Christmas with friends

Back in the day, when we were much younger we would get together with the Monroe's and Ledbetter's every year around Christmas.  We used to swap and gifts and all, and then we decided to drop that and just get together.  Now, with several of us married, add a few kids in the mix, one of the way, and just life in general, we hadn't gotten together in a while.

My parents have been friends with these two couples since before any of the kids came along.  It's amazing that they've stayed such great friends through all of the years (and the kids have too).

So last night we gathered at Mom & Dad's with these great friends...

Fulton and a silly smile

 

a better smile for his picture with KK 

The bottom picture in each of these collages is from 2003 (I think).  

One thing is definitely the same...my hairdo!  Other than the slight change in length here and there, not much change to my mop.  I have such fragile, high maintenance hair, unfortunately, I just don't have too many options.  I did try to go slightly darker several years ago and I kept looking in the mirror and was like, who is this girl?!  I guess I'm supposed to be a blonde :)

Great time spent with great friends!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year!

We spent Christmas Eve afternoon/evening visiting with Steven's parents.

A little present opening, steak dinner (chicken for me, of course) and just hanging out with each other

Steven and I opened our gifts from each other Christmas morning.  Lots of great stuff for each of us :)

 the Rawlins and Howards arrived around 10:30 for our late breakfast/brunch.  Steven and Matt did a great job cooking everything.

Then it was on to some presents!

Fulton was all about helping everyone with their gifts and of course we did not mind :)

He was also so sweet to come around to each of us and say thank you after opening each gifts.  

Steven was pumped about his hedge trimmer.  He said he hoped that Santa would bring him one.  Mom had been eyeing a punch bowl a few months ago when we were out shopping, so she was excited to get this.  She's all ready to host a party now!

We saved the best for last...Fulton's new car!!

He was a little unsure at first.  He wasn't quite sure what to do.

Pops sat him in the car, showed him a few things and after running into a few people, cars, and off in the grass, he was starting to get the hang of it.  He was so cute riding in it!

We all re-grouped and then met back up a few hours later and headed over to Grandma's house

 Again, Fulton was happy to assist Grandma in opening her gifts.  She did not mind one bit.

   

After a little entertaining my Fulton, we got a few pictures with Grandma, ate some dinner with her and then headed back home.  We know she likes to go to bed early :)

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Dad (aka Pops)

We celebrated Dad's birthday last night at Kristen and Matt's...

Fulton Pops arrived Fulton and Pete whipped him up a birthday card.  They also drew a few pictures too...Fulton was so proud of the picture Pete drew for him.

Fulton is all into smiling for pictures these days...as long as you show him the picture after you take it

Looks like some fun right here

All snuggled up under the blanket...it may have been cold over at Kristen's house

Kristen had prepared a wonderful meal for us, but Fulton insisted on fixing us a few things on the grill too.

Isn't this grill the cutest??  His wonderful babysitter made it for him...that's right, she made it!

Yummy ice cream cake!

Fulton of course was all into helping Pops open his gifts!

Happy Birthday Pops!  Hope you had a great day!

Christmas with the Cousins

Our annual gathering with our cousins..or should I say cousin, since only 1 of our 3 cousins could make it...was this past weekend at the lake.

Eggnog anyone??

Our outing on Saturday consisted of the local Dollar General.  That is the closest establishment of any kind to the lake house and we had to get out of the house for a bit, and needed to grab a few things too.

cute little hats that Aunt Ann brought for the kiddies

 time to open presents and play Dirty Santa

Please notice Greg proudly displaying the scarf that his wife has just opened

Fulton enjoyed riding the tricycle around Mema's with anyone that would push him.

We missed the cousins that could not be there and hope to see them again soon!

Tacky Christmas Party

I have always wanted to go to a Tacky Christmas party, but have never had the chance.

This year our Sunday School Class Christmas party was tacky!

I managed to dig a few little gems out of Mom's attic.  Before she let me leave her house with the above, she wanted me to be sure everyone knew that she did not wear this stuff anymore :)

Ok, whatever Mom :)

This right here is what won Best Dressed Couple

Julie's sweatshirt dress was awesome!  This was apparently her mom's dress and she as well that she wore many years ago.  It even had a "plug" painted on the back, where her lights were to plug in.

All of the girls...

Please note the photo bombing elf in the back of all these pictures.  He was having a blast doing this...can you tell?

A few of our tacky friends... 

I took a picture of the back of the cut off jorts, but I will spare you.  Be imagine...lots of rhinestones and be-dazzlers gone crazy!

It was definitely a fun party, and hope we can do it again next year!

Turns out Kristen and Matt have worn our outfits in years past.  Don't we all look so festive?  I just wish I had worn the candy cane panty hose like Kristen has on in the first picture.

Ornament Swaps

I love a good ornament swap!

Julie had a swap at her house in early December.  Here's Amy, Julie and I in front of Julie's enormous tree!

I had the girls from my Sunday School class over to swap ornaments and cookies and it was so fun!  I had never been to a cookie swap before joining this class and I look forward to this every year!

Of course I didn't get any pictures of the actual cookies...just the girls after the swap.

Then the next week, I hosted another ornament swap.  This is my 10th year to host this!

It started back when Jen and I lived in an apartment together after college and I've managed to host a party every year since then.

Thanksgiving at the Beach

While we all were freezing at the beach, Steven was in warm Ft Lauderdale visiting his family.  I was very sad that I could not make the trip this year...stupid job :)

all of the family hanging out on Wednesday night

Mema snuggling with two of her great grandsons!

 What do you do when you're trying to transport lots of food down six floors and on the other side of the building?  You utilize the luggage carts :)

I'm not sure how many people we thought we were cooking for, but we had a ridiculous amount of food, and it was all so good!

A little after lunch nap...Fulton loves his Uncle Pete!

so strange being on the beach all bundled up, but it was fun, and a lot more people out there than you'd think...some were even in the water

We hit up the great local park Friday morning while all of the crazies were out shopping!

then lunch at one of our favs...the Shrimp Basket

 Saturday...can we just skip over this day, please?  I've tried to permanently block it from my memory.

Only kidding...I'm not a fair weather fan like that :)

The guys played golf that morning, so a few of the girls did a little shopping.

Jen & Eric were also at the beach, so we headed to their place at game time to watch the lovely Iron Bowl.  And that's all I'm saying about that :)

We definitely should have taken a group picture sometime throughout the week instead of Sunday morning in the bright sunshine.  Oh well, makes for a funny picture now.

So much to be thankful for...especially time spent with family.