Because I've procrastinated...

Here is our Christmas card.

Well, this clearly seems to be the year of the photo card... and that being said, you will not be getting a card in the mail from the Greys this year because we did not make a photo card. I don't want to send you a card that you will not put on your mantle or on your fridge. I know what you're thinking... "Of course I would put it on the fridge or the mantle!" Maybe so, but you would be a little disappointed when you opened it and it was not a photo card. Admit it. And besides, it's a week before Christmas, and now I've waited too long. My apologies...

We have said for years that we wouldn't make photo cards until we had kids, but this year clearly we have been outnumbered. So consider this our photo Christmas card. Maybe next year we'll surprise you, who knows...

Until then,

From our house to yours,

Merry Christmas and New Year!!

With Love,

Derek and Lizzie

Christmastime in Cajun Country

Road trip #2 of the holiday season... Natchitoches, La., for the Christmas Festival of Lights. We hit the road around noon on Friday and toured the backroads and swamplands of Louisiana for nearly five hours before arriving at our final destination. This was my third trip to this neat little Louisiana river town (once for work in the newspaper days and once for a long weekend with Drew and Kristin) but my first visit at Christmas.

"Steel Magnolias" was filmed here (the Steel Magnolias B&B is pictured above), and it's like a city set back in time. The Christmas lights stay strung over the brick streets year-round but when they actually turn the lights on, it's truly breathtaking. No camera will do it justice, but we tried to get a few good shots anyways.



It was ugly weather all weekend long, but Friday night we had dinner downtown and then spent all day Saturday shopping and sight-seeing. We rented some wheelchairs from a local pharmacy to make it easier for Granny and Pap to get around, and I think they really enjoyed the "free ride." :) We ate some famous Natchitoches meat pies at Lasyone's and then walked around at the carnival down by the river, which is where the picture with the baby gator was taken above.

It was a trip Granny had wanted to take for years now, and I'm so glad we got to experience it as a family. It was worth the long drive and the cold, ugly weather. It really puts you in the Christmas spirit. :)

Move That Bus!

ABC's "Extreme Home Makeover" crew has been in Hattiesburg all week building a house for a family in need. The Heathcock family has three children and is struggling to make ends meet while the the father/husband, Sherman Heathcock, serves in Iraq.

When he's not oversees, Sherman works several jobs around town for extra money including working as a sheriff's deputy, a SWAT team leader, a grocery store security guard, a neighborhood watch group organizer, and volunteers his time to provide security for his kids’ school and coach his son’s football and baseball teams. His wife, Gina, works part-time as a paralegal.

The Heathcocks' house, which is exactly one block away from the house I grew up in on 17th Avenue, suffered some damage from Hurricane Katrina while Sherman was oversees during his first tour of duty. This poor family has just a long run of bad luck and is very deserving of this makeover.

The cool part is that the WHOLE city has come together to get this project done. It really is how you see it on TV. Volunteers, including my parents who have kept the website up and running for sponsors/volunteer sign-up/donations, etc., have been working around the clock.

Today is the "Move That Bus!" day as the project comes to a close, and I would loooove to be there. This two-hour episode is set to air during the first round of TV sweeps during February. I can't wait! It's a great thing for Hattiesburg, for all who have been involved, and especially the Heathcock family. I think it's pretty cool.

For more information about the project, visit the website - courtesy of Bice Advertising :) - at http://www.extremehattiesburg.com/.

Holiday Road

Road trip #1 of the holiday season… Florence, Ala., for the Bice family mini-reunion to visit Grandma. It was a loooong drive (about 6 ½ hours), but we made it all in one piece. Road trips with my parents make me pretty nostalgic. I feel like I’m 13 years old again, listening to Ace of Base on my Discman and reading R.L. Stine books in the backseat.

It was great to get most of the Bice clan together again – Grandma, my parents, Uncle Frank, Aunt Helen, cousin Gef, his wife Stephanie and their two girls, Bella and Ainsley, cousin Lisa and her two kids, Kayden and Reed, and cousin Julie with Baby Burks on the way. Derek stayed home, as did Julie’s husband, Greg. Even without the two husbands, we were 14 strong everywhere we went! Here is Grandma with the grandkids...

And here are my "little" cousins...

Saturday we got out and about for some good, old-fashioned sight-seeing. We started at the Rosenbaum house, one of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses built in the early 1940s. It was actually a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be, and I had a special appreciation for the house since it really was the beginning of the “ranch” style that we live in today.

Then we headed over to Tuscumbia, Ala., where my dad went to elementary school. We rode by his old house, and then even stopped by Helen Keller’s birthplace. It was a very educational day! Here's Helen Keller's house...

And my dad's old house...

We ended the day with a great dinner at the hotel restaurant and then with a pretty in-depth genealogy lesson from cousin Gef. Apparently my heritage is Dutch, and we can be traced back to some famous Dutchman named “Jan the Soldier” whose dad was a mayor in Amsterdam. Who knew?

Here’s one of my favorite pictures from the weekend…

This was about midway through Grandma’s story about how she was on a double date with another boy, her sister Bet and Grandpa (he was the one on the date with Bet, Grandma was with the other boy) and Grandpa turned around in the car and kissed her in the middle of his date with another girl!!! Clearly it all worked out for the best though. They were engaged three days later while Grandpa was on leave from the war and were married for more than 60 years. Now THAT’s a love story. :)

The most wonderful time of year!

I know I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… this is my FAVORITE time of year! I just love it! I love the smell of Christmas in the air when I walk in the door, the warmth of a fire burning in the fireplace, the glow of the Christmas lights on the tree and on the mantle, all the presents under the tree… I don’t think there’s anything I don’t like about this month.

It’s only December 3rd, and I already have 99% of my shopping done (Izzy was happy we decided to use raffia on all our presents) and have already watched every single cheesy Christmas movie that has come on Lifetime or ABC Family. Don’t judge… I’m in the holiday spirit. Last night we watched “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” That one never gets old.

Usually with December comes holiday craziness, and this year is no exception. There’s just SO much going on. Between family road trips, Christmas parties, etc., I’ll be worn out by the time the month is over, but that’s what it’s all about! Fit as much in as possible during the 31 best days in the year! :)

Thanksgiving 2009

We could not have had a more wonderful Thanksgiving break... we were off Wednesday through yesterday, and it was quite a nice little vacay. Thursday we hosted my family at our house, and then Saturday we went to Vicksburg for the Greys' lunch at Mamaw's house.

Here's my summary of our little break:

We fried the biggest turkey I've ever seen (no, that's not it pictured above - I forgot to get my camera out until after we finished eating, and Derek told me then that no one wanted to see pictures of half-eaten food.) Anyways, this turkey was huge and DELICIOUS.

We ate entirely too much tasty-but-bad-for-us Thanksgiving food and leftovers.

We ate entirely too much tasty-but-bad-for-us just plain junk food (pizza, burgers, etc.)

We decorated our house for Christmas. It's beautiful. I wish I could stay at home all day and night and just look at the tree and the fireplace.

We did a little more Christmas shopping. We're about 80% done already, and a tree just isn't a tree until there are lots of presents underneath!

We had our fair share of adult beverages... wine just kept disappearing... I think the elves drank it.

We were total homebodies and could not have enjoyed it more! I love being home for the holidays!

It was a great break, and now it's back to the real world. We'll be busy the next two weekends, so some down time at home was wonderful. And, I'm thinking it's a good thing December is not meant for bikinis because it would NOT be a pretty sight right now. :)

Hard time of year

Derek's cousin Lindsey just forwarded this e-mail to me from my sweet mother-in-law written after Thanksgiving 2007 when we hosted everyone at our house for the first time. This was her Thanksgiving summary sent to the "fam spam" e-mail group. It was SO just like her. It made me cry... thought I'd share. It's going to be hard this first holiday season without her.

hey y'all.....
just turned the old computer on.....
enjoying the "conversations"....

celebrated thanksgiving THREE times....WONDERFUL

derek and elizabeth really put on a fine spread at their home....we thoroughly enjoyed visiting with elizabeth's family and the food was divine...they pulled out all their "finest"....china and crystal....fresh flowers for the centerpiece...just PERFECT....derek fried the turkey and it was great...all the "trimmings" were DELICIOUS...lizzie made a peach cobbler using MY recipe, but it beats any one i've ever made...they had a spinach and artichoke casserole that was fabulous....lizzie's granny made the dressing...boy, was it GOOD...it was perfect...we had hash brown casserole, a favorite....and HAM and homemade biscuits....all of it was great....

when we got home from jackson, i "baked" a turkey breast and made dressing and other "fixins" for ryan and gary....ryan had hunted all day but i didn't want him to feel "left out" for the day....it was enjoyable for the three of us....

THEN....on saturday afternoon, katie and neil came to vicksburg and she and i went grocery shopping and she got in my kitchen saturday night and truly put on a show with dinner on sunday at noon....LORDY that child can COOK....we had a 20 lb. baked turkey, a cajun rice connoction that she "invented"....it was to die for....a sweet potato casserole that beat any i've ever tasted before...some scalloped potatoes...a fried corn pudding casserole that was also better than any i've had before...a pasta salad that she's "refined" and is a signature of hers...rolls....gary's mother brought mustard greens and cornbread and a romaine wilted salad (very good)...for dessert katie made a coconut cake (melts in your mouth) and the VERY BEST apple cobbler/crunch....uuummm, uuummm, GOOD....she is truly missing her calling by not being in the restaurant business....and she LOVES doing it...and just makes it up as she goes....the rice stuff was scrumptious....everybody came and we had a very, very nice time.....little ryan hadley stole the show, naturally....she is just TOO, TOO darling....so....we had some "good" eatin this past weekend....

christmas is really right around the corner....poor derek and lizzie put up their tree and it fell over some hours later....onto the hardwood floor...they lost about 30 ornaments....they are heartbroken....they had some unique, and sentimental things that they lost...

i'm rambling...as always....
everyone take care....
love to all.
candee