A trip down Santa Claus Memory Lane...

The Grey house is now abuzz with Christmas spirit after spending all day Friday decorating. It looks like Santa and all his elves just took up residence at our house, and I’m totally okay with that. We started with the nativity scene, then the flower arrangement outside, then the wreaths, then the ornament trees for the bathroom, then the decorative kitchen towels, then the ornaments on the chandelier, then the mistletoe, then the stockings and finally the garland and lights on the mantle and the tree and all its bright lights and sparkling ornaments. This is our third married Christmas together. Check out us as babies back in Christmas 2006. Thank goodness we replaced the gaudy light-up star in this picture with a new one.

I’m still a little traumatized from the Great Tree Disaster of ’07, so I made sure we picked out a super straight tree and that the trunk was completely secured in the stand. It doesn’t make for a fun December when you’re constantly walking on tiptoes in fear of the tree crashing to the ground. Last year about two hours after we finished decorating the tree and were admiring its beauty over a nice glass of wine…. it fell. Both the dog and the cat were in the other room, so it was just a fluke accident.

We lost about half of our ornaments from when we got married (the photo above is from the Christmas brunch and ornament shower the December before our wedding in March). Talk about upsetting. I know they’re just ornaments and most of them are easily replaceable, but I cried like a baby when we were cleaning up all the broken pieces. We salvaged a few special ones – like the crystal champagne bottle my parents bought us with our wedding date on it and amazingly enough all three of our “Our First Christmas” ornaments. But overall, we lost some nice ones. And some expensive ones. We’ve managed to rebuild our collection thanks to the day-after-Christmas sales last year, and I think that surely that was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Still, I’m knocking on wood as we speak just in case. Here's a pic of this year's Christmas tree.

On another note, I’m considering myself a local celebrity today after making it into the Vicksburg Post two years after leaving my job there. I don’t think my name ever made it into the paper while I was working there except as a byline or maybe when my wedding announcement was printed. My old editor, Charlie, wrote a column about Christmas at the newspaper, and I got a nice, embarrassing shout-out. You can read all about it for yourself here, but let’s just say it had something to do with a pretty red velvet dress and Santa hat I was wearing at our office Christmas party at the VFW and a karaoke machine calling my name. I think there was an Elvis impersonator there that night too. That’s all I’m saying. :)

Thanksgiving Part Two: The Other 'Burg

We continued our Thanksgiving celebration with lunch at Katie’s house in Vicksburg on Saturday for the Grey family. And what a family Thanksgiving it was! We had relatives from just about all sides including Mamaw and J.W., Uncle Rusty and Lionel, Neil’s mom Vicky and cousins Wes and Elise. There were 16 ½ people there including Ryan Hadley, and you should have seen the spread of food. Here's Ryan Hadley with Grandee.

It was a great get-together, and we all stuffed ourselves silly. I’ve eaten so much these past few days that I think I’d be fine if I didn’t eat at all this week. I’m sad to say that the last of the leftover turkey went to work with Derek for lunch today, so we’re officially out of Thanksgiving leftovers, which is not necessarily a bad thing considering the amount of food we had! Here's Chef Neil carving the turkey he fried.

After lunch, Derek and I drove out to the lake to spend the night visiting with Rusty and Lionel. We had a good time catching up and relaxing by the fire.

It’s amazing how a four-day weekend can really wear you out more than a regular one, but I guess that’s the beauty of the holidays. And to think it’s only just begun… We’ve officially switched into Christmas mode at our house, so stay tuned. I’m sure there will be a month’s worth of bloggable moments to come. :)

Thanksgiving Part One: The 'Burg

We headed to Hattiesburg yesterday to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. We stuffed ourselves silly on baked and fried turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, corn casserole, sweet potato casserole and blueberry cobbler. Here's a few pics from the day. Derek and my dad frying the turkey in the rain...

Derek had the tough job of carving both turkeys once they were done. But what a great job he did!

The food was delish, and we were fat and happy for our drive back to Jackson. It's never fun to travel on the actual holiday, but I was glad to see we weren't the only ones on the road at all. When we got home, we had lazy time on the couch in our pajamas while finishing off the last bit of blueberry cobbler. Yum... We've still got plenty of other leftovers that we'll snack on for the next few days. That's the best part about Thanksgiving!

I can't neglect to mention that yesterday's travels were made a bit tougher thanks to our Thanksgiving Eve night out with friends Wednesday night. Here's a few pics. Clearly we were very THANKFUL to be off work for a few days. :)



It's a good thing this holiday only comes once a year... or actually in our case twice since we head to Vicksburg tomorrow for "Thanksgiving Part Two: The Other 'Burg." Happy shopping and Christmas decorating today, y'all! :)

Holidayitis

I really don’t want to be at work this week. It’s not like I don’t have plenty to do – I do, but I just don’t want to do any of it. I’d rather be at home in my cozy pajamas sipping hot chocolate and watching Christmas movies. I am very glad I’m off work on Friday though. This is the second year Derek and I both have the day after Thanksgiving off, and it’s been so nice! Working at a newspaper and at a bank didn’t really afford many long holiday breaks, so I won’t complain.

I wanted to take a few minutes to really get in the holiday spirit and share my thoughts this Thanksgiving Eve Eve. Overall, I’m in a good place in life right now, and for that I’m very thankful. I’m thankful that I have a wonderful husband who loves me to the moon and back, even on my worst days. I’m thankful that I have a generous and loving family and an abundance of good friends, even though many of whom I wish lived closer. At least they’re a quick phone call or e-mail away.

I’m thankful to have a roof over my head and a steady job in this unstable economy. I’m thankful that I’m not the one in charge of the country. We can all fuss about what should or shouldn’t be done by any president, but we’re not the ones put in that position to make those tough calls. I’m thankful for our troops and for veterans who have served our country in years past. I’m thankful that my husband is here at home and not spending the holidays in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I’m thankful I’ve been fortunate enough to know my grandparents and hear their stories. I’m thankful that my parents have a strong marriage and have stayed together for more than 30 years. I’m thankful for my pets who show me unconditional love every day. I’m thankful for good health and happiness, and I look forward to what the future brings. And I’m thankful I started this blog so I can write about whatever comes to mind, even if it's boring or random or not worth reading at all. :)

I hope the work week passes quickly for those of us who have to work, and I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! The diet starts Monday. :)

It's good to go back

Saturday I went to Vicksburg for a baby shower for my friend Melanie and to do some Christmas shopping downtown. The shower was a total success, and Mel and baby Will got lots of great goodies. Too bad I forgot my camera... sorry.

After the shower I stopped by my friends Kathleen and Daniel's house for a short visit. Their daughter Linley was born about a week after we got married, so I always associate her age with the "age" of our marriage. It's hard to believe that this little girl will be three in March! Where in the world does the time go?

I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in downtown Vicksburg. That is by far one of my favorite places to be during the holidays. It's like traveling back in time as you walk down the bricks on Washington Street from shop to shop. Christmas music is piped through speakers on the lamp posts, and you leave your gift at one store being wrapped while you venture on to the next store. It's easy to knock out the majority of your Christmas shopping in just a few hours there. Last year after The Great Tree Disaster of 2007 (that's a separate story, trust me), I drove to Vicksburg to do my day-after-Christmas shopping downtown. I just love it, and that's probably one of the biggest things I miss about living there.

Luckily I'm only a 45-minute drive away. And now that I don't live five minutes from Washington Street, it makes it that much more special to go back and visit. And shop. Can't forget the shopping. :)

TGI...T?

I’m glad this weekend is winding down. It seems like we’ve had a busy few days. Tuesday night we went to Pan Asia with some of Derek’s friends from work and drank entirely too much sake. I think it was only the second time I’ve ever had sake, and I don’t really think I’ll drink it again. It made my Wednesday pretty rough indeed. Ugh… I went to bed at 8:30 last night.

Tonight we have plans to go to Fondren Unwrapped, which is like a holiday open house of all the businesses and shops in Fondren. They have music, food and drinks, so it should be an enjoyable evening out. We’ll probably stop in at Que Sera for a glass of wine around their fire pit to celebrate the fact that tomorrow is Friday.

I’m only working a half day tomorrow so I can go run some errands and start on my Christmas shopping at the HandWorks Arts and Crafts Festival. I bought our wreath there last year and LOVED it. Saturday I’m heading to Vicksburg for Melanie’s baby shower and to do some visiting with some old friends. That’s about all that’s on tap for the weekend, and I’m glad! We have definitely been on the go here lately, and there’s no end in sight until January. Is it a bad thing to feel like you need to rest up before the holidays even get here? :)

Lingerie and the Log Cabin

Saturday afternoon I packed up the car and headed about 30 miles south to D’Lo, Mississippi. My friend Ashley is getting married in two weeks, and she wanted to rent a cabin on the Strong River for her bachelorette party. I was definitely in favor of the idea of a night in rather than out since it probably saved me about $100 in cover charges, overpriced drinks and a hotel room.

Well, when we got to the cabin around dusk there was no electricity. Not cool … I felt like it we were straight out of a horror movie and the psycho killer was lurking at the edge of the woods. Plus it was freezing. Christy and Ashley (reliving their Girl Scout glory days) started a fire, and we huddled around it to keep warm for a couple of hours until the Entergy truck arrived to fix the power line. He saved the day. And the party. :)

We had Ashley’s lingerie shower inside and sat around the bonfire for most of the night. I brought my electronic Catch Phrase game that I got for my birthday, and the more we drank, more it entertained us. We almost dropped it in the fire only once, but it made it through the night safe and sound. It was a great bachelorette party. The party started winding down about 2:30, and we all retreated to our bunk beds.

Derek and I can't make it to Ashley's wedding because it's Thanksgiving weekend, but it was great to say goodbye to her single days in style with a girls' night at a cabin in the woods. :)