holidaze

The past couple of weeks have been quite a whirlwind! I did a couple of intense weeks of holiday orders, then went to Auburn, the lake, Dothan, and back to Auburn before returning home to Birmingham. I wouldn't have had it any other way! Some pictures, shall we? (warning, there are tons)

I usually take a ton of pictures when my niecey pup comes to visit, but this is pretty much the only one I got. My sister came in town to be my assistant while I filled orders, and it was SUCH A HUGE HELP. I seriously would've been pulling my hair out if she hadn't been here. She addressed envelopes, packaged up string art, went to the post office, and ran errands while I hammered and painted all the live long day. On top of all that, she made me dinner and fixed me lunch! THANKS, SISSY! 

Possum somehow got "stuck" under the table and whined because she couldn't figure out how to get out. Poor pup pup.

I went to Auburn for the End of the World/the end of the Mayan calendar/just a regular day. I had a fear that I would be alone at my house in Birmingham and all the power would go out and my car wouldn't crank and I'd be SOL, so to Auburn I went. I do realize I'm a lunatic and these are the things that happen in movies, but WHAT IF, YALL?! That's all I kept thinking. 

Anywho, going to Auburn wasn't completely out of the way, because Binky and I went to the lake for my dad's side of the family Christmas on Saturday morning. There was tons of food, and we ate ourselves silly. Then we had to rush back to Auburn to scoop up the dogs before headed to Dothan for Christmas with mom's side of the family! We met at my Aunt Robin's house for a little get together, then Sunday was what I refer to as Big Family Christmas. 

This happened:

Lots of it.

Terrell and Binky helped to cook. And drink mimosas. 

Ashley and Neanie with the new great grand baby! 

Aww, I just love Neanie! 

Terrell and Andrea do as well! 

We constantly have dance parties. 

In addition to dance parties, we take tons of family photos. Here are all the grandkids minus cousin Jessica. 

Left to right: Austin, Hunter, (top to bottom) Brother, Andrea, Ashley, Stephanie, (back up top) Natalie, Neanie, baby Daegan, me, Terrell, Binky, Shelley, Dewey, and Carrie. 

"Everyone look the baby and say awwwww!"

"Now just the girls!"

"And boys! Come back now and get around Neanie!"

"OK, now the daughters!"

I think Neanie was getting bored at the point, so she started waving. 

Left to right: My ma Susan, Aunt Dale, Aunt Terri, Aunt Carol, and Aunt Robin.

All the aunts smiling, and Neanie still waving..

"OK, everyone get yer head around Neanie."

And she wonders why I'm always in front at karaoke.. I get it from you, ma! 

ARE WE DONE YET?! is the look I'm getting from Neanie here. 

Aw wee! 

After picture taking, and food preparing, it was finally time to eat! FINALLY! We did the prayer circle around the kitchen..

We looped all the way around to the breakfast nook..

And back aroun..oh hey there, Binkster! I believe we were waiting on a couple more people to get in to the kitchen, so she took the opportunity to hydrate. 

Brother and ma. He graduates this year! I'm pulling for him to come to Auburn.. I'm not sure if it's going to happen, but I'll keep my fingers crossed until he decides. 

I got made fun of due to the fact that my plate was full of only beige food. I really need to broaden my food horizons..

Of course I was at the kid's table, but after we all finished, we migrated into the dining room with the adults..

where we broke out some embarrassing photos..

MOM'S GLAMOUR SHOTS!!!! HAHAHAHA

Binky chose to model pose like mom. HILARIOUS!

Of course she wasn't spared. Someone found her elementary school (4th grade, i think?) picture. 

Then we headed to the den to open gifts! For some reason (wine?), I started writing Home Alone quotes on post its after I numbered off the pieces of paper for Dirty Santa. Then my cousin passed them out, so I continued until everyone got one.

You're welcome Hunter!

Andrea doubled up.

Binky and Terrell enjoyed them too. 

Yep, Aunt Robin and Uncle Clyde wore them as well!

In our family, once you graduate high school, you start to play Dirty Santa. It's always tons of fun!

Aunt Terri passed out TicTacs to everyone. We promptly made them into noise makers and shook them whenever anyone did anything worth celebrating. Whenever someone opened a gift.. whenever a gift was stolen.. whenever someone brought another bottle of wine into the room (that was a real crown pleaser). 

Cousins!

Some of the quotes that were left behind.

The next day was Christmas Eve. Poor Neanie fell and broke her wrist, so she couldn't spend the annual Christmas Eve night with us like she usually does. Binky ended up staying with her at her place, so Christmas morning was a bit different than years past. We still had tons of fun though! 

Santa brought us these reusable ponchos for game day.. I think we look like traffic cones. 

The wingspan on these babies was 6 foot. They're also insulated so I felt like a warm baked potato after just a few minutes!

Who wants to sit next to me in the stadium?! I'm sure I could fit you in there with me!

My mom got a hold of my camera and took about 27 pictures of us in them. Perhaps we can use one for a Christmas card next year..

I stayed in Dothan a little longer than planned to help take care of Neanie and her broken wrist. She ended up having to have surgery the day after Christmas, so we all helped out with her at the hospital. I was glad I stayed, obviously to help with the Neanster, but I also got to go to my cousin's high school basketball game and hung out with friends. 

Next up was New Year's! We had people over to the house for a small get together. Here's Katie making the ever famous pizza dip.

Bradley, Drew, and Brittany

Colby came in town!

Murray, Binky, and Hudson

Aw wee!

I made a sparkler bowl for midnight! 

We had quite the spread of yumminess. 

How you doin'?!

Everybody hanging out watching football. 

Dothan Law Schoolers! 

This little montage was so hilarious to me! 

I don't know what that was, but I thought it was funny.

What what?

CuTeSt CoUpLe AwArD!

Kissthes! 

Aw wee! 

Hahaha!

I put the camera away before midnight, but we all did the big midnight countdown together. I had tons of fun and can't wait to do it again! I love hosting parties! 

Ahh, 2013, I think you're gonna be a good un!

(Did anyone make it all the way through this post? I'll give you a candy cane if so. 

Glen Coco gets four.. and none for Gretchen Weiner.)