Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions!

We did find the stench after all and I'm really embarrassed to say that it was a wet towel that was in the washing machine. Sigh. I thought the washer was empty since I had done laundry the day before. Oh well...

Nate - YES, Fritz knew. And he knew I knew he knew, and he knew you knew he knew. I kept asking him to use his superior doggie sniffer to find it, but he refused. I think he found the search entertaining.....or maybe he liked the smell. Hm.

My house stinks. Literally...stinks. It's stinky, stenchy, odoriferous, dank, and whiffy! I have been trying to track down this smell for 4 days now and for the life of me, I CANNOT find the source of the funk. I've smelled everything close-up...even things that you shouldn't smell close-up. For example, I have had my nose about a centimeter away from the couch, the rug, the dirt in the plant pots, the Christmas tree water and Christmas tree skirt, the blankets, pillows, curtains, the cupboards, the pantry, the laundry, and the dog bed! I have cleaned the house from top to bottom, emptied all the trash cans, searched between the cushions and under the furniture. And still....no source. I had several working theories as to what could have caused the stank -

1. We had a Christmas party at our house on Wednesday, the stink showed up on Thursday...maybe somebody spilled something or a kid hid something in the house.
2. I spilled some water from the Christmas tree onto the skirt and maybe it has mildewed.
3. I mopped the floors with a mop-head that may have needed to be replaced.
4. Maybe something under the house got stirred up when John had to move some cables around the other day.

All of the above options have been explored (save going under the house again) and still no stench source. And to top it off, Fritz borked twice in the house when we got home tonight. Obviously, I'm left with only 2 options. 1. Bring in the special forces to find the stink, 2. Move.

Sign ups are now open for special forces, operation dank.

I love the traditions at Christmas time. John and I each had favorites from our childhood weve carried over and we've established some of our own. Here is one of my favorites that we carried over from my childhood.

After getting our tree (sometimes fresh-cut from the mountains!) we would bring it home to decorate it. We would listen to several albums including:

A Christmas Together RECORD!
John Denver & The Muppets

Once the decorating was finished we would sing carols and drink eggnog. We've kept up this tradition in our house (ironically without the carol sing) and this year my husband stepped up the eggnog to a whole new level. LOOK at how beautiful that is!

Here are a few shots of our decorations.

Have you ever noticed that the festivities of the Christmas season give some people carte blanche to show off bad taste?

This is one of those "had to be there" cards...except I think
if you were there, you might still be confused.
"Wait, I still don't get it...why is the goose flying the plane?"



Is liking and wearing tacky Christmas sweaters a part of getting older
or is it just that you lose your oh-so-healthy style inhibitions?



After receiving this card, my Christmas is sure to be incredible
....I think we're all incredibly thankful for the gift of spandex!



I think hope this picture was taken at one of those "Bad Christmas Sweater" parties. I wonder if she went home with a back-ache
from that enormous corsage.



If I was walking down the street and a snowman with that face was looking at me, I'd run...hard...the other direction. Vice versa if I was walking down the street and a dog with that body was walking, er rolling toward me, I think I'd either laugh or cry hysterically.



Ho-Ho-Holy LAME Sweater.
At least it lives up to its name - it's making me sweat with anxiety.



Uuuuhhhhhhh.......what's happenning?



The quilted, crafty, tacky vester!
(Bounty theme song)

Last Christmas we discovered elfyourself.com and we took the opportunity to elf my entire family. Oh. Yeah.


Mom, Dad, Matt, Katie, Luke, Ethan, Amy, Nate, Beth, Ashley, Isaac, Austin, Lisa, Fritz & John

The short answer is "out." For a full explanation you can look at our family blog at www.johnandlis.com