Merry Christmas!

I have no pictures to show that Christmas even existed in Georgia this year.  Which is a little sad since it was our first Christmas in our house.  However, Christmas seemed to come and go for us this year.  Matt even mentioned a couple days before Christmas that it didn't even seem like the holiday season since we hadn't done anything Christmas-y - put up a tree, purchased gifts together, seen any snow (not such a bad thing!), baked Christmas cookies or embraced any holiday traditions.  Unfortunately, Christmas this year was just another thing to cross off the list in the midst of moving. 

But when Christmas morning got here, it was such a relief to wake up in our own home.  We were able to finally be leisurely - had a nice big breakfast, exchanged gifts, played with our little birthday boy (yup - Nigel and Jesus have the same birthday) and Skype'd with family.  While it wasn't the typical Christmas we're used to and we'd much prefer to be with family, I'm glad we were able to be home for the holidays.

Nigel's Tennessee Christmas

It all started with Nigel anxiously awaiting in his Christmas pajamas for Santa Paws to arrive:

And once he did, he was very patient while Mommy opened his Christmas treat!

Then boys became jealous of Nigel's Christmas pajamas so they decided to wear their own Christmas pajamas:


Then Uncle Joshy was a bad influence on Nigel and helped him celebrate his upcoming 21st birthday* (he'll be three in a couple of days):



*There were no dogs harmed in the making of this blog post.  Katy actually gave him a dog toy that looked like a beer bottle and we couldn't help but stage a little photo-op.

Welcome Home!

 

It finally happened.  The closing date has come and gone and we own ourselves this very house.  We love it.  We can't wait to move into it.  And we can't wait to show our little stinker his very own fenced in backyard.  Matt carried me over the threshold when we got there for the first time.  He's such a traditionalist that's a non-traditionalist since we didn't just get married, but he said it seemed like the right thing to do.  Whatever.  As long as I'm light enough for him to pick up I'm fine with it.

P.S. A lot of the posts will probably become house updates on what we've done.  I apologize in advance.

The Greatest Place on Earth

I've got two words for you.  Stone Mountain.  Best place on Earth.  Might be a stretch, but it's Georgia's version of Disneyland.  And while we were there it had a Christmas theme to it.  Doesn't get much better than that.  Except that it does.  Matt said we could go back when it's dark so we can REALLY see all the pretty lights.  I'm starting to think we might not now because of all the house stuff, but one can only hope.

There's other stuff to do besides all the Christmas things.  The South won't let go of the Civil War so it's basically a theme park-type facility dedicated to that era.  There's the carving (pictured above), a plantation house, museum, some sort of boat.  You can hike to the top of the mountain which gives you this splendid view of the city:

Our batteries died while we were there so I don't have many pictures, but next time we go, I'll make up for it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just because Matt and I were down in Georgia for Thanksgiving didn't mean we couldn't have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Clearly I need to learn how to cook for two and not an army.

Oh, why, yes, you are correct.  We did use our self-painted bowl for our rolls:



That's me in the back.  I worked until 2 a.m. the night before and had to get up at 8 to start cooking.  I won't tell you when Matt got up, but it was after 10:59 a.m., but before 11:01 a.m.  Needless to say I told Matt to make sure you couldn't see my face because it was not pretty.

Even Nigel shared in Thanksgiving dinner thanks to a rawhide turkey leg sent by my Mom.  He loved it so much he made the rounds of the apartment trying to find the right spot to eat it.  He does that with things he really likes.



We ended Thanksgiving with a trip to Taco Mac to watch the Cowboys game.  Thankfully they won :)