what christmas really means...

christmas to me is all about family.
seeing all my nieces and nephews light up with every gift handed their way is priceless.
we have 9 nieces and nephews... nine! so there are loooooots of gifts!

this christmas i was ready to be home! i miss my family so much and anytime we travel home i am just filled with excitement.
here are some images of our family, and the joy we all share together during the holidays-

lauren getting cool-whipped in the mouth. my favorite thing about this photo is my moms face! hilarious :)

a christmas ornament that speaks volume. needless to say, there will never be a greater meaning to any decoration my momma displays!

the complete joy of my heart... ella, ava, lauren, ethan (holding amos), christian, and savannah.

my family. couldn't go a day without them. me, brooke, dad, mom, missi, and michelle.

brooke and derek, and their newest addition, amos.

amos sleeping on his momma's stocking... such a precious pup!

and my little christmas angel, emmylou. she thinks she is hot stuff when she gets to 'wear' anything... even if it is just a red velvet bow!

the sisters stockings... the same stockings since we were born. mine is the santa claus on the end and i love it so much! my mom does SO good filling our stockings, and always has. notice the philosophy boxes sitting in front of each one... see what i mean! there was also philosophy inside... doesn't get any better than that!

my love... on christmas, and every other day of the year!

nana jane and reagan baking gingerbread cupcakes... and oliver trying to help in any way possible.

beautiful reagan and her masterpiece.

aly, reagan, and ellie - all just the sweetest little girls!

 SOOOOOOO ready to open gifts!

skyping mark and anita and all the california family!

hope everyone's holiday was as fun as ours!

thankful.

i hope everyone had a fantastic thanksgiving holiday.

yesterday, i spent 12 hours of my day working... but i can say that i am thankful to have my job. it is so hard being away from your family on such a great day. for the past three years, david and i have hosted our own thanksgiving dinner. last year we were able to enjoy the meal with some close friends, but this year it will just be us. so tomorrow we will spend the morning and afternoon preparing a thanksgiving for two.... i must say, im excited! a romantic thanksgiving - who would've thought it?!?!

on the menu -
turkey breast
stuffing
crock pot mac n cheese
broccoli casserole
dinner rolls
a fantastic dessert

writing out all these dishes is making me feel starved already - but this entire week (including the actual thanksgiving day) we have been dieting. yes, who diets on thanksgiving day??? apparently us! we have started a low glycemic diet, like the four hour body/paleo diet. the first two days consisted of major cravings for sweets and starches and a constant headache. all that has gone away now and the amount of weight loss is incredible. you have one 'binge' day a week, and that will be our 'thanksgiving' dinner tomorrow... i am counting the hours until we begin preparing!

now it's time to concentrate on christmas... can't believe it's already time to put up the tree and decor! (even though i've been listening to she & him's new christmas album since the release date!!!) i actually had a shopping partner this black friday... my hubby!!! that's right. we left at midnight last night and shopped throughout the night. and i am VERY proud to say that already we have nearly 90 percent of our christmas shopping complete! yay!

really hope everyone had a great holiday.
i am so thankful for all the joys of my life!

Home for the Holidays - part II

Christmas Day - (and it was a white christmas)

David and I slept in (amazing), then went to Jason and Rhonda’s house to see all the goodies santa brought for the kiddos. We had lunch there and a great time seeing Reagan and Alyssa. Then we went to my families to open gifts and have dinner. Exhaustion had begin to set in around the evening time... We had the pups out in the snow playing, which they absolutely adored. All the kids were super excited... I was super excited because my wonderful family picked out some amazing gifts for me this year, along with my perfect hubby... I will share a few of my favorites later on... but I will say, Hope in a Jar by Philosophy... best. stuff. ever. And my mom got me the 8oz. container that was featured on Oprah’s favorite things... well, it’s my favorite, too!!!! I’ll be stocked for the entire year! Thanks, mom! 

beautiful Alyssa

reagan rocking out on her guitar

me and savannah, my snow angel

uncle D, holding ava for the first time

ava smiles :)

savannah smiles, too.

my boys, ethan and christian

 Christmas day came and went... but we still had another Christmas at David’s moms. Amy, Brian and Ellie arrived sunday evening, so Monday we were doing our christmas! We had a blast and the kids loved all their new toys...and Jane made a fabulous dinner. 

with ellie and reagan

david and reagan

ellie jayne

david with reagan and emme

oliver watching ellie play drums

 We went to say goodbye to my parents that night because we were leaving the next morning... and that’s when it happened. David got SICK SICK SICK. It happened in a matter of seconds. The stomach flu took over his body, and it was terrible. I think he finally went to bed around 6am, and slept the entire next day. I got someone to cover my shift at work so we wouldn’t have to drive home. I think in a total of 24 hours, he slept for about 20. But Wednesday, he woke up feeling himself, thank god! So we were on the road to South Carolina... Emme climbed on top of the boxes and slept with her head hanging over the front seat... the entire trip home. She really is precious, and Oliver was just pumped to have the entire back to himself.

Christmas this year was wonderful... and exactly spent the way I wanted... with the greatest family and friends. Hope everyone had a very merry christmas! And a white one, too!

Home for the Holidays - part I

These past two weeks have went by at record speed.  Christmas came and went, our Nashville New Years trip has already ended, a dreadful pull-over by the cops occurred, and the stomach virus even had to show his ugly mug.  I feel like when I woke up yesterday, it was almost Christmas day... and today it is January 3, 2011. Dang.
I will start with Christmas Eve... Fate was completely on my side when my alarm went off at 3:45 am. I arrived at work to be informed of the low census, out of 32 rooms, only 17 were occupied, so I WAS GETTING OFF WORK EARLY! Around 10am, I was clocked out and on my way home. We had packed the car the night before, so we were on the road to West Virginia by noon.  I was more than happy to be getting home for Christmas Eve this year, considering that we missed it last year, and also decided to surprise my mom. She absolutely loved it when we walked in the house, and I was so very happy to see all my family.
So, for some of the handmade Christmas gifts I have wanted to share for so long... I can finally do that now! I absolutely love the concept of gift-giving. I love shopping, and above all things, I love crafting. So this year, I decided to make a few things for a few special people in my family that also share the love of crafting. For my Aunt Ann, I wanted to make something cute for her home that would make her feel happy when looking at! Her house is decorated just the way I love to decorate mine... so this is what I made her.

I know you will remember this...

I really loved how this turned out, so decided that I would make one for Brooke and Derek, and also one for Mark and Anita! I also made one for Crystal and Sylvia... but I can't show the pic of Crystals because I still have it! I also got into making pillows again, and appliqued some burlap fabric and made felt flowers to make pillows for my mom, mamaw, and mother in law, Jane. So for the Christmas crafts... burlap, embroidery, felt and applique was the theme! I love how everything turned out, and had so much fun making them all!

So that is all of the lovely crafting for now... More about the holidays. We made it home for my parent’s Christmas Eve party, which was amazing. We all had so much fun, and had the BEST DINNER EVER! Seeing all my nieces and nephews opening presents and all the excitement for Santa was beyond words, and I was just overwhelmingly happy to be home.

me with lala, savannah, ava

mamaw opening and loving her handmade pillow

my sweet girl, lauren

uncle david with christian and ethan

ella and lauren

sisters, brooke, missi, me, michelle

Around nine that evening, we decided to leave and meet up with friends for a christmas eve cocktail! I love this tradition so much... and we lasted A LOT longer than I anticipated. It was a lovely cheers to bring in Christmas Day!

Christmas Week!!!

It is Christmas week… and busy, busy, busy. Back to work I go tomorrow, and I’m hoping time flies so Friday will be here… We are leaving for West Virginia (please Snow STAY AWAY UNTIL WE GET HOME!!!!) and hoping to make it for my parent’s annual Christmas Eve party. Last year we missed it because of work, so maybe this year will be different.  There have been SO many things I’ve wanted to share with my bloggers, but cannot until after Christmas. It is part of my handmade Christmas, and I have loved every single thing I have made… can’t wait to share!  In the meantime, with the cold weather sitting in here in South Carolina, and we have been making lots of comfort, cold weather dinners… all followed by the recipes, and all DELISH! I would recommend them all.

Gina’s Hot and Spicy Tortilla Soup

Emeril’s  Cajun Jambalaya
Tyler’s Ultimate Baked Rigatoni with Eggplant and Sausage
Chuck’s Day Off Chocolate Stout Cakes

Some photos from our kitchen - 

 

 This recipe is more like a bread pudding... made with beer, chocolate and sugar! So good! Hope everyone is having a fabulous Christmas week... and to end this note - and the way I ended my evening yesterday.... homemade hot chocolate!!!!

Merry Christmas