I love Christmas.

I love our Christmas tree.

I love our gingerbread house.

Most of all I love getting Christmas Cards!

Merry almost Christmas!!!

Tis the season

I think it is safe to say we have been busy this Christmas season.

We have been to many Christmas parties ... and still have some ahead of us. This is the kind of busy I like though :)! We had the Chick-fil-a christmas party a couple weeks ago. We ate yummy food ...heard the chirstmas story... and played fun games! Andy was in one game where he had a string around his neck with a cotton ball on the end of it, and vaseline on his nose. He had to swing the string using only his neck to get the cotton ball to stick to his nose. Trust me. It was pretty funny. My office went to dinner this past Tuesday to celebrate all our hard work. We went to Ruth's Chris Steak House. It was delicious. For dessert we had something called a Chocolate Explosion! HEAVENLY! We have been busy buying and wrapping gifts too! As of yesterday we are totally finished. Ta Da!

Fun Fact: I love wrapping gifts ... and the way they look under the tree.

In other news ... My parents pool/house renovatoin is coming along. Getting closer! I can't wait until spring when I can enjoy this beauty.

And then some of the best news ever: I'M GOING TO ME AN AUNT! Meet Henley. Isn't she a cutie! Calli and Brett are going to pick her up mid January. I can't wait to meet her ... and Colbie can't wait either. Cousins :)

Deer Steaks

On Saturday my fam went to my sisters house for Deer Steaks. I have now eaten deer. Not just any deer. Deer that my brother in law killed. (Poor bambi). At first it kinda gave me the willies ... but it was REALLY good. I didn't know I would like it so much.

What I loved more than the food was spending time with my family. My mom, dad, sister, brother in law, mimi, grandaddy and Andy. Wow. There isn't a group I would rather be with more. So thankful for my fam, and that I so enjoy them so much!

The Cereal Dilemma

Picking a cereal. It seems so simple. Right?

Well I am here to let you know that it is not simple for all of us. Andy is the cereal picker in our house. I have referenced before that my husband takes a very long time to do things. He gives everything he does thought, and takes his time making decisions. I on the other hand do things quickly, and like to get things done. Everything is a race. One of my biggest races that occurs every so often is the grocery store! Get in. Get out. Get what you need.

Andy says I always go into the grocery store like a man woman. He says sometimes he feels like he should warn everyone I am coming just in case I run them over. (This might be true ... oops). Most of the time Andy and I go to the grocery store together. Our visit consists of me pushing the cart around the entire store like a crazy lady while Andy stands and looks at all the different kinds of cereal.

You may think I am joking. I am not. I normally pass by him a couple times in my mad dash and he is in the exact same place. Just looking. and looking.

Andy walks up and down and up and down looking at all the different boxes as if this is the biggest decision he will ever make. Then he comes and finds me (which at this point I am most likely almost finished) and smiles and holds out the cereal like a little kid. He is so proud. It is precious.  

So next time you pick your cereal and it seems so easy ... remember that it isn't easy for everyone :)

A Mommy

My mom says that when I was little and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up I would say "A mommy." Almost in a tone that was like come on people ... duh, is there another option?! 

I didn't say a doctor, police officer, teacher, nurse, vet ... you get the point. At that age I could have said anything I set my little mind on. Yet I said I wanted to be a mommy.

I think as a two year old God was already planting in me a desire to be a mom.

To be a nurturer. Caretaker. Protector.

I truly believe I have been given a passion to be a mom.

I think that is why I have had such a hard time finding direction in my career. In college I had the hardest time deciding a major and look where I ended up. Child and Family Studies (aka I want to be a mommy). Sometimes I get frustrated with this desire. I am not at a place where I am ready to be a mom. Sometimes I think why can't I just be normal and have big career goals! You don't get paid to be a wife. You don't get paid to be a mom. Yet these are the things my hearts so longs to be doing.

I watch some of my friends and so admire the passion they have for their job. I watch my friend Chelcie and admire her passion for teaching. She is going to make such a wonderful teacher! I watch my husband and admire his passion for business and serving people. I watch my sister and admire her passion for speech pathology.

Sometimes I envy these people as I watch the direction they have in their lives. I keep searching for a career that I am passionate about ... when I know deep down my hearts desire is to be a mom. So now what?! Andy and I aren't ready to have children. So I have an awkward 5 or 6 years where I work, but I'm not doing what I feel called to do. Is it possible to feel called to be a mom? I think maybe so.

Oh Christmas Tree.

Saturday we spent a large chunk of the day getting our house ready for CHRISTMAS! We purchased a stand, lights, tree, etc ...

We got our (very first!!!!!!!!!) tree from the lot next to where Andy works everyday. He has gotten to know one of the men (Eric) really well. This is the way their family makes money inbetween lawn mowing season. We looked. and looked. and looked. and finally found the perfect one. Our ceiling is about 8 feet high, so Andy held his hand up and we had to find one under that :). Really accurate measuring here. They put it in this machine that got all the dirt and excess off and wrapped it up nice and small to put on the top of our car.

We spent Sunday afternoon decorating our tree. Andy and I have to be cautious when we do tasks like this together. I think one of our biggest fights occured while carving a pumpkin. I am a get it done make things happen kind of person ... and Andy is a perfectionist/very detail oriented lets take 10 years to put up a Christmas tree kind of person. So before we started we had to remind ourselves of each others tendencies. We got it up without pushing each others buttons. Yay. Success. Here is Andy putting Mr. Santa on top.

TA DA!

Three things I love about a Christmas Tree.

1. The way it looks. SO pretty :)

2. The way it smells. YUM. Makes the whole house smell fresh and clean.

and 3. The ornaments.

I love how ornaments tell a story. We don't have a ton of ornaments ... given that it is only our second Christmas together, but the ones we do have are special. 

Here are a couple of my favs! 

The Chick-fil-a one is special because Andy is pursuing a career with Chick-fil-a. Duh. He got this on his first visit to corporate. The next one is from my sweet friend Lauren. It has our wedding date and initials on the back of it. The next one you can't see well but it is AWESOME! This was my fav as a child. You can plug it in to one of the lights and all the characters move. How cool is that? And the last one is from our honeymoon. Amelia Island. We are going to collect ornaments from everywhere we travel together (So far we have two haha).

Merry Christmas.