The long weekend...

This weekend proved to be a nice, long, relaxing weekend due to the fact that we were pretty much done with our decorating! That's right, while all of you were out there dragging up your trees and decking the halls with boughs of holly, we were left with the task of hanging wreaths on the windows and sitting on our butts. Well, not entirely true. Thursday was Thanksgiving (aka my birthday.) It was spent by running a 5k (to ensure I could properly gorge myself,) stuffing myself full of turducken (never heard of it? well, it's a Lubore family favorite and consists of a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey. Genius, right?) And lastly, hitting up good ol' Clyde's in Ashburn for some post-feast drinks which turned out to be pretty dead. Apparently people in Ashburn are really hit hard by the tryptophan. Here's some proof that we potentially ate way too much. Ethan was warned by my brother (Uncle Mike) that too much food can cause a "Turkey Belly," and so it did...

Friday we wanted to enjoy the warm weather and hit up some sales but our crabby children foiled that plan. Everett decided to throw an hour long tantrum, complete with face on the floor and eardrum-shattering screaming. We retreated to Purcellville in hopes that the fresh country air would clear up whatever was ailing him. It only partially worked. We threw him in his crib and left him to rot, er, rest.

Saturday I began my Christmas buying. After I got back, Josh decided that he needed to match my purchase power by buying yet another wreath, only this time one 4 times the strength of a regular wreath. I awoke Sunday morning to realize that Josh was not up strictly watching the Notre Dame game. Apparently the extra drinks went straight to his head and he decided to add a little ooomph to our family room. Here is what I call "drunken decorating:"

Not only was I not pleased with the use of colored lights (I'm sticking with white due to the classiness, not because I'm a racist as Josh would like you to believe) but the carelessness of his decorating was just offensive. Not to be outdone, Ethan (who has now become afflicted with an ear infection) decided that the newly wrapped presents under the tree were for him and that today must be his birthday. Here is how to really piss off Josh:

Some might find this funny or cute, but Josh was not amused. As you can see, Ethan looks pretty ashamed of himself. Ethan didn't speak to us for about 20 minutes out of embarrassment (we're not sure if that was really a punishment or not.)

All in all, the house is pretty much finished (although Josh is trying to convince me that our house is not quite bright enough and needs a spotlight.) Of course there are a few tweaks that will need to be made and there is a bunch of wrapping that needs to be done. Everything will need to be finalized before the 10th for our holiday party. If your reading this and haven't received an invite yet, it's probably in the mail...

You may be a Shepherd if...

I think it's very important in the chronicling of our tale to point out that our Christmas craziness is not limited to our small sect of the family. A love of the Yule-time is instilled at a very young age and affects all Shepherds both young and old. Here are a few instances since the inception of this blog:

-November 6th the first text from Cheryl (my amazing mother-in-law and the ringleader of this Christmas Circus) was sent asking for Christmas lists as she was in the mood to start shopping

-Aunt Martha (Josh's aunt who has a 6th sense for just the right present in just the right size for the boys) sent out their annual Christmas shirts with a note saying that she "knew it was early but they can wear it while lights are hung." She must not have known Project Icicle Drip and Droop 2k11 (my new name for the front porch lighting) had already begun.

-I came down the stairs over the weekend to hear Josh in an in-depth conversation regarding the differences between LED and traditional Christmas lights (yes, we Shepherds have an official stance on lights: LED is not warm and Christmas-y enough. We prefer a warm glow, not to be bowled over with laser beams.)

-9am Saturday morning, Josh informs me from the other room that The Santa Clause is on the Hallmark Channel. How could he know that from the other room? And more importantly, who is monitoring the Hallmark Channel? Why, that would be Miss Jayme Shepherd down in Atlanta. She is in charge of holiday programming and ensures that no one in the family will miss out on a key viewing experience.

I'm sure there are more instances than even I know about. The Shepherd summit has not met yet to decide exactly which presents to buy and when to exchange, but I'm sure that's coming down the line as well. The boys received their X-mas jammies last night and Ethan was super excited to get in the holiday spirit. I'm still in the midst of my research, but I'm pretty sure I can prove that the Shepherd family shares at least a chromosome or two with Kris Kringle himself.

Next up...a Lubore Turducken Day, my Bday Extravaganza and Black Friday...

Garland Envy....

This weekend, Josh declared that we would finish all of the decorating. Well, surprise, surprise, we're only about 85% finished (and may never be done!) I spent all day Saturday cleaning up, fixing the tree in the dining room (I decided in lieu of a star to go with a giant bow which took up the majority of the time) and perfecting our mantle. While I was trimming the inside, Josh set up outdoors. He hung some garland around the door only to decide that it was too thin (which it was.) On our walk around the block, Josh spotted another house with garland around the door which was lush and thick. It was then that I diagnosed Josh with "garland envy." After that, Josh decided we had to hit up the craft store immediately to spruce up our trimmings in order to have the thickest, manliest garland on the block (overcompensating?)

The inspiration: a couple of months ago, we had both decided that our house should look like this:

So, that was the original plan. Unfortunately, I figured by the time I bought all the garland and the decorations to embellish it, I would have to spend a fortune. So, in the spirit of savings we decided to buy some regular $5 garland and add in some "fancy" floral garland from the craft store (on sale for 40% off.) After much back and forth on how this should be done, it was decided that we should double up on the green and then add the floral. Here are some before and after shots:

All in all, I think it turned out pretty good (all 81 feet of garland!) Not quite the photo we started with, but compared to PB's $60 for 10 feet (we spent less than that on the entire project,) I think we made out like bandits.

And then I caught the bug...

Both literally and figuratively. Josh was the first to catch the stomach bug (as evidence by all the extra garland he bought during his sick day.) Then, Thursday night was Ethan's turn. I'll spare all the gory details, but watching a 3 year-old puke is one of the saddest things. By Saturday night, I was hit as well. Luckily, it was only 24 hours and we were back in action.

While nursing my sick child back to health (aka making him take a nap) and forcing his brother to get vaccinated (which resulted in more napping,) I had the day off. As I enjoyed my lunch in my quiet house, I started flipping through a catalog. Before I realized it, I was finished with Home Decorator's Collection and halfway through Pottery Barn. And it hit me: the tree was all wrong. The dining room table was still decked out in fall colors. My kitchen table still had pumpkins in the middle. Clearly, we were nowhere near looking like any of the pictures I had just seen. So, obviously, I had to move every single ornament on the tree to a new position. Then, I realized all of my bows had been squished in storage. So, of course I had to re-loop those as well. Before I knew it, the kids were up, two hours were gone and my fingers hurt from all the bow tying. I had to be stopped, so we retreated to my parents.

Unfortunately, Josh was back when we returned. "We need to put up the second tree," he explained. Apparently, my tree trimming had unveiled a spark of enthusiasm and he decided to strike while the iron was hot. After some back and forth, (and rearranging of the furniture, only to end up back in its original position,) the tree in the dining room was up. And of course, I would have no idea how many more decorations to buy unless I actually decorated this tree. (And yes, I may have been spotted through the window by my neighbor driving by, who stopped and told us how crazy we are.) Here's how she stands now (don't judge, she's not entirely finished and Ethan assured me that this one, "Mommy's Tree" is prettier than "Daddy's Tree.")

And to make an even longer story shorter, Josh had to get started on the lights outside (he just HAD to!!) so that just in case all of the neighbors didn't already think we were insane, they are now fully alerted by our house glowing brightly against the dark sky:

(I apologize for the fog. Apparently my phone did not realize that you don't need a flash when capturing Clark Griswold's home...)

46 days and counting....

No, I didn't pull out my calendar to figure out exactly how many days we have until Christmas. I just asked Josh, who has had a Christmas Countdown App on his iphone for the past two months. Things are progressing just as one would expect. The tree went up, was perfectly fluffed and an extra thousand lights were added. Most children spend their mornings eating breakfast but this is how my little elves spend theirs:

Little by little decorations have been appearing. Most of them while I'm gone. Monday I came home to a partially decorated tree. Last night I returned from Mom's Night (also known as Tuesday's Wine Binge Fest) and garland was wound up the staircase. Today Josh decided to make the most out of his "sick day" and hit up Target for more essentials. I came home this evening to a well-lit bannister. Luckily, we have so many lights up using the ones that are actually installed in the ceiling has become completely unnecessary! Here's a picture of the tree as it stands now (don't worry...those small ornaments will make their way up to the top where they belong! Has anyone ever heard of a little thing called balance?!?)

The insanity begins...

Now that Halloween is over, it is officially Christmas time in the Shepherd family. Some might think Thanksgiving is the next major holiday, but that is merely a stepping stone on our way to Yuletide bliss. As soon as I left the house yesterday for lunch with some friends at the Wine Kitchen, Josh got down to work recruiting our children into his little Christmas minions. I had decided that we should at least wait until the second weekend in November to begin decorating, but Josh had other plans. He filled our three-year-old's head so full of Christmas wonder that I came home to, "Mommy, Santa is coming!" and "Where is our Christmas tree?" I don't have a heart of stone, so of course I had to give in. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, Josh's trunk was stockpiled with Christmas lights. Apparently Josh spends his lunch breaks perusing Home Depot for deals on lights and has been doing so for the past 3 months. Here is my proof....

So, as I write this entry, Josh has begun "fluffing" the first of our trees (no, that's not some weird gay joke, it just wasn't poofy enough,) boxes of ornaments have been resurrected from our basement and our poor confused toddler (who finally started to appreciate the glory of Halloween) is watching the "Monster Mash" on Youtube in the other room. Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

And so we begin...

I've been told by multiple people that I should start a blog. My only problem...what's my angle?? Clearly, I have kids, but that's been done. I recently went back to work, but that's played out. My husband is crazy, but that's a hackneyed tale as well. So I figured, what really sets our family apart? Christmas. It's not that we're religious. Hell, my father is Jewish so clearly that doesn't play in. It's the fact that Josh, my hubby of 5 years, is insanely obsessed with all things Christmas. And so begins our tale...every year we have a vicious cycle. How can we outdo last year? What will the neighbors do? And most importantly, how much is too much? It's something that lives with us throughout the year. From having children to buying a house, there is one thing that always pops up...How will it affect Christmas? And so, I present to you...It's a Blunder-ful Life...A Shepherd Story!