It’s almost Christmas! I can’t believe how fast December has flown by. I would like to say that I’m 100% ready, but that would be a lie. I decided not to stress out this year and just take my time and enjoy whatever happens.
I normally get our decorations up before Thanksgiving. Well, that didn’t happen this year, but I was okay with it. We actually have two trees up. I have never been the type to have more than one tree, but there’s a reason that has changed. Donny and my first Christmas together was 2004. We were both working 6 days a week, open to close at the Harley dealership in Oklahoma. It was crazy and we had decided to not put up a tree. I couldn’t do it. I caved. We were living in a townhouse that wasn’t very big, so I went to Big Lots and found a $10 tree that was maybe 6 feet tall. It was perfect for what we needed and we just figured we’d get a new, bigger the next year.
And here it is 15 Christmases later. I CANNOT get rid of it. It was our first tree and I have a weird attachment to it. It is the only tree my kids knew. They used to think it was HUGE. Not so much now, since they are almost as tall as the tree itself, but, if you think about it, it really has earned it’s keep at less than a dollar a year for all the years we’ve used it. It may not be the most beautiful tree in the world, but there’s more to my sweet little tree than how it looks. It’s the memory that is attached to each skinny limb. One year I even lost one of the feet and had to anchor it to the wall to keep it from leaning. Now that’s love. For the record, my husband thought I was crazy to keep it. I found the missing foot after Christmas.
It makes our seldom used living room much cozier.
I absolutely love our little tree, but summer before last big brother tree came to live at our home. I was at Goodwill and there in the corner was a huge box. Of course I had to see what it was. Of course. It was a 7 1/2 foot Christmas tree for $4.99. I knew there was a chance that it wouldn’t have all the pieces, but I was will to take the chance. I mean, what frugal person wouldn’t.
Well, not only did it have all the pieces, it had the directions and extra pieces.
Does it fit? Yes, if you shift everything around. I just love that it has found a new home with us. When I look on instagram I see all the homes that have the perfect tree. Everything is coordinated and magazine perfect. My home will never be like that. I obviously never “stage” pictures. What you see is how it is, but I like that better. It’s real life and my hodge podge tree is definitely real life.
It was an ugly Christmas sweater party.
A santa I got in a secret santa exchange MANY years ago hangs next to a stick reindeer.
Our tin bear in the box that Donny brought home from work years ago.
So try not to stress out this Christmas. Looking back to our first Christmas together, I don’t even remember the presents. All I remember is the feelings of love and thankfulness. Things do not have to cost a lot of money to bring happiness.
Merry Christmas,
Stacy
Adult Icee for the win!
Y’all, I had to share these with Donny because that was A LOT of food.
That was the side salad. The server even brought us extra house Italian dressing to dip our bread in. I have decided that calories don’t count when you’re on vacation, even a mini one. Donny gave us more ambiance by plugging in the lights behind him.
The Jefferson Hotel. The restaurant is on the bottom left. The guests staying here have a great little balcony to hang out on. It’s also, supposedly, one of the most haunted places in Texas. A jilted bride hung herself from the bed post and is said to haunt the hotel. The bed is actually still there. There are also reports from guests of ghost children.
It was finally time for the tour. Jodi Breckenridge gives the tour. It’s close to 2 hours long and the tickets are $15.00 online or $16.00 if you buy them directly from Jodi. I highly recommend this tour. Jodi is a true historian of Jefferson. Yes, it’s cool to hear all of the ghost stories, but the history that you learn about is almost better. The places you visit on the tour varies, depending on the availability of the of the residences that let you go inside. One that is normally on the tour had a private party going on. Yes, you will walk a lot. Yes, it’s dark and spooky, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun.
Learning about the Sterne fountain. There were probably about 15 of us on the tour.
The guy in the white shirt is Brent. He was slightly drunk and SO funny. The guy to his right is my friend Sherri’s son, Karl. Sherri is in the red shirt. If the tour hadn’t had been as awesome as it was, it would still have been fun just hanging out with them.
We got to go into the Old Mill Antique Store. Very spooky. Very dark. There is one ghost that people see consistently here. Jodi showed us pictures, taken on many different tours of the ghost. It’s the same face in every picture. I love how she tells the stories as we are walking through. Adds that perfect touch of scary.
Because it was SO dark, I didn’t get many pictures in here. We were all using our cellphone flashlights to try not to knock items over.
Brent photobombing my picture. 
Her home was beautiful. They have a female ghost that likes to open windows and doors and move things around. I took a lot more pictures, but for some reason they are not on my camera. This was my favorite stop, so I was really bummed because her home was gorgeous!!!
This is Jodi, our tour guide. There is so much I didn’t write about. I was limited in the pictures I was able to take due to the rain. We got to go into the General Store and hear the history and ghost stories. We learned about the different murders that have taken place over the years. We learned about the history of Jefferson. If you are interested about hearing some of the stories, please google Jefferson, TX. It’s really worth the read. Diamond Bessie, William Perry and Jay Gould are a just a few google ideas.
The second oldest hotel in Texas, built in 1858. In case you were wondering, the Menger, in San Antonio is the oldest.
The infamous rocker in the Jay Gould room.
Sherri and me. I love that I got to meet a friend, that I met in a facebook group, that just happened to be here the same time we were. What an awesome room also!
Excelsior House courtyard from the second floor balcony. They had breakfast there that morning.
The dining area
The parlor
There are interesting things all around the town
Daytime view of Thomas Jefferson Park.
The living/dining room. The door on the right leads out the the balcony.
The fully equipped kitchen. The fridge doors would open and the microwave would start by itself. The amazon echo also flew off the table in the living room, hitting the fridge. The door is open and you can see down the second floor hallway.
The bedroom. The bathroom is connected, I just didn’t get a picture of it. This suite is available for less than $200/night. What a deal!
This was the room next door to us. Denise was straightening it up and I asked it I could see it. It’s slightly bigger than ours and has a mini kitchen. Remember, if you want to see something just ask. The worst they can say is no. I wouldn’t have seen the apartment if I hadn’t asked to see it.
Our room. It was small, but perfect. After googling all the rooms at the different hotels we chose the Kahn because it was recently renovated (2 years ago) and although the building is from the 1800’s, the rooms were brand new.
One last picture of our hotel as we are getting ready to head out of downtown. When you first get to Jefferson, it feels as though you are being enveloped in a magical, historical, spooky bubble. A step back in time where things were more simple and slower paced. I’m so glad that we chose to come here. I can’t imagine a more perfect weekend getaway.
The coffee shop is through the doors to the right. There are tables set up inside and a bar where you can sit and people watch outside. I love the little bookshelf where you can “take a book, leave a book”. We had an out of this world blueberry muffins. Denise makes everything and she can bake!
How cute is this street??? I think if the weather would have been more cooperating there would have been more cars, but the ones there were really cool.
This is what greets you when you walk in. Talk about a trip down memory lane. They carry every kind of candy from my childhood. I wanted one of everything.
More candy!!!! They also had shelf upon shelf of jams, jellies and sauces. I cannot even count all of the samples I tried.
The General Store carries a little bit of everything.
This place is HUGE! I love that they have child sized tables where the kiddos can play with the toys. So stinking cute!
Feeling thirsty? This is only one set of shelves. They have drinks I’ve never even heard of. I really would have thought they had almost every single flavor ever made, except I wanted a Cheerwine and Cindy, there was no Cheerwine! No problem, if you can’t find what you are looking for here, there is always here….
An honest to God old timey soda fountain. They serve their milkshakes in mason jars!!! Ya just know sipping out of a mason jar has got to make them taste even better. What a fun store! We spent over an hour just looking at everything and knowing we didn’t see it all.
While we were in the General Store the skies opened up. You can tell everything is wet. It was over quickly. We wanted to check out some of the antique stores. There are so many within walking distance.
The antique places are so big that you could get lost. See that coffee cup in Donny’s hand. It’s mine from that morning. I asked him to hold it. He said there’s more cup than coffee so I told him to throw it away. He never heard me and had been carrying an empty cup around for over an hour. He’s a keeper.
We came across this cool little cabin. We didn’t see anyone, but there was music playing and a sign that said Cypress Scents. I googled it later and they sell candles, lotions, etc. It was just out in the middle of nowhere.
Yep, this looked like the place to get your feed on. Just like everything else in this town, it is so cute! If you are reading this, don’t take a shot every time you read the word cute. You’ll get alcohol poisoning for sure.
I’m not a mushy person, but this guy makes life so much more fun!
I’m always behind the camera, so Donny snapped this while we were waiting for our food. I look like an escaped prisoner, those stripes. LOL
The food!!! Donny had the Texan. It’s chili, cheese, onion on jalapeno cornbread. I had the chicken and dumplings. Oh my Lord, it was good. The cornbread was divine! The prices are SO reasonable. I found that all throughout Jefferson nothing was overpriced. Oh, and you have to have sweet tea with it. All of the desserts sounded so good, but we were stuffed!
When we were bringing our bags in I saw a man sitting out front in a really large golf cart. I asked him if he was a taxi. He said, no, but I can take you anywhere you need to go. Turns out, he is the owner of the hotel where we were staying. His name is Eric and it took him 2 years to convert the once dilapidated building into what it is today. We got a little history. In it’s past lives it has been a saloon, complete with a brothel, and a funeral home. He actually found blood stains on the floors upstairs when they pulled them up. Apparently, when the flu epidemic broke out in the late 1800’s there were so many dead that the bodies had to be stored in coffins upstairs. UGH!
This is the second floor hallway to our room. Our room was the next to last. The floors are the original floors from the 1800’s.
Our room had a king sized four poster bed.
The waitress forgot to turn our order in so we were there for quite a while. No worries because their were adult beverages and some pretty good karaoke. We don’t sing on the stage, but we do a mean table karaoke. Especially after a few of these.
Mine was the Ocean Water which is coconut rum, Blue Curacao and sprite. Donny had the Manhattan. I don’t know what the heck is in, but I took a sip and almost died. The food was really good. Donny had the junkyard burger and I had a quesadilla. No pic because we stuffed it down like we’d never had a meal before.
little courtyard.
We decided to explore some more since everything is so close.
This is the Sterne Fountain. It is at the intersection of Lafayette and Market Street. It’s beautiful and incredibly spooky at the same time. It was designed to be a drinking fountain with three different levels for humans, dogs and horses. It is made of solid bronze.
On top of the Sterne Fountain is Hebe, the Greek goddess of youth.
There are hitching posts all down Austin St.
Beautiful Catholic church next to a gazebo and park. It’s hard to tell in this picture, but the streets are paved with bricks.
And back to our hotel for the night. By this time it was after midnight and we were tired, but I had fallen in love with this little town. I couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring.
The Funky Frugalista 