"TREE"-Lightful ... "PRESENT"-ation!

"Christmas is not as much about opening presents as opening our hearts."
-Janice Maeditere


"Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your heart, you won't find it under a tree."
-Charlotte Carpenter


"It is personal thoughtfulness, the warm human awareness, the reaching out of one self to one's fellow man that makes giving worthy of Christmas spirit."
-Isabel Currier

BEAU-MAN with the SNOWMAN...
in front of Jana's TREE on Tuesday. 

Beau is buddies with the Snowman! 

Mariah on Tuesday with a little snowman broche on...
off to kindergarten with her mommy as helper mom!
She was so proud to have her mommy as the helper that day!!!

I wrapped these gifts for Jana on Tuesday,
while Beau had his nap! 

Beau felt so much better after his nap,
 and was into rolling the paper rolls!
He was ON A ROLL!

He wanted to be a gift here! 

... then he found a bigger bag to get into!
Note Jana's lovely tree in the background. 

Later Tuesday I wrapped 26 more gifts...
these ones from my friend, Brenda! 

Yesterday... I decided to do up some little treats for
Mariah's dance friends and teachers on her last
dance lesson before Christmas. 

Mariah once again stood out to me at her lesson in her big red tutu!
It was supposed to be wear Christmas color week...
but not all participated! 

The cute little TREE at GOODLIFE GYM! 

Some of the Spectacular TREES
at the GARDEN ARCHITECTURE store.
My photo does not do them justice,
but they have a store full of marvelous
TREES and Christmas DECOR! 

Although my little tree seems full to me...
it almost looks empty by comparison to
the above ones at Garden Architecture! 

... and ready for batch number FIVE...
of my traditional Nuts and Bolts.
This batch is being sent to Colin today...
it is the one gift he does actually enjoy!


This morning as I sit down to write up the blog for the day... I am enjoying a coffee called "CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL"
out of my red polka dot mug with this inside
"LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT"
and I have MICHAEL BUBLE'S Christmas CD playing in the background with the song
"IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS" on right now!

It truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, too. It is hard to believe it is only 10 days away!!! I think even though we all know that Christmas always arrives on
December 25th year after year....
the older I become,
that faster it seems to arrive!

Tuesday morning I normally go to the gym
and do my TWO class TWOSDAY...
however not this week!

Beau was a sick little baby and Jana was scheduled to be helper mom at Mariah's kindergarten that day...
so it was Grammie D to the rescue!
I missed my gym classes and went to Jana's
to snuggle with my little Beauman!

He was very mellow but thankfully was over the "puking part" of his little stomach flu bug.
While he napped I started in on some of Jana's wrapping for her, but wished I had taken some of my wrapping supplies from home!

Later that day my friend Brenda dropped off a big load of her wrapping for me to do, too.
I truly love to wrap ... so I volunteered to help her out. She has so much on her plate always, so I was delighted to help her.
She brought some lovely paper, ribbons,
and tags, for me to use, along with the huge supply of wrapping stuff
I already have at my house!

So Tuesday was a jam packed day...
with 7 hours of babysitting, 49 photos of my day, and 38 gifts wrapped!!!

Yesterday I decided to do up some quick little treats for Mariah at her final dance class
before Christmas... but funny how often things
I think won't take long to do...
often take way longer.
I was just going to take  candy canes for the friends... but decided to run off little pictures of the class from the previous week to add to  them with a poem and
a little Santa or snowman attached!
My "quick project"...
ended up taking me all morning!
But in the end, it is yet another memory for me to chalk up in the life of my grandkids!

I have two more bag loads of Jana's wrapping to do today along with some more of my own... so I am ready to settle in for another
"WRAP-STRAVEGANZA"
kind of a day!
... and did I mention I love to WRAP GIFTS?
It is a good thing I have time...
otherwise I wouldn't be able to do so much,
but I do enjoy it!

Tonight Jana has her SWANK SHOE LOUNGE CHRISTMAS STAFF PARTY...
so we will have the grandkids here tonight!

Brian took Mariah to her first
BLADES HOCKEY GAME last night.
It was a very special Grandpa- Grand daughter bond for them. Brian couldn't stop raving about what a little sweetie Mariah was
when he got home!

We are both such
PROUD GRANDPARENTS!
hehehe... Can you tell?!

I received a special CHRISTMAS edition of my friend's newspaper yesterday in the mail.
She runs the "LANIGAN ADVISOR".
That was like a special gift to me,
and I was honored that included some
of my poems in her paper, too.
She is such a good friend to me.

Friendship is like a GIFT we give to ourselves!

So on that note....
here is my rhyme of the day!

I truly love to wrap a gift...
In fact it really gives me a lift!
It helps me to have fun and just create,
And add on ribbons to make it look great.
I love a Christmas tree as well...
And the more trims on,
 the more it looks swell !
To me a tree can never have too much...
The ornaments are filled with
memories and such.
Every single one... whether old or new,
Can blend together, when hanging there, too!
It's about the TREES and
the GIFTS from the start...
But more important...
it should come from the HEART!
I think it is a lot about  the thought,
Not about how much people spent or bought.
The presents that have been well thought out,
Are sure to please the receiver, no doubt!