We Wish You a Merry Christmas

And now that song is stuck in your head.  You’re welcome.  Anyway, Phillip and I are both big fans of Christmas, so we always joyously greet the season.  Due to our Thanksgiving travels, we didn’t get our decorations put up quite as early as we would have liked, but we did manage to decorate two trees, hang stockings, put our wreaths and lit porch trees outside, get out all of the holiday stuffed animals, and place a few other choice items throughout the house.  Now, for those of you that know me, you’re probably saying that this sounds like pretty light decorating for me, and you’re right.  With everything we knew we’d having going on at the beginning of the year (check out a forthcoming New Year post for details), we regrettably decided to only put out the essentials this year.  But never fear!  We already have great plans for next year’s holiday decor (as we were taking down the tree after Christmas, Phillip said “let’s put the tree up earlier next year” and I knew I’d married the right man)!  I was excited to find a new Christmas tree for our living room this year – it was such a challenge to find one tall enough, wide enough, full enough, and most importantly, not pre-lit (I have issues with the pre-lit trees).  But, Mom and I finally found a suitable tree on Thanksgiving weekend.  Here’s the final product:

I also set out to make a selection of Christmas goodies this year, including attempting to master my granddaddy’s pound cake.  While the cake wasn’t quite as good as his, it was still yummy, and everything else – Crockpot Candy, Fudge, World Peace Cookies, and Peppermint Bark – turned out well too.

Crockpot Candy

Phillip requested his holiday vacation for Christmas this year, so he had an entire week off starting on the Tuesday before Christmas.  Opposite to our normal state of affairs, Phillip was vacationing and I was at work the whole week.  However, this gave Phillip an opportunity to visit his family in Dothan.  He spent some time at the farm and exchanged presents with his parents and grandparents, although he did miss his brother Ben by a couple of days.

Pat (Phillip's mom) and Papa

Joe the dog, hanging out on the farm.

Phillip got back in town on Thursday, and that night we ventured out to the Alabama Theatre for a holiday screening of It’s a Wonderful Life.  It was a sold out show (sold out as in 2800 people)!  Despite my issues with the crowd, we had a lot of fun and especially enjoyed the pipe organ exhibition and sing-a-long before the show.  The next day we headed to Rogersville for the Christmas weekend.  My Uncle Richard, Aunt Nancy, and cousin Thom were visiting from Indiana, so we had a full roster.  That night seven of us went to Florence to see the newest Sherlock Holmes movie and had a great time.  We spent Christmas Eve finishing up the last of the wrapping and doing some cooking for our Christmas meal.

Jonathan (my brother) and I before Christmas dinner.

There was actually a lot of eating going on the entire weekend – that’s part of what Christmas is for, right?

Do you remember when you were little and you’d wake up ridiculously early on Christmas Day because you were just so excited you couldn’t sleep?  Well, I may not have gotten up ridiculously early, but I did get up early and had to wait for the rest of the crew to make it out of bed.  Mom made sausage balls and we opened some presents before heading to church.  After church and lunch we opened some more presents, then picked up my niece Kenslee and opened MORE presents, then spent the rest of the day spending time with each other and playing with/admiring our gifts.

Phillip and my dad taking a closer look at Phillip's new tool chest.

At one point during the present-opening, Kenslee asked if she could take a break!

Mom, Jonathan, and Kenslee attempting to play Just Dance Kids - as you can tell, Mom marches to the beat of her own drummer.

It's just not Christmas until Uncle Richard puts the bow on his head (I made that bow!).

Grandmother unwrapping her photo gift.

All in all it was a very merry Christmas spent with all the people I love most.  Can’t wait until the Christmas season rolls around again!  And neither can Barnaby:

Ho, Ho, Ho!