I can't even begin to explain how much excitement I feel when spending the holidays with my family and friends. It brings such pleasure to my heart to spend time with the ones I love most. It is such a busy time of year, especially for us as we split all of our time between several different sides of the family, but I enjoy every minute of it! This holiday season brought many laughs, tears, and pure moments of joy. I am so blessed to be loved by a great group of people.
Bradley and I headed to the Upstate Thursday evening after work. We arrived at my sister's and she had prepared a nice home cooked meal for us all to enjoy. {She has become quite the Betty Crocker, ya'll!} Friday morning, we woke up bright and early to get a head start on one of my mom's Christmas presents. Every year my sister and I do something special to her yard. Last year, we planted shrubbery and a few rose bushes. This year, we cleared out an area around a large tree in the front yard, lined it with rocks, and covered it in pine straw. In the spring, this will be a nice little spot for a flower bed!
Christmas Eve Eve
Friday evening, I scurried off to Greenville for a get together with some college friends. We enjoyed many laughs, some awesome food, wine, and a little game of Dirty Santa!
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| {Travis and Morgan's precious daughter Maci!} |
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| {A few of the gals} |
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{The whole crew. L to R: Mary Elizabeth, me, Ashley, Jenna, Kristen, Morgan, Lauren, and Carly}
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Christmas Eve
Saturday morning, my in-laws hosted a Christmas brunch at their house on the lake. It was a special treat complete with grits, sausage gravy, breakfast quiche, country ham biscuits, cinnamon rolls, pigs in a blanket, and mimosas! That afternoon, we headed back to my sister's for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner: steak! This year, I even brought in some fresh shrimp from Shem Creek to make some shrimp and vegetable skewers to go along with the meal.
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| {me and my sister} |
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| {my sister, stepdad, mom, and myself} |
After dinner, we exchanged our gifts and enjoyed each other's company. I must have been a good girl this year, because I got everything I wished for and more!
Christmas Day
This year was a little different than most. It was the first year that I woke up with my husband by my side on Christmas Day. Normally, my sister and I both spend the night at my mom's and then make our way to our significant others. It was nice to share this first married Christmas together as a family. After a delicious breakfast (prepared by my mom the night before) we headed to my cousin's for lunch with the Shealy's!
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| {my cousin Mason opening his gifts} |
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| {such a good little helper} |
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| {I wonder what his mom's secret is??!} |
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| {baby Avery} |
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| {Bradley, myself, Charles, Ashley, and Justin} |
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| {all of the grandkids with our grandmother} |
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| {me and my love} |
Christmas day evening, we all headed to the nursing home to see my grandmother. She was in such great spirits and we got some awesome pictures with her!
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| {sunshine} |
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| {Nanny and her girls!} |
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| {Bradley, Me, Nanny, Ash, & Justin} |
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| {my favorite!} |
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{with our beautiful mama sister} |
Day After Christmas
My mom, sister and I woke up at the crack of dawn to head to the mall to see what deals we could find. Boy, did we find some steals. I purchased a beautiful nativity scene at Kirkland's for $8! Can't beat that.
After a long day of shopping, we headed to our last Christmas dinner with my mom's side of the family. We enjoyed pizza, some fun games, and old memories.
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| {my cousin Lauren and I} |
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| {Ash and Caroline} |
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| {Houston and Mama} |
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| {Houston showing us his magic tricks!} |
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| {Mama and her boys...finally something other than girls :) } |
We all received one of the best gifts this night. My aunt took a video camera to the nursing home a few weeks ago and filmed my grandmother talking about her life and her family. We have a whole hour of her on video that we can watch at any time. I am so grateful that my aunt had this idea. I will cherish it for many years to come, even after she is gone!
Sorry for the long post filled with pictures. I told you I am busy at Christmas :)
How was your Christmas?!
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