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teresa swanstrom anderson

5050 S Chester St
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
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teresa swanstrom anderson

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it's all coming down

December 27, 2012 Teresa Swanstrom Anderson
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As much as I love Christmas, I hate...h.a.t.e putting it all away. The whole of it is depressing.

Sadly, it's my last chance to blast Christmas music, too.

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So here's our home today, the day before it all comes down. Christmas, I'll miss you. You came too quick again this year.

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I love these little houses I got at PB Kids a few years ago.

Would love to find a church sometime to go with them.

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It's fun having my own monogram machine, especially for the kid's stockings.

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With Aberhem coming soon, we're going to run out of room on our fireplace!

{and we still don't think we're done}

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I am {{thrilled}} that we've finally found a finish carpenter who has not only designed us the most perfect mantle, but also a beautiful way to finish our fireplace.

Can't wait for him to get back from visiting his family in Oregon so he can get started.

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Every year while growing up, my parents would take my brother & I to get an ornament showing something significant from that year.

{something we did, were interested in, or place we went}

I love this tradition...it's so fun to tell the kids stories about "when Mommy was a kid". The above ornament is when I did equestrian dressage {and jumping}.

My favorite activity e.v.e.r.

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Our family tree is a fun mixture of kids ornaments, new and old.

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The boxes beneath our "family tree" are empty. All throughout the Christmas season the kids love to box up their toys, books, and drawings and "give" each other gifts.

It's really cute how excited they get when one of us opens up the special something they are gifting us...even if it is just for pretend.

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Our other tree, the one we refer to as the "pretty tree" is FULL of ornaments from our wedding.

Ben & I were married late February and it had a Winter Wonderland feel, full of candles, ice blue, winter white, feathers, and anything sparkly.

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It's so fun to think of the ornaments first here...

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And now here...

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I'm sure you have plenty of stories from your ornaments, too. I'd LOVE to hear about them!

Time to get out the bins & boxes. Merry Christmas!

May this upcoming year be full of blessings!

take joy-signature-new-pink

In Holidays, Interior Design
← most popular posts of 2012Merry Christmas {2012}! →
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Writer, speaker, and busy mama of six

2 biological & 4 from Ethiopia

I have a fervent eagerness to build a place where we can get filled up, when we feel like all we do is pour out.

I do my best to be real and honest about life, our struggles, and how God stretches me through (so many) mistakes along the way.

May this be a place of nourishment for an everyday, beautiful life.

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Thank you!

Instagram

Spent the day helping set up for Laith’s school’s auction and am all googley-eyed at the beginnings of @somethingstyledco’s floral crown making area!! . @teamanastasis...you SURE know how to throw a fundraiser!! 🌺🌿🌸
I was going to post about how my morning drink has helped my health so much. It’s a mixture of about 10 supplements: Everything from help for my leaky gut (so awesome), to thyroid, kidney, collagen, inflammation, circulation and more. . I used to gag when drinking it...but now I crave it. . I was going to talk about the importance of taking care of yourself in a healthy way... . But really all I can think about is... . What in the WORLD is wrong with my EYE?! 😂😂🤷🏼‍♀️
500 hours later, this is her “I’m SO over braids” face. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂😂 So thankful for friends who are willing to give up their evenings for a little beautification!
My first time out of the country was in 5th grade when I tagged along with my dad and some of his friends on a medical mission trip to Guatemala. . It changed my life forever because it burst the little bubble I didn’t realize I lived in. It opened my eyes to poverty and need and an entirely different culture I didn’t know existed. . I remember flying into a tiny remote village in the mountains on a rickety little Cessna piloted by a man named Ludin who worked for MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). I recall like it was yesterday, how livestock was cleared from the field as we dipped down to land, likely taxing over cow pies and who knows what else. . I remember being followed around by children who wanted to simply touch my hair because they’d never seen a blonde child and they thought I was magical. Their toys were dolls made of sticks and bits of fabric and instead of trucks, they played with rhinoceros beetles the size of my hand that had been preserved in formaldehyde. We woke every morning to the sound of roosters and walked downstairs for hot polenta pancakes set out on a veranda covered in bougainvillea before setting out for the clinic. . I was curious about everything so the team of doctors let me sit on the windowsill and watch surgeries as long as I was quiet and made me promise if I felt nauseous at any time, that I’d leave quickly and quietly so as not to disrupt the already nervous patients. Especially since some of them weren’t put all the way under because of lack of resources. . The goiter and tumor removals were the ones I remember most. Well, that and the smell of cauterized flesh as they worked. I realized sitting up there in the teal colored tiled windowsill that people in this beautiful country just south of mine didn’t have access to medical care like I did. . I thought since I was a child, there wasn’t much I could do to make a difference...all I could do it sit and watch the adults do their thing. . I was WRONG. . Head to the link in my profile for what I realized + what your kids can do NOW to be WORLD CHANGERS!
500 hours later, this is her “I’m SO over braids” face. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂😂 So thankful for friends who are willing to give up their evenings for a little beautification!
People ask us all the time when the right time is to take a child to a third-world-country. Want to know what I tell them? Head to the link in my profile (or swipe up in my Stories) for my thoughts... . @run.5050 @bonfire @healing_waters . 📷 @jessienicholeweddings

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The party is over on instagram

Spent the day helping set up for Laith’s school’s auction and am all googley-eyed at the beginnings of @somethingstyledco’s floral crown making area!! . @teamanastasis...you SURE know how to throw a fundraiser!! 🌺🌿🌸
I was going to post about how my morning drink has helped my health so much. It’s a mixture of about 10 supplements: Everything from help for my leaky gut (so awesome), to thyroid, kidney, collagen, inflammation, circulation and more. . I used to gag when drinking it...but now I crave it. . I was going to talk about the importance of taking care of yourself in a healthy way... . But really all I can think about is... . What in the WORLD is wrong with my EYE?! 😂😂🤷🏼‍♀️
500 hours later, this is her “I’m SO over braids” face. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂😂 So thankful for friends who are willing to give up their evenings for a little beautification!
My first time out of the country was in 5th grade when I tagged along with my dad and some of his friends on a medical mission trip to Guatemala. . It changed my life forever because it burst the little bubble I didn’t realize I lived in. It opened my eyes to poverty and need and an entirely different culture I didn’t know existed. . I remember flying into a tiny remote village in the mountains on a rickety little Cessna piloted by a man named Ludin who worked for MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). I recall like it was yesterday, how livestock was cleared from the field as we dipped down to land, likely taxing over cow pies and who knows what else. . I remember being followed around by children who wanted to simply touch my hair because they’d never seen a blonde child and they thought I was magical. Their toys were dolls made of sticks and bits of fabric and instead of trucks, they played with rhinoceros beetles the size of my hand that had been preserved in formaldehyde. We woke every morning to the sound of roosters and walked downstairs for hot polenta pancakes set out on a veranda covered in bougainvillea before setting out for the clinic. . I was curious about everything so the team of doctors let me sit on the windowsill and watch surgeries as long as I was quiet and made me promise if I felt nauseous at any time, that I’d leave quickly and quietly so as not to disrupt the already nervous patients. Especially since some of them weren’t put all the way under because of lack of resources. . The goiter and tumor removals were the ones I remember most. Well, that and the smell of cauterized flesh as they worked. I realized sitting up there in the teal colored tiled windowsill that people in this beautiful country just south of mine didn’t have access to medical care like I did. . I thought since I was a child, there wasn’t much I could do to make a difference...all I could do it sit and watch the adults do their thing. . I was WRONG. . Head to the link in my profile for what I realized + what your kids can do NOW to be WORLD CHANGERS!
500 hours later, this is her “I’m SO over braids” face. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂😂 So thankful for friends who are willing to give up their evenings for a little beautification!
People ask us all the time when the right time is to take a child to a third-world-country. Want to know what I tell them? Head to the link in my profile (or swipe up in my Stories) for my thoughts... . @run.5050 @bonfire @healing_waters . 📷 @jessienicholeweddings

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I'm just so thankful you're here. May this be a place where you can sit back and feel nourished...take a few moments for yourself so you may be filled up. No one can pour from an empty bucket.

ForMERly known as HUGS + PUNCHES

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