Strike Force

Tomorrow morning my family and I will making the trek to Columbia to see the Rebels play in the State Championship. This should be an exciting game and a fun time! I wish Chris Miller and the Rebels lots of luck and a victory!



GOOOOOOOO REBELS!!!

Thirteen Traditions

There are lots of traditions to be carried on during the holidays and I just wanted to share thirteen traditions, old and new, from my family.

1. We drive to NC to pick out and cut down our Christmas tree. My mom started this in 2000 when it was just the 2 of us and we loved doing it so much that we started doing it every year.

2. There is always a lot of baking around the holidays between my mom and I. She always makes dipped pretzel sticks (my fav), white chocolate covered Ritz and peanut butter crackers, and boiled custard with a pound cake. I am not sure that I have ever gone one Christmas without boiled custard and pound cake. I look forward to it all year!

3. Because there is so much eating to do during the holidays, we started something new a couple of years ago. My mom makes finger foods for our meal for Christmas eve. We have all kinds of great stuff thats not on any normal menu and we love it!

4. I got to go to Hal's extended family Christmas for the first time 2 years ago and loved it. His grandmother always has the whole family over on Christmas day and she cooks a whole prime rib. It is probably the yummiest prime rib I have ever eaten.

5. We open all of our gifts on Christmas eve.

6. We have really enjoyed doing Operation Christmas Child the last couple of years. I am sure we will continue to do this every year.

7. One of the weekends before Christmas, my parents, Hal and I always ride around looking for Christmas lights or go to Hollywild. I know this doesn't sound like much, but it is ALWAYS a hilarious time!

8. On Christmas eve evening we go to Hal's sister's house to exchange gifts with his immediate family and have dessert. Last year we got to help play Santa for our niece and nephew, and it was so exciting!

9. My work has a Christmas party at a fancy restaurant a couple weeks before Christmas. It is always a nice time and I get my Christmas bonus! : )

10. On Christmas eve at 11:00pm our church has a beautiful candlelight service. It is a wonderful service with praise music, the Lord's supper, and scripture reading. It is probably my favorite thing we do to celebrate Christmas.

11. Last year Hal and I went shopping the day after Christmas and scored some fantastic deals. I expect that we will do the same this year and for years to come!

12. Our holiday wouldn't be complete if we didn't watch football!

13. After all the hussle and bustle of Christmas, we always do something fun and relaxing to celebrate the New Year with our friends. It is something for us to look forward to, and one last fun thing to do before we go back to work.


Tell me about your favorite tradition!

Good Day

Not much going on with me, so I am going to ramble on with the rest of you.

I got off work at 1:00 today which was great, but I had to go to the doctor which wasn't so great. I love my doctor though, so it wasn't so bad. I was at the doctor's office for an hour and a half! YIKES! He was at the hospital delivering babies and was running a few minutes late. I think I can forgive him.

Since I got home at 3:30, I got to take a little power nap before class and have dinner with my hubby.

I am super excited because I brought my work computer home tonight to do a paper and I got connected to my internet at home! My personal computer is messed up and I haven't been on the internet in my home since before we moved. Its 9:50 and I haven't even started the paper yet, and its due tomorrow. HA! Good thing its only for extra credit!

One last thing, Hal and I were really stoked when he got his job at Michelin in May because we knew what great benefits he would have, but we never knew to what extent. During the holiday season, Sam's, Costco, and BJ's all open up afterhours exclusively for Michelin employees and give great deals and free stuff. We get free breakfast and 30% off this Saturday morning at Costco, we get a FREE ham at Sam's next Sunday, and 30% off at BJ's this Sunday. How awesome, right? We don't even have to be members to these places to go, but Michelin does give you a free membership to the store of your choice. I love it!

Its now 9:52, I better get started on my paper. Goodnight!

Good News!

I am very excited to share some good news! Hal called me this morning about 7:30 to tell me that he had been offered a PROMOTION at work! He starts training for his new job tonight!!

The job he has been doing is very physically demanding and extremely tiring. He has been such a trooper and never complained, but I know he has anxiously awaited this promotion.

Thank you Lord for the many blessings you so graciously give!

A year of firsts

As a newlywed, this year brings a lot of firsts for me. This is the first Christmas I get to spend with Hal as my husband, this is the first Christmas in our new house, and this is the first year that we have cut down our own Christmas tree. This has been a great year so far!

Here are some pics from our weekend:This is the Christmas tree farm where we cut down our tree.

Hal and I on the hay ride back down the mountain with our tree.

It was SNOWING while we were cutting down our tree! I don't know if you can tell, but that is the accumulation. It was so beautiful!

My mom and Frankie in the trees.

This is my little table with my Christmas dishes. Love it!

The mantle.

One of the $2.50 trees my stepdad bought. Normally I'm not into colored lights, but it is so cute!

Our tree.

Our tree in the dark.

the tree bow, I love it!

we swagged garland along our porch banisters and accented it with bows. It looks really good, especially at night!

Merry Christmas! : )

Just enough to make me mad

I got off about 10:30 Wednesday morning and came back to work today, but I swear that long weekend was just enough to make me mad! I guess I'll take what I can get, though. heehee.

Thursday Hal and I slept very late. We had planned to go to the soup kitchen but when I called they said they didn't need us. We were disappointed that we couldn't go, but thankful they had plenty of people to help! Once we got up, I made a couple pecan pies and we headed off to my moms. She cooked a huge, wonderful meal and we ate about 5:00. I didn't eat anything all day, just so I would have room for that good food! I was so full that I was still full when I woke up Friday morning, and I had heartburn. I ate WAY too much. Thanksgiving only comes once a year though, right?

Friday morning my parents, Hal, and I got up before the sun came up and headed to Plumtree, NC to cut down our Christmas Trees. We got back home and Hal and I put up our tree and most of our Christmas decorations. We didn't finish Friday night because we were so tired, so we left a big mess for me to sort through on Saturday.

Since Hal had to work on Saturday, I got up early and began sorting through all of our decorations. By 11:00 our house was in order and beautifully decorated. I was so thrilled! My house is decorated so pretty, I am thinking of just leaving the decorations up year-round. The tree makes our house smell wonderful, and finally I think I am in the Christmas spirit!

Yesterday was a real lazy day for Hal and me. We laid around ALL day long and did nothing! I was definately not ready to come back to work today, but since I am off again in 4 weeks, I can stand it.

I hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine! I will try to remember my camera tomorrow so I can post some pics!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving. I can hardly believe it is here, but gosh am I excited!

I hope your holiday is filled with fun times, fellowship, and good food! Have a great weekend everyone! : )