Thanksgiving is gone, Christmas is coming...

Is it just me, or is this year flying by super quickly? I can't believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone. This was my second Thanksgiving with Jonathan's family. He works a lot during the Holidays, so I can either be with him or my family. He wins. Still, I normally go see them for a few days before Thanksgiving and Christmas and then come back. This year I didn't get to go see them, but it made me even more thankful for such a wonderful family.

I miss my family, but I love my new family as well. I guess that's what happens when you get married. You make a new family together with new traditions.

I love my man! Also, please notice the stickers on my sweater. Haha. Apparently I went traipsing through the forrest or something...

Now moving on to Christmas!!!!

Yesterday I started on our Christmas decorations. I get so excited about putting up the Christmas tree and hanging the stockings every year. I love how cozy our home feels during this season. I used most of the things I bought and made last year, but I made a few new things too. Here's a few easy projects...

Glitter Candle Holders &  Pine Cone Garland

To make the glitter candle holder you will need a few glass containers, glue and glitter. I used 2 mason jars and some tea lights left over from our wedding. For the mason jars, I painted the inside with glue and sprinkled the glitter inside. For the tea lights, I put a layer of glue, sprinkled the glitter outside and waited for it to dry. Then I put on a top coat of glue to seal on the glitter. I love how they look on our little makeshift mantle.

Now the pine cone garland is the easiest thing to make. Just tie some pine cones a few inches apart with some twine. That's it! It's so incredibly simple. You can add a little glitter to the edges of the pine cones if you like as well. The more glitter the better, I say!

I also put up our tree and worked on putting decorations up through out the house. I'm sure this will be the first of many Christmas decor posts! I'm a little addicted to Christmas crafting.

My friend Ellen was so good to let us borrow one of her trees this year. Last Christmas we had a cute miniature tree. It was so small that I didn't need too many ornaments. I made the sheet music tree topper and the book page birds last year and I still love them! However, this tree has a lot of bare spots and I hope to fix that soon. I want to make some more ornaments soon if anyone has some cute ideas!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power 

and the glory and the victory and the majesty, 

for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. 

Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, 

and you are exalted as head above all. 

Both riches and honor come from you, 

and you rule over all. 

In your hand are power and might, 

and in your hand it is to make great 

and to give strength to all.

And now we thank you, our God, 

and praise your glorious name."

- 1 Chronicles 29:11-13

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

I love Thanksgiving. What other holiday begs you to join the rest of the nation in eating a WHOLE BUNCH? Seriously? I love it! Thank you Pilgrims and Indians for this wonderful holiday. We are so thankful that you were thankful.

Moving on.

We newly-weds spent our first Thanksgiving together with my hubs side of the family in (get ready for this) Wewahitchka, FL. What! You haven't heard of it?!?! What is this nonsense? Anyway, his uncle owns a house on the river and all 700 of them celebrate the holiday there. (Ok maybe I exaggerated the number a bit, but they do have a HUGE family.) I almost felt like I could have been at the first Thanksgiving amid all the nature that surrounded me...minus the cars, phones, cameras, boats, golf clubs, plastic plates, modern appliances and etc. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day and I am very glad that I married into such a warm and welcoming family.

The next day my hubs got up before the crack of dawn (aka 3:00 AM) to work Black Friday. I had planned on getting up around 8 and heading to the Huntsville area to visit my family, but instead things took a different turn. I attempted to go back to sleep...for about an hour and a half. My sinuses were the evil culprit keeping me awake. After about 55 trips to the bathroom to blow my nose (Ok, maybe it was 8), I decided to get in the shower and get ready to leave. At least I could stop and shop a bit on my way, right?

Or so I thought...

About half way through my trip I stopped to grab some breakfast and Christmas shop a bit. The french toast bagel and caramel latte treated me quite nicely. It was a good morning. UNTIL...I started shopping. Long lines and not-so-great-deals plagued me. As I was heading to the next store as a last resort, the heavens opened up and poured out, no not blessings, but buckets of rain. It was raining cats and dogs, or was it raining men? Hmm. Needless to say I was drenched by the torrential downpour. I just had to be parked at the other end of the shops. Great. It was not ok for my life! At least I wasn't hungry as well. That my friends would have been a great tragedy.

Fortunately, the rest of the trip improved greatly. I arrived at my aunt and uncle's house just in time for lunch. I was greeted by warm hugs, Christmas decorations, hot apple cider and food! You can't get much better than that. Late Friday afternoon my parentals and sibs came in and the rest of the clan visited the next day. We played, ate, sang, talked, laughed and had a merry 'ole time. It saddened me that my trip was so short, but I was also ready to get back to my hard-working hubs.

But of course I couldn't part without snapping a few shots. I failed to to so on Thanksgiving at the river, so I had to make up for lost picture opportunities.

My sweet cousin Haley

Thug life. We are so swole!

My precious sister, I love you!

Kathryn Olivia...my most favorite littlest sister!

Notice to all the rest of my family: I would have taken pics with you guys too, but this was last minute.

To put a cherry on top of my semi-sweet chocolate sundae of a weekend, I got to see my very best friend and her boyfriend! (It qualifies as semi-sweet and not Recees-sweet because of the rough start and my horrid chili. But I am getting ahead of myself. Pardon me.) It was good to see each other again. We used to be roomies, but then I got married and she moved 5 hours away. Life happens, but we are still close. Anyway, we decided that McCalister's sounded good for a late supper, (which was a harmless assumption). Little did I know that the delish bowl of chili that I imagined in my head would somehow turn into that nasty meat sauce that you put on top of hot dogs. Dis-gust-ing. But being the Suzie Sunshine that I am, I ate some of it anyway. And of course it had nothing to do with the fact that I was hungry, or the fact that I was too tired to get up. It also didn't have anything to do with the fact that I didn't want to pay for anything else either. No, just Suzie Sunbeam, Sunburst, Sunshine...WHATEVER.

When I returned to our little town home, my hubs and the Christmas lights greeted me. Suddenly all thoughts of the nasty chili and everything else faded into a distant dream. I told him everything that happened as if it was forever away.

Home + hubs + Christmas tree = Me never wanting to leave again.

Thankful for...Home

This week I'm going to be posting about things I'm thankful for in my life. I am incredibly blessed.

Today, I am thankful for where I live. I take so much for granted, like the simple blessing of having a roof over my head and a safe place to live. My city is a warm, welcoming place. And even though I hope we don't stay here forever, this has been a wonderful place to start our life together. I can honestly say that I am content. (However, I can't wait to see where God leads us from here!)

I hope you enjoy some pictures from around town.