It is so still Christmastime

I am not AT ALL ready for Christmas to be over this year! Usually I'm ready to get all the decorations put away and get ready for the new year. Well, I am SO not even there yet. However, it is a necessity to get all Christmas decor down and put up before the new year...at least that is what my family has always done. And yes I am one of those "stick to the old superstitions" kind of gals. So sadly tonight we have taken down almost all of our decorations. I requested that we leave up the tree (ornment-less but still lit) and a few choice favorite Christmas items (yummy-scented Ralph Lauren "Holiday" candle, Christmas music box thing, flickering candles in the windows, etc.). I have also continued to listen to Christmas music as often as I can. It is SO depressing that I can't just turn on the radio and hear it!! :-( This has just been the most happy and fun Christmas season. Cullen and I have had lots of time with family and lots of time with just each other - two of my favorite things! Plus being that it was our 2nd married Christmas we had some of the "well our family does it this way" "no I want to do it this way" issues out of the way and had found OUR own way of doing all things Christmas. Not to mention, having been faithful followers of the Dave Ramsey plan ("where cash is king and debt is dumb" - love that man!) for over a year, Christmas gift spending was not a huge stress and burden this year! ALL of the money for our Christmas gifts to everyone came out of our "Christmas" envelope, so there is no "what the heck is the credit card statement going to look like next month" feeling hanging over our heads. It's amazing what having "financial peace" can do for your marriage, your relationships with other people, and your own sanity! Ohhh but that's a whole 'nother post for another day!

Well, back to how sad I am that Christmas is over. Fortunately, I am pretty behind on blogging about all of the fun Christmas events that we have had this past month, so until I get caught up, I can keep convincing myself that Christmas really isn't over and I don't really have to think about getting back to work in the real/school world yet (what I need to do is another story)! Nothing wrong with a little self-deception. So I'll probably post a few more posts about Christmas events here in the next few days while I have (or am allowing myself to have) a little extra free time to do "me" things that I enjoy while I have the chance. Seriously though, can I just leave a Christmas tree up all year 'round? It makes me so happy.

On Sunday, Dec. 7, (after the disappointing loss at the SEC Championship game the day before), we headed to brunch with Santa with my side of the family after church. This was also the day we celebrated my dad's birthday which I had mentioned always gets wrapped in with Christmas festivities. The brunch was SO delish and of course the kids got to sit on Santa's lap for a quick photo op...and of course to tell him what was on their lists. Or at least Madelyne did. Bennett was just a little concerned about who the weird, hairy, red-suited guy was that he was being forced to sit with. Santa pictures always seem to be humorous with small children, and Bennett and Madelyne were not going to be the ones to break that tradition!

Although Madelyne wasn't scared of Santa at all, I don't think she liked that he was making her brother cry!

This was the closest we got to a "good" shot. :-) Bless his little heart! Of course we had just gotten the new camera so we were taking every opportunity to try it out on our beautiful subjects! This is one of my faves of little Benny-boo! Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?!?Love this one too!

one last shot of the whole family before we left

After eating the yummy brunch and visiting with Santa, we went back to my parents house to open presents and eat cake & ice cream for my dad's b'day.

Madeylne always loves to help blow out the candles! Happy Birthday Grandoc!

I just had to post this picture of my parents' dog, Barnsley, in his doggy PJs. Gainer has some too...just you wait! What a little love bug! Little Mozart :-)

After all the celebrating, my Aunt Daphney came to take the picture for my parents' Christmas card. It's amazing that she was able to actually get everyone looking in one direction at the same time! The actual card my mom had chosen to put the picture in (which is so uniquely made that I can't really scan a copy of it) was just adorable and thanks to Daphney, the picture turned out great too! Thanks, Daphney for all of your hard work making it just perfect! It looked a little something like this (yes those are all of everyone's pets in the ornaments at the bottom! neat, huh?):

So, that was one of the first of many fun-filled Christmasy days! I do believe this is truly my favorite time of year!!

Guess who is ONE?!

Note: This post is extremely delayed as his birthday was almost 2 weeks ago...Christmas busy-ness has kept me away from the computer.

How old are you Bennett??

Happy Birthday Bennett!!! I can't believe my little nephew is already a year old! It has been so fun to spend time with him and watch him grow throughout the year. He is doing so many things now and is becoming more and more of a "little boy" instead of a baby! He has been taking a few steps on his own for about a month now and took about 5 or so on his birthday. Recently (i.e. yesterday) he's taking more and is able to stop and start again without falling - but he still prefers crawling as his main mode of transportation.

He is also saying all kinds of words. He has had between 10-15 words (e.g. mama, dada, ball [bah], football [fuh-bah], light [liii], byebye...and others I can't think of right now) since he was about 9 months old? (Maybe a little sooner... I know dada was definitely sooner. I can't keep up with when he started saying the other ones.) He waves with his "byebye" now and it is just too cute! But he has recently started repeating more and more things that are said to him and I don't even know how many words he has in his repertoire. Two of my favorite new words that he says are thank you [tay-chu] (which he says at the appropriate time I might add!) and vacuum [va-COOM].

He also points at everything. Mostly any time he sees a ball - the boy loves balls. But he pretty much points at everything he thinks is interesting and wants us to see too - or when we ask him "where's the [ball, light, etc.]."

Here are some pictures from his birthday party!

Hmm, what's all this "birthday" business they keep talking about??

It's all about...

Cake (all for me??) with my familyBeing as messy as I want with my cake!Watching Mommy pretend my big sister is still a baby. Well, I've got news for her!Hanging out with my friend Caroline - and her mommyOpening way too many presents

Laughing at Uncle Cullen...always!

Giving my sister some extra love since I have gotten all the attention today!

Bennett is such a sweet little boy and has such a fun and happy personality. We love you SO much Bennett and have loved sharing every minute that we can with you! We can't wait to spend many more happy birthdays with you, sweet boy!

From our family to yours...

Wishing everyone a Christ-filled Christmas!!

Roll Tide anyway...

Alternately Titled: If I hear someone say "Tebow" one more time...

Well, we didn't win, but it was a really fun day and a great game! The Georgia dome is so nice, our seats were good, and we didn't have any trouble parking or finding where we were supposed to go! Honestly, I had said from the beginning of the day that if we lost I would not be TOO incredibly disappointed. I mean, really...this is our second year with a new coach. We were 12-0 in the regular season. 12-0! Perfect regular season! And we beat Auburn for the first time in 6 years. So really, we got more than we even could have expected this year already and winning the SEC Championship (or getting to go to the national championship) would have just been a bonus. The fact that we put up a really good fight today and kept Florida on their toes is enough to make me happy. You know, considering all that we have been through in the past 8 years and all (5 coaches in 8 years - seriously?!). So all in all, I'm really proud of our team. It has been a great year, and we still have one game left! Here are some of my favorite pics from the day. [Are you falling out of your chair right now as you realize that I am actually posting pictures on the same day of the event??]

Dad and Barnsley before we leftRiding the Marta in Atlanta

Arriving at the dome! Our seats were right in front of us when we walked into the stadium! They were right at the top of the lower level with very easy access to the concessions and bathrooms. :-) We got in right as the doors opened so not many people were in there yet. Cullen and me before the game

Mom & Dad before the game

The players warming up

Alabama and Florida's bands on the field before the game. So neat!

I know, I know...

I haven't even officially introduced our new kitty on the blog - and he's already made it to the new header!! That's what the end of a semester in grad school will do for you. But as of this afternoon, my finals are DONE!! Now I just have to catch up on everything else that I have gotten behind in... including blog updates.

I have plenty of things I need to post about. And plenty of sleep I need to be catching up on!! Buuuut, the past few hours I have been rather occupied experimenting with the new camera we got tonight! I just had to share some of the pics (some with our Christmas decor included - more to come!). Still have a lot to learn about it, but we L-O-V-E it so far!!!

These pictures were taken in our living room which is not extremely well-lit, and all of these were taken with no flash! I was so impressed. You go, Nikon.

How many Byingtons do you see in this one:

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Today is my Dad's birthday! Sometimes it gets mixed in with all of the other Christmas celebrations (i.e. we are going to "Breakfast with Santa" this weekend to celebrate his birthday!), but it is always a special day nonetheless! Because we haven't officially celebrated as a family yet, this is the only picture you get for now (which is actually from MY birthday in March, but it's a good one!), but I will post more after next weekend.

Happy birthday Dad!! Thank you for all of the long hours you have spent working at your "real" job and the many more you have spent doing your "home" job to make sure that our family was provided for in every way - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. You have taught me so much and I am so thankful for the strong, kind, patient, and loving role model that you have been to me. I am so blessed!