Christmas in Georgia

Christmas is already over?  Can you believe it?  This Christmas, much like the entire year, has flown by.  I can't believe that all the festivities are over.  Santa was very good to me, and I'm enjoying playing with all my presents.  But, I still have my Christmas decorations up though...they might stay up through January.  :)

Favorite ornament, could you guess?

We were thrilled to have Adrian with us in Georgia this Christmas.  It made it extra special, and it was my Christmas gift to get to entertain a houseguest.  I had to make sure that he didn't snag any of our kitties when he left, as he formed a special bond with each of them.  Below, proof that Lupe isn't always Satan.

I hosted Christmas Eve dinner for everyone at my house before we headed to church, with a lovely menu that included a beef tenderloin with a port sauce, baked mac-n-cheese, and asparagus with mushrooms.  Everything was delicious, if I do say so myself.  Usually I take lots of pictures of my feasts, but this time I forgot all about it.  So, I leave you with the aftermath... You know it's a good meal when your kitchen looks that bad!!

The Copeland Sisters (i.e. my Mother-in-law and Aunt-in-law) outdid themselves with Christmas day dinner, with enough food to feed an army!  I like nothing more than to eat my weight in anything that comes out of a 9X13 inch baking pan, so my heart was overjoyed with the selection.

Since this was my first Christmas (EVER) away from my family, I worried that it may be hard; however, my new family made it such a wonderful weekend that I had too much fun to think abut it.  I only teared up once, and that was during the candlelit version of Silent Night at the Christmas Eve church service. Doesn't matter if I'm in a big church in Atlanta and a tiny church in Hewitt, but that gets me every time.

Food and family - so much of what Christmas is all about.  But not THE reason we celebrate Christmas.  Sometimes it's hard to separate our secular holidays with our religious ones, but it's worth remembering:

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. (10) And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (12) And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2: 9 - 12

Christmas in Texas

As I posted from I-35, we headed down to Texas a week early for a Kerr Family holiday, complete with my parents, all 3 siblings and their families, my grandmother, and a couple of cousins and uncles.  Always lots of fun!  Not only do I feel blessed to have the family that I have, but it's a huge plus that we all get along and enjoy each other's company.   Beside the occasional swipe at me that I'm being "uppity" and need to remember that "I'm a girl from the country", there's lots of love in the house.

Not a lot to share, except some pictures of kiddos and animals.  My parents got a new poodle, Greycie, this Fall, and she has been a sweet addition.  Considering the fact that she lets my niece, Tori, hold her 90% of the day, she's a keeper.  (True story:  I asked Tori if Greycie liked her, and she said "of COURSE!  She runs from me, but as soon as I catch her and drag her out from under the bed she just LOVES me..."  Ah, the innocence of a child.  Let's hope that she doesn't say the same thing about her boyfriends when she gets older!!)

Tori, with the new dog (and her bff), Greycie

Opening our gift - always the look you want to see!

Love this girl!

Bro-in-law:  our live entertainment for the weekend

And I can't forget about the other animals!  The Kerrs love their cats!  Below are Miss Charlie and Sushi, our cross-eyed kitty.

Besides the delicious Christmas dinner, we also hit up a few other Waco favorites:  Poppa Rolla's, Bush's chicken, and the "Health Camp" (in quotes because it's anything but healthy.)  I had been craving a chocolate malt for months, and I knew just where to go once we got to Waco.  YUM!

Lastly, if we all remember my last ubber-important post about the James' stocking, I mentioned that my inspiration was the collection of stockings we had as children (and Mother still fills today).  I close out our Waco trip with a little glimpse into my original stocking below:

Lupe says Ba Humbug

Poor little Lupe has had a tumultuous few years, ever since I met James and her life was turned upside down.  She would have been a perfect cat for an old widow or spinster - one who never brought another man home.  Now, she's a miserable soul and spends most of her day sulking.

"I hate life"

But, even Lupe is benefitting from a little Christmas spirit!  She just loves the tree.  The FAKE tree.  Guess all those chemicals and plastics from China taste super yummy.  And don't let them fool you - they aid greatly with digestion.  Especially supporting your up-chuck reflexes...

Feliz Navidad from Lupita!

Road Trip to Texas!

And we're off!  Road tripping it to Texas for the holidays.  (Kerr Christmas is a week early this year, as all the Kerr kids are with in-laws on the actual day.)   James is such a good sport and agrees to drive the 13 hours between Atlanta and Waco once a year.  It's my preferred route for Christmas because 1) it's a pain to pack/ship presents, 2) it allows me a lot of time to work on baby blankets that I'm behind on, and 3) by that time of year I'm totally opposed to getting on a plane if it's not required for my paycheck.

So, yesterday we left the ATL around 2PM after I picked James up at the office, avoiding traffic in both Atlanta and Birmingham (a great start!)  We're in a rental of course, because neither of our hooptie cars is trusted outside the Perimeter.  Below is the play-by-play of the road trip in our white Chrysler Sebring:

Alabama / Georgia line
We stop at a rest stop so James can change out of his suit, and I see the first of many things in Alabama that causes concern: 

Obviously, I'm not going to "dare" piss off Alabama, because Lord only knows what this means.  Probably a warning to us Georgians that they're all packing. The pansies are a nice touch, though.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama
I ask James if we can go to a Cracker Barrel for dinner (I think there are about 4 along the Interstate in Tuscaloosa), because we ALWAYS stop there on our road trips.   He puts up a fuss so I decide to drop it.  Two-thirds the way through with Baby Blanket #1...good progress.

LOVES
There have not been any good exits thus far in Bama, but finally we see a LOVES truck stop.   Always a winner.  James comments that perhaps we can finish our Christmas shopping - never know what you'll find at a LOVES!  We settle on pork skins instead.  James gives me his normal warning when we open the package in the car:  "now, this is going to smell like a toot, but I promise it's just the pork skins".  After 4 years together, he still feels the need to say this (and I still giggle....)

Alabama / Mississippi border
We hit Mississippi and come up on the towns of Demopolis, Epes, Bovina, Yazoo City, and our personal favorite, Chunky.  The town of Chunky provides endless entertainment for James and me for at least an hour.  Since it's too dark to crochet, I turn to my other favorite car activity:  working on my singing career.  Poor James...  Unfortunately for him, my favorites to sing to include Whitney Houston and other ballads from the 80s station. 

Mississippi / Louisiana border
We've grown tired of Sirius radio, so we've switched to our iPods on shuffle mode.  All the sudden "I cross my heart" by George Strait comes on, and it's so sweet that we decide to hold hands while we're driving.

I cross my heart
And promise to
Give all I've got to give to make all your dreams come true
In all the world, you'll never find
A love as true, as mine

Then a Flo Rida song comes on and we decide that we don't have to hold hands anymore.

Overnight Stop: Shreveport
We made it to our stopping point:  Shreveport, LA!  A nice Courtyard amidst all the bright casinos. A great place to rest our heads until we're back on the road again.  Only a short way until we reach to Promise Land!!

Crossing the TEXAS state line
East Texas has the BEST truck stops.  Ever.  I actually took a picture of the granite in the bathrooms because it was so nice and would look good in our future home.  How often do you do that at a truck stop?!  James is lured by all the flavors and types of jerky (the "Baskin' Robbins" of jerky, he proclaims) and doesn't notice the price tag.  Total price for his jerky purchase:  $50.

I-20/I-35 Junction
I realize that it took us less time to cross the state of Mississippi than it took us to get from the LA/TX border to Dallas.  Ah, our great big State.  I finish all the squares for Baby Blanket #1 just as we hit the junction.  It's on to Waco, baby! 

South of Dallas
As he usually does the first stop in Texas, James buys me a lottery ticket and says that if we win more than  $1000 we'll move to Texas.  We shake on it, and then I realize the max prize on the ticket is $500.  Cheeky monkey.  However, I do win $3.  James retorts "I guess we're not house hunting this trip..." and I shoot him a look.

I-35, middle of no where
Road trips are so much more fun with a laptop, air card, and adapter.  Access to the internet is key when trying to solve/research  life's mysteries and dilemmas while on the road.  Things such as, "should we go to Asia or Europe next summer for vacation?";  "what is the age difference between Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Swift?";   "what the heck kind of cow is that?";  and "what ever happened to Kenny Loggins?"

West, Texas
It takes all my strength not to stop at the Little Czech Bakery and get some meat kolaches, but Mother has put the fear of God in all of us not to snack before our Christmas supper.

Crossing into Waco City limits
Almost home!  I can't wait to love on my family and eat my weight in home cooked food.  And, back in Texas which makes my heart sing.  Nothing like celebrating the holidays in short sleeves and 65 degree temps.   Merry Christmas, ya'll!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Growing up, we all had the most lovely stockings that Grandmom made for each one of us - with sequins and beading and cut out felt pieces.  I always loved them!  I couldn't imagine any other type of stocking for my own family.

So, now that James and I are a family, I decided to start the stocking tradition and make our own Christmas stockings.  Fortunately those types of stockings still come in a nice little kit, and once James and I picked out our stocking patterns I was all set to start working! 

After lots of cutting and whip-stitching and stuffing and sticking myself with the needle....I can FINALLY say that I have finished James' stocking!!  I say "finally" because I've been working on the dang thing since early Fall.  All those beads and embroidery work - what was I thinking!?  Well, I know what I was thinking: totally worth it because 1) I love my sweetie and 2) I adore anything crafty and 3) I can see us looking at our mantel 40 Christmases down the road and admiring all those stockings (number of said stockings all dependent upon how many children James lets us have.)

So, the finished product - pretty nice, huh!  

Notice that Santa is 3D 

Now, James has told me that since I haven't finished even started my own stocking (everything is still in the original kit package) he doesn't know if I should hang his new stocking until mine is ready.  I calmly asked him:  "are you out of your ever lovin' mind!?"  That stocking is being hung IMMEDIATELY;  in fact, it may have a permanent place in our house all year round for everyone to see.  I may just put it in the china cabinet with my formal china and grandmother's crystal.  I may also delay children another year or so because I can't bring myself to start YET ANOTHER ONE.......

Whew, sorry, got away from myself there for a moment.  :)  Truth be told, give me a week and I'll forget about how tedious all that embroidery was and won't wait to start stocking #2.  What can I say - I'm a sucker for a good craft and sparkly sequins!

Christmas Tea in DC

I've gotten into the bad habit of a one-week delay between a fun event and a blog post!  My goal this holiday season is to update more and more, because there is a LOT going on and we are feeling quite Sassy.  :)

Last weekend, James and I were in DC for the annual tea that my dear friend, Andrea, hosts each year. It's the way I kick-off the season, because it represents so much of what the holidays are about:  friends, food, and cheer.  This year, Andrea hosted at the Mandarin Oriental, which was a happenin' place among both our group AND the celebrities.  We ran into both John Lithgow (bringing back some sweet childhood memories of watching Harry and the Hendersons - one of my favorite movies as a child), and Florence Henderson.

Miss Andrea

All the gals at the Mandarin

 After the tea, James and I met back up and prepared for a night out in Old Town.  Old Town will always hold a special place in our heart, mostly because it's where we spent most all our early days together and fell in love (awww!)   We had a wonderful seafood meal, complete with raw Atlantic oysters and steamed mussels, and then headed over to Murphy's for some Irish music and cider.  Murphy's is another favorite, and I think it may be the best Irish pub outside of the Emerald Isle.  (Funny story:  when we were in Ireland last year, we were chatting with a great Irish duo in a pub in Kinsale.  They had just returned from the States, where they had actually played at this Murphy's!  Obviously, the place has some street cred if the Irish themselves come there to play.)

On Sunday, James and I battled a terrible head wind and some very cold temps to complete a long (7-mile) run.  From Old Town to Arlington National Cemetery is exactly that, so after finishing up we jumped on the metro and headed back.  Although James had to leave the DC area early that day (training in Vegas - rough life!), it meant I got to spend the rest of the day/evening catching up with Andrea.  I miss seeing her all the time terribly, so that quality time was a perfect way to round out the weekend.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story and the annual tea, this first weekend in December will also ALWAYS be special for another very important reason.  Two years ago (this year) James choose the night after the tea to propose.  It was very cold, very snowy, and I was not cooperating with James' plan to propose at the National Monuments...but fortunately I got the "yes" part right and we got to start our happily ever after.

Engagement Night at the National Tree, December 2008

Thankful

Oh, so much to be thankful for! Most definitely a wonderful few days with my family in my homeland (Texas).  I wish that I could say "time" was something I was thankful for, but unfortunately it hasn't been much in abundance this year.  Hence a very delayed post...

Last week, Thanksgiving week, I spent the first few days down in Mexico City for a client meeting.  I certainly had some apprehension, based on all the news reports and the fact that my Firm requested a thousand details so they could track my whereabouts south of the border.  I'm surprised they didn't request me to update my Life Insurance policy when I made my flight!  However, I had a wonderful, SAFE trip and it was quite an enjoyable few days with the Mexican team. Depending on whether or not my blog is ever pulled when I decide to run for office, I may or may not have stopped in the Mexico duty free for some cigars. Something special for James and my uncle.

I flew straight from Mexico to Houston (meeting up with James), where some of the Kerrs were gathering for the big turkey day.   We had a really wonderful Thanksgiving, complete with a fried turkey, cornbread dressing, and other really yummy sides.  I was sad that not all of the fam could be there, as they sure missed a lot of fun, laughs, and a mean game of Mexican Train dominoes.

Carey was thankful no one was watching the bird

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Kelly, cracking up with his new bro-in-law

My dad came up with a great idea of spending the weekend in Galveston, a city I haven't visited in years and wanted to check up on after the latest storm, Ike.  Prior to heading out to Galveston, we had a quick coffee with our good friends Adam and Dianne, who were home for a quick visit in the States before returning to their Foreign Service post in Cairo (and soon Iraq!)   From there, we arrived on the blustery cold island, and the day consisted of walking along the water, eating our weight in fried shrimp, and shopping along the strand.  I found some precious Christmas decorations that were a perfect addition the collection (upcoming decorating post soon!!) 

James and I started Saturday with a run along the seawall, and then a walking tour with my parents to find all 19 of the tree sculptures that have been carved into damaged trees (from Ike) in the historic district.  This is quite the popular tour (albeit an unofficial tour) in Galveston, and it was somewhat inspiring - creating art from devastation.  Tree Sculptures in Galveston

After we found 17 out of the 19, we spent the rest of the day eating oysters and gumbo and smoking some cigars with my extended family (aunts and uncles - all three of the Kerr brothers together) around the strand.  Lots of art galleries, too!  Oh, and a visit to a Mexican bakery that I remembered as a child - it had the biggest gingerbread pigs (yes, pigs) I could remember!  It brought back lovely memories, although the pigs were not as big as I remembered (only they tasted as wonderful!) 

Such a wonderful weekend with a wonderful family - the first of many Thanksgivings that James experienced with the Kerrs.  A wonderful reminder in our busy, crazy lives of what we're truly thankful for.