Holly Jolly Christmas!

I absolutely LOVE Christmas. I love the decorations, the parties, the gifts, the smell of Christmas trees, Christmas songs, and everything that comes with it. On Christmas Eve we had dinner with Brad's family and opened our gifts with them. We both got clothes, gift cards, I got an awesome canvas print, Brad got cologne, and a few other things. Brad's mom is the best at picking out clothes for me. Everything always fits and is always sooo cute!! As i'm finishing gifts Brad says "Hunny, the rest of your present from mom and dad is at home".....So I try to stay focused, but naturally all I wanna do is get home and tear into "the rest" of my gifts. Eventually we wrap up the evening and head home. I was so excited to give Brad his gifts! I got him a Florida Gators tag and license plate & a new pair of Costa Del Mar Sunglasses! He LOVED everything. Then...It was my turn YAY!! Brad & his parents went in together and got me the Nikon camera that I had been drooling over for months! I was SOOO excited! Life is gooooood :)

The only thing I wasn't so thrilled about this year is that Brad had to work AGAIN. So when I got up at 4:00am to make his lunch I decided to go on out to Momma & Daddy's house. There's just something about waking up Christmas morning in the house you grew up in...I mean i'm not sure how Beka felt about me raiding her bed at 4:30 in the morning, but it was necessary. We eventually woke up, read about the birth of Jesus from Luke 2, and then opened gifts. Beka & I had asked for money. We're going on a road trip out west in June, and we need some dolla dolla bills ya'll ;) So when I opened my gift and found a book I was kinda confused, but hey....I love to read! Then as i'm skimming through the book i find something scattered between the pages....You guessed it....GREEN, BABY!! So we got our money and the book was sooo good. It was called "Shades of Blue" by Karen Kingsbury. Go read it....although there probably won't be money in your copy so don't get your hopes up...and don't be tryin to steal my Momma & Daddy ;) After gifts we had pancakes and bacon...mm...mm...good. After Breakfast I kinda waited around on Brad to get off work. When he got off we made his family rounds and then called it a very exhausting day. Hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas as well!! Thanks for everything guys!!! We love ya'll!!

Christmas on the Square & A Book Signing!

This past weekend was one of the best weekends I do believe i've ever had. Saturday morning we went down to the town square for "Christmas on the Square". There are always a million vendors selling the same thing pretty much every year. However....when you are only there to eat funnel cakes the repetition of the event doesn't effect your day in the least :)

Blush Dance Company's debut was scheduled for 12:15pm....and we were sooooo nervous!!! Beka completely pulled it off! She did an amazing job, my cloggers did an amazing job, and we had a really good crowd cheering us on. The studio has only been open since September, and Bex has been working her hiney off. I'm so proud of you Beka!!

After Christmas on the square it was time for the parade, football game, and bonfire. It was a perfect day.

Now this is where it gets good! January's Christmas present from me was a cookbook...I know that seems odd, but just bare with me for a minute. 2008-ish January discovered and introduced me to an amazing blog that has literally changed my life...."thepioneerwoman.com". (I posted about Pioneer Woman a whiiiiiiile ago if you wanna go catch up) PW's real name is Ree Drummond and all jokes aside....I want to be her when I grow up :) A couple months ago Ree's cookbook was released and she announced her book tour. When I saw ATLANTA on the the list I literally screamed....out loud. Brad just ignores my outbursts when it's related to PW. He know's I want to be her....and I think Brad secretly wants to be her cowboy husband "Marlboro Man" when he grows up ;) Anyhow, so I scream and decide that a road trip to the book signing would be the rest of January's gift!!!!! So now you should be caught up....Sunday afternoon we loaded up the truck and headed to ATL. Trips to Atlanta are always a treat because we get to hang out with Cody and Katie! They are amazing, and hilarious, and we miss them crazy bad when we aren't with them. So we arrived at their house sometime Sunday night, stayed up until...some ridiculous hour discussing iphones, twitter, facebook, and the controversy over Tim Tebow crying....and eventually we made it to bed. The next day was shopping, delicious food, and PW!!! WOOOHOOOO!! January and I arrived at the book store around 5:00pm. I'm so glad the signing didn't start until 7:00 because we got there super early and we were the 250th & 251st PEOPLE IN LINE!!!! Seriously!! I am clearly not the only person that wants to be reincarnated as Ree Drummond. It was CRAZY! We waited, and waited, and drank root beer, and waited, and read about our signs, (i'm a Leo by the way) and waited, and finally......It was time to get in a different line! Yippee...so we waited some more, and sometime after midnight WE MET REE! We had our cookbooks signed, posed for a picture, chatted for a split second, got our t-shirts, met Betsy (Ree's sister), met Hyacinth (Ree's creative friend), and then drove home! I had the most amazing time & enjoyed the company of the most amazing people! Can't wait to do it again :)

As previously discussed...this picture was taken well after midnight...excuse the sleepy smiles ;)