Mommy, Have Nanni and Poppi arrived yet?

Wow, Chloe is growing up so very quickly. Have my parents arrived yet? Um, no but they should any second. We're not traveling for Christmas this year and while I miss seeing our families in FL I am really excited to establish some traditions with just our little family. I've actually been struggling through my feelings on Christmas and traditions and what the point of it all is. I doubt that I have time to write it all down now because my parents should be here any minute now. And I haven't completely come to grips with what I'm feeling so there's no need to drag you all along on my journey, right?

So I really wanted to post about a humorous little thing- well humorous to me anyway. Well, as some of you may know I have had a Southern Living subscription for a long time. And if I haven't had a subscription then I got my Mom's hand me downs that have accompanied me to workout rooms and pick up lines for pretty much forever. My oldest magazine is from 1997- and I still have it. So, I was reading December's issue (2007) and got to an article about decorating with magnolias for Christmas. I immediately thought "Ah, it's a re-run!" and was appalled because I knew I'd seen that buffet draped in magnolia leaves. But then I remembered that I'd seen them decorate with magnolias before but this was a different setup. Then I recognized the grasscloth wallpaper on the walls that had been painted red and the magnolia tree decorated with Christmas lights in the living room and I realized that I had seen it before but it was because it was my Aunt Cindy's house and that was her decorations from last Christmas! I remember thinking last year that their decorations looked like something SL would do. But then I went to the magazine online to try to link it for you and the article they had was from a few years ago and was the original article I was thinking of. Funny. And my parents are here now.