OUR STORY: 'Tis the Season

Pardon me for not vacuming before I took this.

The title of this post has been my "personal motto" these past couple of weeks.

Every time I have consumed more sugar than you can shake a stick at... I reassure my ~~marathon-training~~ self: 'Tis the season.

When I simply just want to lay around {in most likely a sugar-induced coma}... I sigh and say, "'Tis the season..."

While opening gifts... of course I'm excited "tis the season!

Simply having an excuse to spend time with extended family makes me so thankful for this season.

I am a family (wo)man in every sense of the word... And I love this time of year because it gives us all an excuse to get together, eat, relax, catch up, laugh, ~~open presents~~, you name it... I am blessed to have a total of six grandparents and ten cousins that I love and have so many memories with.

Two weekends ago we spent the day in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with my Dad's side of the family. Unfortunately Dad was on call that weekend and couldn't make it. He was performing a total hip replacement while we ate dinner. We missed him and all but we had ourselves a really good time. The food was divine and the company even more so.

{Just for kicks, please note ~~Julie~~ who is sitting at the head of the table. You know, the one that everyone is listening to.}

Anytime we have a family gathering here in the South, lots and lots of food is involved. And I love it.

We snacked on crackers and dip, fruit and dip, lemon bars, oreo balls, and cheese straws that we hardly had room for our delicious dinner and dessert. It's ok though, we made room.

Grandmomma's fudge... {it's hard enough to chew on yet it melts in your mouth... it's perfection and only Grandmomma makes it this way.}

and divinity... they are these heavenly little clouds that melt in your mouth and no other divinity compares to hers.

Why does everything taste so much better when you're grandmother puts her special touch on it?

The food was almost as good as the fellowship.

Moving onto another side of my family... the one I married into!

We had the Weatherford-Carter christmas last weekend as we do every year, and fun was had by all!

Mrs. Vickie had decked the halls to a T!

We made Christmas cookies...

while Stan {the Man} - as I call him! serenaded us with Christmas music.

Remember those sugar-induced comas?

We opened presents and well... I think pictures are worth more than a thousand words!!!!!

Oh yes... yes she did. I think I eventually had to pick my jaw up off the floor... eventually. I am currently blogging on it right now and it is my baby!! I could not BELIEVE the generosity... well, yes I could. That's just Mrs. Vickie for you... and it's not so much the financial side of the gifts but the thought behind it.

And thankfully Aunt Sue was there to help me set it up since I can be kind of technologically challenged and she's a whiz!