Christmas 2016 - New Traditions

A couple days before Christmas Elizabeth spent the night with us. Of course I already had all her gifts wrapped and under the tree but I had to let her open one so we would have something new to play with.  Jim and I had picked up this fun set of Lincoln Logs at Lowe's and since she loves putting things together it was the perfect gift for a cold night of staying in. She was so excited to get to open a present! I love her sweet face in these photos!

 

 

 

They were proud of the first house they built. Elizabeth's favorite thing to do was putting on the roof and of course knocking it down afterwards! :)

This year Malisha wanted us to have Christmas at her house - starting with watching Elizabeth wake up. Sean, Vanessa, Jim and I were up, dressed and on our way to start a new Christmas tradition to what felt like "no one else was even awake yet"! 😉 To help enjoy the morning without having to worry about doing a lot of cooking I fixed a breakfast casserole the night before which just had to be baked the next morning.  We also fixed eggs, bacon, oj, coffee and pancakes to go with it. We had a great time watching Elizabeth's excitement as she opened her many, many gifts! This is our vehicle loaded down with gifts (note our back seats are folder down).

 Malisha made matching shirts for all the girls! "LOVE"

 Last year we bought Elizabeth this cool little kitchenette, so this year we had to stock it with a Keurig coffee maker, Kitchen Aide mixer and a toaster. She loved them because they made sounds, lite up and looked just like mommies!

 Elizabeth opening her gifts from Santa. You can hardly see the tree for all the presents.

 Sean and Vanessa posing with Elizabeth. Yes, Sean is actually wearing an "ugly" Christmas sweater.

After a fun morning at Malisha's we went home and I made homemade treats for all my grandpuppies - Piqo, Daisey, Dollie and Tava.

The Monday following Christmas we fixed a big Christmas meal and had more family and friends over.

 Sean's friend Aaron (whom I always called my second son) ate with us. It was so good to see him!

While I was on Christmas break Elizabeth came and spent a couple of nights with us. She helped me make cupcakes.  She loved using the mixer and did a great job with it.  She also ate as many sprinkles as she put on the cupcakes.

 I got tickled watching her aggravate Papaw. He was trying to watch a football game.

 She loves getting in the whirlpool tub. She stayed in it for 1.5 hours - her fingers and toes looked like prunes.

More Christmas Break:
I bought Jim an Ruger LCP2 pistol for Christmas. We called Jim Milhorn and asked if he wanted to go shooting with us since he also got a new gun for Christmas.

 I also got a little more practice in with the pistol Jim got me last year for Christmas.  It's always fun spending time with my sweetie!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Speedway in Lights

This year is Bristol's Speedway in Lights 20th Anniversary. They started with just a small display of lights which included the classic poinsettia and candelabra. The pathway was 1.5 miles and tickets were only $5 per car. Now the pathway has grown to 4.5 miles including the Bristol drag way plus a lap around the circle track. They have raised over $10 million dollars to help life changing children's charities and organizations. When we reached the check-in booth the car in front of us had already paid for our tickets, so we continued the sweet blessing by paying for the car behind us. We enjoyed a delicious cup of hot chocolate, standing by the warm fire and of course all the beautiful light displays.

 

 

 

Christmas Fun With Our Motorcycle Gang

About fourteen friends of our motorcycle gang got together at Chop House to celebrate Christmas and friendship. We had so much fun and as usual - a lot of laughs. After dinner we drove to Natural Tunnel - what a beautiful place! Of course the ladies had to have their picture made with Santa. He sure was a happy one! ;)

 

Annual Wreath Making Tradition

This is the second year Leslie and I have gone to the Exchange Place to the Wreath Making class they offer. The evening includes a meal served on the old timey metal plates and wonderful desserts. We always have the best time and go home with a beautiful wreath that will last for months (this picture does not do our wreaths justice). Such fun with my sweet forever friend!

Gatlinburg Fires and Supplies for Soldiers

The Gatlinburg fires have been horrible and sad. It was reported that this was the worse fire Tennessee has seen in over 100 years! I wanted to help the victims in some way and I saw on Facebook that the folks at Woodstone Deli were taking donations. I didn't have time to stop and purchase anything so I stopped and gave a monetary donation. It was humbling seeing all the donations given in just a few hours. It was wonderful to see everyone pull together and show love!

I have been collecting money for several years for the Supplies for Soldiers program at Eastman.  This year was a particularly tough year since our company just wen through two "reductions in force" in the past six months. The donations I collected were much less but just as much appreciated! We were blessed in other ways with our donations from our sites in other states and CVS Pharmacy who really stepped up. This is a photo of the items I purchased with the money collected.

Thanksgiving Vacation

I took the week off  for Thanksgiving. Malisha let us keep Elizabeth from Sunday until Tuesday. We had so much fun! I had bought her this cool teepee tent for Christmas but couldn't wait until then. The stars glow in the dark which is really cool.



This picture is pretty blurry but I thought she was so cute wearing my house shoes.

When she comes we push everything to the side so she can have lots of room to play. The living room is a mess with toys but I wouldn't change these memories!

 Love this sweet picture of her in her sleeping bag and laying on her elephant.

 Watching Mickey Mouse in her tent on her bean bag! :)