our annual neighborhood luminaires night...

our neighborhood

had its 12th annual luminaires night...

we fill up white paper bags with sand...

add a candle in each bag...

  line the front of the house with the luminaires...

 at dusk...

around 5 p.m. you light each bag...

and all through out the neighborhood

it looks like this...

and this...

and this...

also the homes are beautifully decorated 

like these...

i love, love, love...

 how homes are decorated with wreaths hung on each window...

or a candlelabra on each window sill...

being from california...
we didn't do this...
so i do both : )
 as most others...

wreaths and candlelabras on each window/windowsills.

it must be a southern thing...

it just adds more sweetness and character to the 
normal outdoor christmas decor...

so if we ever move back to cali...

i'm bringing this tradition with me!

and all throughout the night...

we have cars driving through the neighborhood

admiring the holiday spirit that the luminaires bring...

christmas parade & christmas partay #1...

the month of december is just a busy time of the year for everyone...

for me...

there's christmas indoor and outdoor decorating,

there's christmas shopping to be done, parties to attend,

christmas cards to send out, shuffling the girls

to and from events and the list goes on

and when you add birthdays in that mix...

it's even busier!

in past years i didn't do a good job at blogging

our december madness 

but this year i'm gonna try to do a better job.

first up,

small town christmas parade!

both Michael and Meagan participated in the parade...

meagan sat in a truck representing

UA varsity cheerleaders...

michael representing UA in his red morph suit...

which he wears as a student section leader...

then last night was our girls office

christmas crafting dinner partay!

we were spoiled with cheese and chocolate fondue...

along with assorted simple beverages and wine...

the office crew minus wendy

who had a previous engagement....

rachael the one standing behind me
with the stripes on

was our hostess with the mostess...

craft time!

we really got into our crafting...

the craft project was a styrofoam ornament

wrapped around with ribbon...

in which we pinned sequins & beads

in any pattern we wanted...

and well...

we kinda ran out of pins...

so only half of our styrofoam balls were finished.
however, we each took a goodie bag home
filled with the sequins and other fun goodies that
we needed to finish our ornament.

my styrofoam ball half finished...

i still need to finish the other half...

so stay tuned for more december fun!