Move Over Martha!

{FYI for some reason, blogger told me my photo space was low, so I had to make these photos small. You can click on each to see them larger...}

Having TWO WHOLE weeks off of work during Christmas is such a blessing! I have been able to spend time with family, finish my shopping, clean the house, cook dinner, and work out on my own time.

A few days ago I headed up to Hoschton {pronounced hooush-ton} to do our annual holiday baking with my mom. Each year we gather a few baking recipes and spend a whole day of making Christmas goodies for neighbors and friends.

It had been a while since I had been up to see them at their house and they have been working hard on re-decorating. Here is a sneak peak of the chandelier for the kitchen dining table and the beautiful round mirror to hang over the fireplace after Christmas. Both purchased a Ballard Designs.

I was one of the first people to see the {almost} complete "woman cave". I get my craftiness from my mom and she finally has her own craft and sewing room. My dad took out the closet in one of the guest rooms and re-designed it to fit totes for all of her supplies.

Her very first sewing machine on display above the new sewing cabinet.

They re purposed an old media cabinet to be the new sewing cabinet. All of her threads and sewing supplies are organized here.

They also re-decorated the front guest room. It was adorable! They re-finished antique furniture purchased from the Queen. {The ice box present is a Christmas decoration... it lights up, so cute!}

New bedding with birds...love it!

The re-finished antique dresser was complete with a antique mirror.

Believe it or not, this bedside table was crackled {cringe...the ugly kind, it was TACKY} AND painted with fruit and flowers. They stripped it and re-finished it. Had my dad taken "before" photos, I would have entered it to be on the Better After blog.

 

My dad's guitar room/office.

Their new antique table complete with smoooshed chairs.

Decorated for Christmas.

So on to our Christmas baking...

We made gingerbread cookies that were PERFECT, Christmas bark, and white chocolate crunch munch. {Recipes to follow soon}.

It was our first time attempting to bake gingerbread cookies and decorate them with royal icing. I would say that although we were nervous in the beginning, they turned out pretty darn ah-ma-zing!

Once we got the hang of it they were easy. Mom did a great job outlining the gingerbread men.

Our favorite {besides the trees} were the snowflakes. Mom had bought a lot of different decorating sugars and the crystals on the snowflakes were beautiful.

Here are some of our trees...

They are all wrapped up and ready for the neighbors. I had to wrap some dog treats for the neighbor pups. We found the little peppermint treat boxes at the "Dollar Spot" in Target. Great go-to finds for inexpensive wrapping!

At the end of the day mom and I decided to let Maaaartha know, she ain't got nothin' on us!