A Holly Jolly Christmas Indeed!

As the end of 2008 comes to an end, so does Christmas! I'm one of those weird people that is actually sad the day after Christmas! I hate getting in my car and realizing that Christmas is officially over. This is when your radio is suddenly blaring nail salon classic rock music in place of Burl Ives, Brenda Lee, Bing Crosby, and Sinatra singing songs about the most wonderful time of the year! That's when it hits me every year. I don't understand, if we can play Christmas music two and a half months early, can't they just finish out the weekend? I did hear one station that did that, but of course it was all static!

It has been a busy few weeks! We had our company party a couple of weeks ago and I was able to find a great dress for a real steal! It was at the Hope Valley Country Club here in Durham.

Keri and me! Someone who loves Christmas time just like me!

Garrett and I didn't match too well, but that was alright! He discovered that he didn't have the pants to his suit he was going to wear five minutes before the party started! :-)

Some more of the JWTH Gang! Garrett, Me, Abbey, Laura & Mazo!

Part two of that weekend was Inez's Annual Ham Breakfast! It was delicious! Of course I got a picture of Mary & Inez being crazy!

Inez popped in some old family videos while we were there! That was crazy! Mary Elizabeth had us singing the Star Spangled Banner before we started the Easter Egg Hunt and Grandma's in one video! The videos had everyone around the TV! John was sporting the Top Gun haircut with his Swatch Watch, Mary was modeling her wonderful silk shirts with colored jeans, while Dad wore a brown shirt in every video we saw! I had on a matching sweat suit in one!!! I can't believe Mom dressed me in a sweat suit! She said "It matched!" This picture is just funny...I'm not sure what we were doing...

Shawn & Garrett stayed busy watching cartoons!

While Victoria was taking a bath, I decided to give her a mohawk! Pictures don't do it justice!



Christmas Eve at last! Christmas Eve is so much better than Christmas! That is the day when all of the family gets together at Mom & Dad's! Everyone has Christmas spirit! I track Santa fifty times with my nephews on the internet! We checked to see if he had gotten to John yet, I don't think he had the last time we checked! After we get done cleaning up from the party I always enjoy sitting around the tree and talking and waiting to go to sleep knowing that Santa is out and about!

Grandma was helping Victoria open her first Christmas present ever! Of course, it was a set of Christmas PJ's. A new set every year is a must for the children in our family to go to sleep in on Christmas Eve! Victoria didn't seem to care!

John, Shawn & Mike all looked so handsome! They were dying to open presents!!

Of course, once we got some Sinatra playing, Dad danced with every girl there! Dad & Mom love dancing! Dad danced with Mary Elizabeth, Mom, Mary, me, Meredith & Victoria! I asked Marty if he wanted to go up and dance but he looked at me like I was crazy and said absolutely not!

Christmas morning was quiet at Mom & Dad's. It was just me and them. Santa did bring Hank & Butch a few surprises though! I had to get some pictures of Hank with his Santa pile. It was his first Christmas as well! They eagerly watched me open their gifts! They ate some and destroyed some others! Santa was good to me this year! Surprise! I got my own Kitchenaid mixer! Total suprise! It is so pretty sitting in my kitchen!

After Santa, Mom, Dad & I went to John & Meredith's for Christmas Breakfast! She made a fantastic breakfast! Mike & John had gotten so many things, I couldn't even tell what was what! It was a great time! Afterwards, we all headed to the farm for Christmas Dinner! That was great too! We had a big beef tenderloin! Victoria didn't open all her presents...she didn't seem to notice them at all actually! Her best present! A tu tu from Santa! It is the cutest thing ever! So fun to have a girl to play dress up with! After dinner, the boys were dying to open family presents! We got Scarlett on Skype so she could watch while we did the family stuff. I got John Sam a T-Rex skeleton to put together and he loves it. He said it was his second favorite present after his dinosaur robot that he got! Mike & John were such good cousins and made sure they helped Victoria play with her things!



The day after Christmas I headed to Ellerbe to spend time with Garrett & his family! It was a very relaxing weekend! We got up Sunday and headed back to Durham and spent the rest of the Christmas break relaxing and getting organized again! It was a great break! I am sad that it is over, but it will be here again before I know it. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas! I'm worn out!

Congratulations!!!!!!

Congratulations are in order for Meredith!  She still has about two months of nursing school left, but she had her pinning ceremony yesterday!  I guess you really don't feel like studying after doing that!  Let it be done already!  Haha!  Keep it up..almost done!  Look at my two handsome nephews!  Mike's hair is so cute! 

Well everyone, I'm sorry I have been slack on the entries.  It does take a lot of time to download the pictures, but I guess I don't have to add pictures everytime.  I know everyone has been busy lately!  Last weekend was Garrett's birthday, so we had to go to Ellerbe to have a birthday party for Garrett and his dad!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Saturday we had to run back to Durham to go to the Christmas party hosted by my company.  After a late night, we got on the road to Kernersville Sunday morning to go to Inez's Annual Ham Breakfast.  It was delicious and fun!  Afterwards, Garrett, Mary, me, Mike, John and Shawn played some Uno.  I think Mary kicked our butts.  Tuesday was Garrett's birthday, so we went out to Bonefish and had a nice dinner!  Now it is Friday and I am waiting to go and get my hair cut and then go to work!  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Christmas is less than a week away!!!  Ahhh..can you believe it!

That Time of Year Again!!!

Well everyone, it is that time of year again!  Time to put up my Christmas tree!!!!  Christmas season is in full swing!  I have already been to a Christmas party! I went with Mary.  It was a lady that she rides with.  We walked into the living room and there was a giraffe! It was crazy! Shawn was not very excited about seeing the giraffe considering his flying giraffe dreams, but Victoria thought it was cool!  Saturday, I headed up to the mountains to find my Christmas tree!  It was a good hunt!  Thanks to the help of many people, I successfully found a perfect tree!  What a great day that was!  It snowed and everything!  Sunday was the Kernersville parade!  Mike, John, Shawn, and Victoria were all in the parade! Mom, Mary & I took Mike & John for a pep lunch at Bill & Leah's and then dropped them off with all of their fellow Raiders! They were so excited!  Shawn & Victoria rode in the back of Eddie's truck with the other grandkids and Sandra.  I'm not sure how much fun Shawn had, but all the others seemed to have a blast!  Monday after work I finally got to decorate my tree and I must say it is absolutely beautiful to look at!  Pictures do not do it justice, so come over and see it and I will get Garrett to make a cup of hot chocolate!

Thanksgiving Festivities!

What a weekend!  Thanksgiving and the stew were a great success as always!  There were a few hiccups though.  Mary was sick all Thanksgiving day.  As Mary told someone we forgot to put a bag of pot in the stew.  That sounded real well!  We forgot one bag of potatoes and one bag of onions.  I ran over the steel horse show rod and pit in Mary's car.  Don't ask how I didn't tear her car to pieces underneath.  Gary & Becca's car had to be fixed on Saturday and Sunday when I went to leave my car wouldn't crank.  Other than that, everything was great!  

There were a lot of people that showed up to the stew. We were missing a few regulars however.  Scarlett, Mitch & Mason were in Texas.  Meredith, Mike & John went to Atlanta to be with her family.  Vann moved to texas, so him and Naomi weren't there.  Eddie West even made Vann his own chocolate pound cake.  And of course John wasn't there.  We talked to Scarlett, Meredith & John over skype though.  Everyone loved the Cold Mountain Winter Ale too!  I think Dayna & Chris said it was absolutely delicious!  I'm glad I found it so I could share!

Saturday & Sunday everyone just relaxed and ate of course!  We did go bowling Saturday night to get all the kids out of the house since it had started raining!  That was comical, let me tell you!  Mary scored a 153 in her game and I'm not sure how since her aim is so terrible!  Gary and Garrett on the other hand, completely stunk the first game!  I think it was like the 5th or 6th frame and Gary hadn't even broken 20 yet!  I wish I would have had a picture of their scores!  I did break a 100 which I don't think I've ever done!  The kids had a great time bowling, except for Shawn because he got sick and went to sleep!  

There are a lot of pictures on here but I wanted to share them all, so I hope you enjoy.  I can't believe Thanksgiving weekend is already over!  That is my favorite weekend of the year!  I could write a whole lot more about everything that happened over the weekend but it would probably be a few chapters long!  I hope everyone had a great weekend as well!  If you couldn't make it to the stew we hope you can join us next year!