Christmas in Dixie, Part Une

The first Christmas celebration that we had this year was in Dothan.We are so lucky to have so many family and friends there that are special to us!!! On Christmas Eve, we got to see Fran, Phillip, and sweet Lucy. Lucy has gotten so big! I can't believe that she will be one soon.

Lucy and her Dad Phillip showed us their amazing feats of strength.

Then we went to Grammy and Grampy's house where Margaret Anne got to play piano with her uncle Jordan.

And Margaret Anne really liked hanging out with Grampy, Grammy, Max, Chipper, and Sparky. She also got a cool new musical toy with a real microphone!

On Christmas morning, Margaret Anne was ready to see what Santa brought for her. But first, Nonna needed a cup of coffee.

What are we waiting for??

The first present...

I think she likes it!

And Santa knows how much she loves Blue!

Look at this precious stocking from Nonna! Santa put lots of goodies inside.

We were so very blessed this Christmas! After we had a bath...

And we all, including Nonna :), had our coffee and got ready...

We went to see this very special family, who we love so much!

And Margaret Anne loved seeing Mama Jo!

Daddy got a SUPER cool shirt from Santa.

Thank you for having us uncle Alan.

And aunt Sandi!

We love you so much.

We were so very blessed this year. We are so thankful that God sent his son Jesus to earth to be born and show His grace. We know that this time is not really ours but His, and we are so very thankful to be allowed this time together to see each other and know how much we are LOVED. What a wonderful way for God to show how much He loves us!

I hope all of you had a very special Christmas too.

Merry Christmas to all!

We have had a VERY blessed Christmas! I will post lots of pictures after I get them uploaded tomorrow. I hope you all have had a very happy holiday.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have been making the most of our time off!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Last weekend

Last weekend a few of us threw a little ornament shower/cookie swap for my friend Corrie. I love these girls! Corrie introduced me to Hays, and she, Jessica, and Loren were my roommates my last year at Auburn. It is so much fun getting together with these girls and everytime we get together it is like no time has passed. Corrie is getting married to Benjamin in April and I could not be happier for them.

My sweet friends!

Loren, Me, Corrie, Jessica

While I was gone to Atlanta for the ornament shower, Hays took Margaret Anne to sweet Bentley's 2nd birthday party at Gymboree. He is such a good daddy to brave that by himself, but he said she was fantastic and she loved it!

Daddy and Daughter (precious outfit courtesy of Alyson, of course!)

Christmas Card

This was my first year to do Christmas cards. I hope you like it! I have sent most of them out, but I am waiting on just a few more addresses, so if you don't have yours yet it will hopefully get to you soon.

Merry Christmas to all of my blog readers!

All I want for Christmas...

Is NOT to be on Santa's lap! Pictures speak louder than words, so no need to tell you guys how MA felt about Santa this year. However, after some jumping up and down and silly noises, I got her to smile long enough for a cute picture. Notice she is holding a Goldfish cracker in her right hand. Yeah, after waiting in line for an hour right through her dinner time, we had to keep her happy somehow.

AND isn't it funny how different she looks from last year's Santa picture.

What a difference a year makes!

I still remember you...

Every year since his death, I find myself very teary around the time of his passing. I still want to call him and ask him questions that my students ask and I can't answer. I still long for that trip into the "real world," and I still look through my field notebook from my Field Biology of the Southern Appalachians trip. The last time I saw him, I told him that I had been looking through it, and he laughed and told me it was "dangerous." Miss you, G. Love and prayers to your family.

I don't know when he wrote this, but I love it.

LAMENT OF A FIELD BIOLOGIST

My former choice collecting spots

Are shopping center parking lots.

The meadow, once abuzz with bee

Is still now, thanks to DDT.

Shades of Rachel Carson,

Whatever will become of me

The glen where trilliums lolled in shade

And toadlets hopped, and chipmunks played,

In a watery grave has lain for years

Drowned by the Corps of Engineers.

My wild world is sinking fast,

Whatever will become of me

The marsh, a haunt of coots and rails,

Where Typha waved and wagged its tails,

Succumbed to an ignominious fate,

It's a cloverleaf on the interstate.

Nature heaves a dying breath,

Whatever will become of me

Clear birch‑edged stream with fauna rank,

With iris blue upon your bank,

Your poisoned pools I now scan,

My seine haul yields one Falstaff can.

Everything I love is gone,

Whatever will become of me

The fields are being, with great precision

Transformed into a subdivision,

The eagle falls, the lily dies,

And on the road a 'possum lies.

No doubt what will become of me,

Molecular Biology.

GEORGE W. FOLKERTS

Giveaway!!

My friend Susannah over at The Edwards Edition is giving away a $25 Target gift card in honor of her 100th post! Go leave a comment to win. Come on you guys, who doesn't want a Target gift card?

This Thanksgiving...

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Dothan to see lots and lots of family.  Being the genius that I am, I forgot my camera on the trip to Hays' parents house and wasn't able to capture some extremely precious moments of Margaret Anne with her Grampy playing in the yard.

Here is SOME of our time in pictures, narrated by Margaret Anne.

My Nonna walked me around the pool. I fell in love with going outside!

My pigtails were cute.

My Nonna showed me the roses. I didn't like the thorns, but I thought the flowers were really pretty.

I tried to love on Frankie, and he let me even though I am not sure he liked it a whole lot.

My GUT (great uncle Tim) liked to yell a lot and then fall asleep in the chair. He is SO funny!

My Uncle Alan read some. Chloe sure does like him. She runs from me. I wonder why?

Alan and I had some good talks.

My mom took a lot of pictures.

We had a lot of family there, and they are all very loved by me.

So very,

very LOVED.