Very Merry Monday

The next day (2 days after Christmas) Perry & I went to Concord with his parents to visit my sister-in-law Cassy & family. It was awesome to witness the girls' energy and excitement about Christmas! We. love. them.

Uncle P ♥'s his nieces

Emily

"Little Lauren"

"Big Lauren"

Silly faces with Aunt Lew! 
{Concerning fact: my left eyeball seems to like turning inward... 
it won't really get stuck like that, right?}

I have never written about my bestie Sayra {no, she doesn't really spell her name like that. It's Sara, but I've said "Say-ra" since high school}. She is AWESOME! One night she shared a yummy meal of taco soup & cornbread, paired with salad, with me & Perry. Then we improvised with what I had in the kitchen and made a sad-looking strange-colored Christmas tree cake. My excuse is that we didn't have the proper supplies *wink*. It was still fun & yummy.

Cute little guy... almonds from Sara Almond, of course!!

Perry & I also visited my Dad & Karlene in Virginia before Christmas {pictures to come... once I find them}. What a wonderful, glorious Christmas we had filled with family & friends, warmth & laughter!!! "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'" {Luke 2:9-12}

Very Merry Next Day

I was dreaming of a whiiiiiite Christmas, just like the ones I used to know... er, not so much- I grew up here in North Carolina, people; I read/heard somewhere that the last "white Christmas" NC had was in the mid-1960's!! It came late in the day but that still counts. I think we ended up with roughly 7, yes, seven inches of snow! Our pups had a blast playing in it the next morning! {Of course, Bella girl loves it}

View of our house from the street

Icicles hung from the roof {yes, 1/2 of our house is grey, 1/2 is still white primer = project #1 to be completed when the weather warms up!}

Autumn loves laying under the trailer

We ventured out to see how bad the roads were:

Hwy 70

Interstate 40

Perry drove, I took pictures

We made it safe & sound to Mom & Paul J's!! My brother Jason came as well but none of my step-siblings could make it to Chapel Hill. We exchanged gifts (white elephant/clean "dirty" Santa ones too!) and enjoyed each others company.

With Mom & Jason

Poor Paul wasn't feeling good

Zena!

Joker!

Modeling my new ruffled shawl

Perry's beautiful knife set

Jason's new watch

Jokie boy loves laps

Mom & her yellow Nine West purse: she's so stylish!

Trying to get puppy kisses from Zena

*Smooch*

Laughing about Jason's "gag gift", a kid's tooth-brushing set. Mom loved it though!

"No penguins?!" {I reused an insulated box from when my Dad gave us deer meat & veggies from his garden. Illiterate people will know that you should not freeze whatever is inside the box... Hah! The words "refrigerate, do not freeze" do the trick otherwise.}

I got a Snuggie LOL

Mom & I being silly with the gigantic blanket with gigantic sleeves and gigantic pockets

It makes you look crazy TALL!

I have no idea what we were going for here...

 

Very Merry Christmas

Perry & I "hosted" our first Christmas at our house! Working the three nights before & not having time nor energy to prepare anything wasn't exactly how I imagined my first time hosting a holiday dinner, but I'm incredibly grateful for amazing in-laws who knew the circumstances and helped out! Deb & Phil- our only guests- brought over a spiral sliced ham and all the ingredients for cheesy potato bake & green bean casserole, rolls and pumpkin cheesecake! {Next time, I will be the hostess-with-the-most-ess!}


After we finished eating, we exchanged gifts.

Dad W. being silly with ribbons & bows

His initial reaction after realizing that Mom W. got him the point-and-shoot camera he wanted!

Per modeling the messenger bag I got him for school

WOW. Bows, my new coffee mug, Chex mix, Excedrin, beer, dog collars, and Pacific... a big mess!

Bella is a rule breaker. "No dogs past the kitchen"... {ok, so it was Mommy's idea ;)}

Very Merry Morning

Christmas Eve at our house!

 Perry & I spent Christmas morning together at home. Actually it was early afternoon; I had to work on Christmas Eve so I slept for a few hours! Our time together was peaceful & refreshing.

Opening his stocking

His stocking stuffer stuff

Gifts for our girls

Autumn & Krissie playing tug-of-war under the coffee table