Last year Marc and I went to Savannah, GA for Christmas. One of the treasures we brought home was this Advent Calendar.

We decided we would fill the door for each day with candy treats. I would fill the even day doors and Marc would fill the odd doors. That way one of us would be surprised each day we opened a door.
I went to the 42nd Street Candy Company here in Oklahoma City to get my treats. They always have a wonderful selection of sweet treats for every occasion.

I wonder what Marc will choose for his days? This is going to be fun!
Life is good.

Just a couple of mice 'treasures' we found in Savannah last Christmas. We just had to bring them home. Aren't they adorable?

One more 'treasure' from Savannah. We brought home this little toy shop to display on a small table in the living room. The toy shop lights up and the train moves around the Christmas tree. I can't wait for my little granddaughter, Preslee to see it!

I love to decorate for Christmas. Here are some of my Department 56 houses.

Here are a few more houses low enough that Buttercup can enjoy them, too. She' just a little spoiled.

One of my favorite Christmas decorations is my collection of monks. They're so jolly...they make me smile.

Are you smiling yet?

Here are a few random pictures of my home decorated for Christmas.

Old pictures of relatives from Sicily.

Our big 9 ft. Christmas tree in the living room and some of my Santa collection.

More of my Santa collection.

The small 7 1/2 ft. Christmas tree in one of the front windows.

Some of my snowman collection.

Chocolate Santa on the kitchen island. Doesn't he look good enough to eat?

The outside of our house. This is the first year we put lights outside. We're on a corner, so the lights go all the way around the house. It's very festive!

This year Marc and I decided we're going to start collecting Christopher Radko ornaments. We made a deal that we would each choose one ornament each year and we would decorate with Santa Claus ornaments. They are so beautiful, it's hard to choose. Before we knew it we had 5 ornaments and a tree topper! Here they are...

What do you think?

Each year I try to get a Christmas ornament from each place I visit so I can be reminded of the wonderful adventures I've taken. This year we went back to Italy and spent time in Bologna, Faenza, Ravenna, Ferrara, Parma and Modena. I don't seem to have an ornament for Parma...but I do have five pounds of cheese! I also didn't get an ornament from Modena, but I do have several bottles of Aceto Balsamico DOP. Hmmm, I think I have my priorities straight, don't you?
Here is my ornament from Bologna.

This is from Ferrara.

Here is one from Ravenna.

We visited Saura and Ivana Vignoli in Faenza. They do such beautiful work, which I'll show you in a later post. Saura gave me this ceramic fish to use as an ornament.