses don't take off this fast in less than a year. Our website gets regular orders and we're always working on new pieces. I'm not saying this to brag (although I can't help but be a little proud that people appreciate our work!) but instead I'm saying it because we are BLESSED.

People have been praying over our efforts since before we even started. You all know who you are. Thank you. But, umm, keep on praying. I feel the need for a rolling mill and I'll need to sell a lot more earrings to buy one of those. *giggle*

Here are some of our newest (and apparently very popular!) pieces:















I have most of my Christmas shopping done now. I don't even like waiting this long, but most of it was done online so it's not so bad. I just need to buy for one more person and a few more stocking stuffers for the hubby and I'll be through. That's a huge load off. I think we will be putting up the tree this weekend.

How are you coming along with your shopping and decorating?

Thursday Thirteen #3

Thirteen Texas Christmas Carols

1. We Snuck Up On and Shot a Deer

2. Oh Mesquite Tree

3. Keep Your Snow! Keep Your Snow! Keep Your Snow!

4. Maybe It's Cold Outside?

5. Away in a Ranger

6. Oh Come, All Ye Immigrants

7. Lovely Weather for a Hay Ride Together With You

8. It's the Least Sweltering Time of the Year

9. Up at the Truck Stop

10. Carol Ain't No Belle

11. Joy to the World, the Cowboys Won! (Yeah... right...)

12. Santa Got Run Over By My Chevy

13. I Heard Daddy's Suing Santa Clause

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