Friday, December 23, 2011

Walking in the Winter Wonderland.... (our house covered in snowflakes, and sharing our annual Christmas card)

Hey all! It's been pretty quite online, and I myself have been busy as well!  Since I got just a bit of free time, I thought that I'd share some of my 'personal' side with all of ya today! (Oh, how lucky you are!)

First of all, I've been busy planning out for two parties that I'm hosting this week. One was yesterday and that was the BIG one (for my hubby's staff Christmas party), so I'm now pretty much stress free! There was about 35 people that my mom and I had to cook up for!  Still don't know how I did it, but everyone had a good time! My hubby dressed up as Santa, and we managed to get gifts for all the kids (17 kids!) and they were ecstatic to see "Santa".  The other one I'm hosting is for tomorrow night, where I host my family for a cozy, warm Christmas celebration. 

So - I decided to make my house "Winter Wonderland" and cut tons of snowflakes and hang them up all over the main floor.  I put my machines to work and managed to cut about 150 snowflakes.  I really wanted to cut more and totally go all out - and decorate like that toy department from the movie 'Elf.'  However, it's still really pretty and I love looking at all the snowflakes!

I'll share some pics with you!

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Isn't it pretty??? and here's our tree!

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I didn't do anything to these snowflakes - just cut them out and hung it with fishing line. So easy but so beautiful!

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Here's my little gallery of my Christmas projects!

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Oh, and as I was decorating with these snowflakes, my dad just took a scissor and several pieces of paper, and whipped these up!

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Isn't he talented? If I had his cutting talents, I wouldn't need a cutting machine! lol...

Second of all - I thought that I'd share our annual Christmas card with ya all!

For those that know me, I usually make about 120 cards every Christmas.  It's a big project in its own, and I stay up until 2am every night trying to get them done.  I really wanted to cut back the time and effort, so I tried to cut the number of people I'd send them to... and I did, but then I ended up adding some more, which in the end, worked out to pretty much the same number.  Then, since I got the Silhouette SD this year, thought I'd save time and do print and cut cards!  I guess it must've... but still having to print and cut 120 sheets was quite the task....

I've always wanted to have our family photos inside the windows of the house and somehow be able to open the card or slide the card, and what not... but again, without the Silhouette SD, it was impossible to do! There was no way to cut all the windows or to paste all our family pics inside each window!

This year - I found the exactly what I was looking for - it's a Card kit House from Lori Whitlock over at the Silhouette Digital Online Store. 

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Then, I've been just loving Miss Tiina's graphics and papers, so I thought that I'd pick her Merry Little Holiday collection to create this card.  You can see the sets that I've used in my card - isn't it cute???

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I also got shots of each one of us, edited in Adobe, and brought them over to the Silhouette Studio.

After all this - my card looked like this on the virtual mat:

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...and when it's cut and assembled, it looks like this:

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You can open the door, to reveal "The Azim's"

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... and then you slide open the card to see our family!

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Here's the back:

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We also put together our annual Christmas letter that my hubby wrote... yes, he has his very own style, and friends and family actually think it's funny - so if you're up to reading it - here it is! (You can REALLY get to know my family, too!)

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It is once again time for me to perform my melancholy duty of detailing the mundane events of our lives.  This letter is completely unremarkable.  Actually, it is painfully uninteresting.  You can still save yourself: Put down the letter and read no further!  That meant stop back there.  You are still reading.  This is your last chance.  Do you have a problem with authority?  Fine then, be that way.  You only have yourself to blame.

Amélie will turn 3 in January and is quite happy to hug and kiss anyone who will give her attention.  However, she is also a very loud and opinionated 2 year old who justifies every stance with “because.”  When that doesn’t work, she points her entire arm at me in dramatic fashion and says, “Daddy BAD!” (We don’t even use the word ‘bad’ at home, so where did she learn it?).  For Halloween she had a cupcake fairy costume, but she always says she was a “Princess…. paaancake.”  Oh well, close enough, until I imagined the cupcake on her head as a pancake instead, then I couldn’t hide my smile any longer.  Her current interests include fire safety (setting off fire alarms in restaurants, etc) and interior decorating (drawing on furniture and walls).  When asked, Amélie’s future aspiration is to have a bubble bath with Santa. 

This brings me to Amélie’s 4 year old partner in crime, Kai.  Kai’s lifetime goal is to have a bubble bath while wearing shoes.  Kai and Amélie make a little gruesome twosome whenever Adly is not home.  They will play, fight, boss each other around, but will always stay in the same room together. Kai has a very caring side and he tries to cheer his sister up when she is upset (which is bound to happen when you are loud and opinionated), or whisper the right answer to her when Thienly or I are upset with her.  Kai’s interests include modern dance with extensive bum-wiggling coupled with silly faces, and building surprisingly complex train tracks.

Both Kai and Amélie enjoy playing with Adly when he gets home from school.  Adly loves facilitating greater levels of troublemaking.  First he trained them to walk like zombies that make groaning sounds and come to eat you (rather embarrassing in public, but if anyone stops to stare, I just start doing it too),then he got them jumping all over the furniture pretending to be angry birds.  Adly told me this spring he wanted an iPad –when I told him it was too expensive, he told me, “I just need some technology!”  When I asked Adly what hew ould describe as his goal in life, he said it was to read this letter (Definite future problem with authority).  Well, he is still only 9, I have some time before he decides to take the family minivan on a joyride (woohoo!). 

Meanwhile Thienly, (still) 29, continues to stay at home with the kids.  It’s more manageable this year now that all the kids play together and keep each other busy, and Amélie is potty trained.  She (still) spends every spare moment on paper-crafting as a member of design teams and managing her blog, Mod Paperie.  We went on two vacations this year, one to LA and one to Seattle, and both times she met up with followers of her blog – she’s a celebrity!

These letters get easier to write the further you go, because everyone knows no one bothers to read an entire Christmas letter.  By now I ought to be able to write whatever I want!  The page looks full, so I think I can stop here.  No matter what type of year you’ve had, remember you cannot control the Christmas cards you receive – you can only choose not to read them. Take time to tell yourself how lucky you are.  We wish you a very happy holiday season and all the best in 2012.

Love,

Adrian,Thienly, Adly, Kai, and Amélie 

So... did you actually read the whole letter? Do you have a problem with authority? (Obviously, you need to read the letter to understand this)

Alright - gotta get going, and start prepping again...

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope that you get to spend quality time with family and friends :)
Oh, and I hope that you all get everything you want! ;)

7 comments:

  1. Such a lovely winter wonderland (amazing how you cut out all those snowflakes, even with a machine)! Would make perfect decor for a wintertime bridal shower, too. Merry Christmas!

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  2. That's a great setup you have in your home, it looks so cozy and so winter-wonder-landy. Your husband's letter is great! Sounds like you have 3 darlings...make that 4!

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  3. Your house looks wonderful and I really enjoyed seeing your Christmas card (and wow you made over 100 of those!?!?!?) and reading the entire letter :) Have a very Merry Christmas!

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  4. Absolutely darling!! I love how you used my house!! Merry Christmas!! Lori.

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  5. You crack me up. :) Your home is beautiful in winter wonderland. Your cards are fabulous. I admit I didn't read the whole letter, but what I did read put a smile on my face. LOL Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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  6. Definitely have a problem with authority! Haa haaaa...Love the card.

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  7. I am just now catching up on my blog reading since the holidays....need I say, too busy, too much company, too sick with a nasty respiratory thing. But this post just made my day. Your hubby writes letters like mine. So cute. Thanks for the smiles.

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