Friday, December 23, 2011

Tinsel free!

We started the week like this...
...and ended it like this!
Finally! After nearly 2 full years of wearing braces, Miss Emma got them off on Wednesday. It was less painful than she had been led to believe ( a good thing!) It's a shame that she has to immediately cover them up with a retainer, but we'd like them to stay nice and straight. Her retainer is completely invisible, so except for a little bit of a lisp and extra shininess, you'd never know she has it on!
We are happy to see her beautiful smile back in action.
Best Christmas gift ever, for her!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Deck the halls, Treiber style

Hello, and welcome to our home!
This year I decided to participate in the Holiday Homes tour, sponsored by Jen the magnificent.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that the day to take and post pictures is here, I am second guessing myself. Will the decorations measure up? Did I really need one more damn thing to do in a crazy busy week?What if I just took pictures of someone else's' stuff?

Let's start at the foyer!
I have this awesome bunch of curly twigs that I got at the farmer's market. We threw in some teal colored glitter twigs, and I had some various silver ornaments that didn't fit on the tree. An entryway decor is born! The only piece of real evergreen is on the table, and it's already shedding it's needles like nuts. Between the pine needles and the glitter, maybe this whole scenario should have been moved somewhere where every person who comes through the door doesn't track it in. Lesson learned!

The truth of the matter is that we have so many decorations. Literally 30 totes worth of stuff. Not all of it gets put out. This year we didn't put out our Christmas village, or the Nativity, or the snow globes, or 2 of our trees. This is just a smattering of the stuff that did get chosen this year.

This is my family room. I didn't finish decorating the mantel (because I am lazy and it involved dusting). I made the quilt before we were married.
My husband has collected the Hallmark car & truck of the year ornaments since they very first began. About 5 years ago, we decided they needed their own tree. And they outgrew that tree, and got a new even larger tree, This year, he chose to display them on a garland over the fireplace. I didn't count, but they barely fit onto the 12 foot garland.
Our anniversary is one week before Christmas. One year, I bought him this palm tree. Many of our favorite beach/sea/nautical themed ornaments are on this tree.
In our living room is our main tree. We don't have a theme. It's decorated with ornaments that we have collected over the years. Some the kids have made. (My kids are 12 & 14, and begged for many of their handmade ornaments to not be displayed. Buttheads.)
This is the tree during the day...
...and at night.
This is my snowflake & icicle window. It's been an evolving project over the last few years. It's also the very last thing to come down; usually in February. This year I added the snowy trees at the bottom, and the lights. It's my favorite place to sit in in the house. I love that the tree reflects in the windowpanes, and it's warm and cozy.
Last, but not least, is our new kitten Dexter. We got him a week ago. He loves the tree. He loves the packages. He loves the string. He loves everything about it.
We decorated outdoors as well, but I tried many times to get a good photo or two and was unsuccessful. You'll have to trust me when I say my hubs did a great job with our blue, green & white lights. Very classy. Would look lovely with snow.
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our home!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Tomorrow we celebrate!

Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas with my dad & stepmom. Today has been a flurry of activity: baking 4 kinds of cookies, cards, wrapping, blogging (be sure to come back tomorrow for the Holiday Homes tour). I'm exhausted and everything hurts.
Tomorrow is also a huge day because Emma gets her braces off! She is over the moon happy right now. Counting down the hours.
And just because,
something cute.


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Today is going to be Wicked awesome!

Happy Anniversary to my awesome hubs who got us tickets to see Wicked today at the Opera House! When the tickets first arrived 3 months ago, it seemed like a lifetime away. I'm so excited.

It's our 18th anniversary. All year I had been thinking it was our 19th, and next year would be the big two oh. Wrong. 2013 will be 20 years. Basic math skills, I has them.
18 years and two great kids is nothing to sneeze at though! I may complain and whine from time to time, but my life is pretty blessed :)

Saturday, December 17, 2011

NHS Christmas concert

This week Emma performed for three nights at her school's annual Christmas concert. We went on the middle night, the night she performed with both her regular choir and her Freshman select choir. The whole family went to support her and hear her sing.
The show was amazing. Northville High is #1 in the state in choir for a reason! It was two hours of beautiful holiday music. And because Emma likes surprises, she didn't tell us that she was going to have 4 solos. We were more than surprised!
(I apologize for the picture quality. Terrible!)




At the end of the concert all of the bands went onstage to sing the Hallelujah chorus, and everyone in the audience stood and sang along. It was very moving.
We are so proud of our songstress. She practiced every free minute and is so brave to sing on the stage in front of hundreds of people. Love you!!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

On the 14th of December, my true love gave to me...

...an unexpected furry gift!
He's 8 weeks old and completely adorable. We are still trying to figure out what to name him. Lola is very funny with him; equal parts of wanting to play with him and bite him. By MOnday I'm sure they will be the best of friends.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

It's all about the presents

The acquisition of gifts for family and friends has begun in earnest.
This year, as well as every other year in recent memory, the people who are easy to shop for are very easy to shop for; the people who are hard to shop for are very hard to shop for.
Add in 2 December birthdays and an anniversary (ours), and gift giving can become downright stressful.
I'm about 75% finished with my shopping. It's just those tricky, hard to buy for people that are throwing me for a loop.
Online shopping has been my friend this year, and many of my gifts have come delivered by the happy brown truck. Last week, I averaged 2 packages a day. I've placed several more orders, so I'm expecting next week will be busy as well.
I was very surprised an happy to receive a chocolatey package from my friend Jen yesterday. She was extolling the virtues of Vosges bars, and I may have said that I would cut a bitch for one of their bars. She sent three:)
Next up: Christmas cards. I am falling behind this year!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Hello, December

Two of Lola's favorite (non-people) things:
warm laundry and sunbeams.
When I'm carrying the laundry basket
she will race me to the bedroom and jump on the bed in anticipation
of freshly laundered, warm clothes to snuggle in.
I always pretend to be irritated,
but who doesn't love warm clothes from the dryer?
And the only sunbeams that come into our house in the afternoon
happen to fall right across our bed. Conveniently.
Spoiled rotten.