Fa la la la la'd Out!

The undecorating is almost done.  We are doing two shower remodels next week so I wanted to go ahead and get things put away.  The taking down part is easy, the organizing and putting away will take a little while.  My Santa and tree collection keeps growing and I love it!  So, here's to a Happy New Year!

Elf on a Shelf Ivy Antics

 

Who likes "Star Bucks?" 

Ummm...

I prefer McDonalds! 

Fa la la la la the Halls are Decked!

I am done decorating for Christmas (well, I may be doing some tweaking on things).  This year I did not put out as much, even though it may not look like it.  I restrung lights on trees that aren't prelit, reworked all the wreaths that I put up, and my snowman tree is revised this year - it has a face!  Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday and I love decorating.  I always change things up each year, never the same colors on the trees from year to year and the decorations in the same place.  I like change.  Some of my favorites:

All gold, with the exception of my purple Santa! 

I made the cork wreaths 

Time to relax and enjoy!

Hope your holiday is full of joy and happiness. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ivy's At It

 She watched You Tube today, said it was boring!

Let's Get Deck-orating!

The decorating frenzy has begun!  The outside is done (I think) and I have three of my five trees up and decorated.  I never decorate the same from year to year so it takes me longer to place things.  I usually don't plan it out either, I just wing it.  So, it can be stressful for me as well as challenging.  Also, I have completely reworked some of my trees so that has taken longer as well, restringing lights for the ones that are not prelit and rearranging things on the tree.  

I have come to realize that this year I will be scaling back a little.  Hopefully next week I will be done so I can actually relax and enjoy what I have done.  Once that happens I will blog more pictures.  Now, back to the chaos (I mean decorating!).

Palo Duro Canyon

When we were going to go to Ft. Worth to see one of our favorite bands, it was decided to go to Palo Duro Canyon since we had never been and it was ONLY a five hour drive from Ft. Worth.  It was amazing!  Greg booked a wonderful cabin - Doves Rest Cabin.  We stayed in Chisholm.  It was beautiful, even had a Christmas tree with lights.  The back of the cabin sits far enough away from the canyon cliff and the views were spectacular.  

This was a one bedroom, 1.5 bath with a kitchen.  I always get up early before Greg so it was nice to have a separate room to go to where I wouldn't disturb him.  Views from the back:

The day we got there, we just relaxed and didn't go anywhere as it was late afternoon and we were tired.  

The sunrises were phenomenal.  We have so many trees at our home we don't get to see this kind of view.

When were were leaving to go to Palo Duro Canyon, we spotted this Aoudad sheep.  At first we thought it was a statue.  Quite impressive 

 When we got into the park, we went to the visitor center and there is a shop and also historical information about the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp).   You can actually rent one of the original structures that were built, but they go fast.  

CCC structure

After leaving the visitor center, while driving we spotted the Cowboy Dugout trail and walked up to the dugout.  It is really cool!  

I really wanted to do the Lighthouse Rock hike, but it was 2-2.5 hours round trip and I didn't think my hips would make it (I am working on that though).  That is one of the most poplular hikes and from pictures I have seen, it is beautiful!  We still saw a lot of beauty in the park, the different colors of the rock is amazing.  

We both thought this could be a Mt. Rushmore kinda thing

Also, discovered you can go "Glamping".  The tents provide beds and a kitchen, but you have to walk to bathrooms and showers (no thank you).  They are kinda cool though.  

When we got back to our cabin, we walked to these huge orange chairs that are on the property and also some others that look like you can watch the sunset.  They also have horse shoes, swing sets, and corn hole that you can use.  This place is outstanding!  

Later, we went in to Canyon for supper.  Canyon is a really nice smallish town (14,000+).  We ate at Joe Taco.  We both got margaritas and then I had the burria tacos and Greg the Violated chicken which is chicken with cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and shrimp.  Pretty good stuff!  

The next day we left around 8:30 and got home about 5:00 ish.  Long drive and this shows how many miles we drove for the whole trip:

Palo Duro Canyon was better than I was expecting and I highly recommend going if you get the chance.  Even if you don't hike, driving around the canyon you get amazing views and there are several pull offs to get even better views.