Saturday, January 22, 2011

Christmas

We had another wonderful Christmas celebration this year.
We started off at Alan's Aunt and Uncle's House for our Christmas Eve festivities:


Chase was shocked at how much fun he had!

Chase and Auntie Megan.

 Cousin Tanyon.

Cousins Kristin, Jessica, and Tanyon.

Alan, Jackson's back, and I.


Jackson and Tanyon playing a HUGE game of  Hungry Hippo.

  That night we headed to Alan's Granny's house where we spent the night and woke up the next morning to a homemade southern breakfast (biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs, etc.) and opening more presents.

Jackson was VERY excited for presents.

Waiting patiently...

Chase is quite possibly the only baby I know who LIKES getting clothes. He tries them on right away.


Granny and Debbie (Nana)- two generations of sweet ladies. =)
Nana and Papa helping Jackson open his BATCAVE!

Debbie opening a present.

Sweet brothers.

LOVE Chase's face.
Then that night we left for my mom and dad's house because it was snowing pretty heavily and only expected to snow more. We drove through the snow and it was a beautiful white Christmas. We arrived at Mom and Dad's around midnight. We celebrated Christmas the next morning with the WHOLE family: Mom, Dad, Anne (aaand baby #2 who is due in May if you want to get technical), Danny, Luke, Liz, Matt, Becky, Alan, Jackson, Chase, and I. We didn't get any pics of the whole family but I anticipate quite a few of those in June for Liz's wedding.



Anne, Beck, and Luke

My Mom and Chasey.

First engaged Christmas.

Anne and Lukey.

The cousins!

Storytime.


Gigi and Buzz Lightyear.

Gpa and Chase.



Chase working on his toolbench.

Just hanging out.
This wasn't technically on Christmas. It was the Sunday before Christmas at church. Jackson was an angel in the Christmas musical and Aunt Boo came to see him.





They love each other. =)

It was a wonderful Christmas. The older I get, the easier it has become for me to love Christmas. I know a lot of people don't feel that way, but I do. It has truly become a celebration of Jesus' birth for me. I am thrilled by the songs celebrating His birth that I hear in all the public venues during the holidays. I love that people actually DO the things that Jesus told us to do- like helping the poor (Salvation Army, Angel Tree, The Rescue Mission, etc.). I love that people tend to smile more and that there is a magic everywhere that people can't quite put their finger on. It's Jesus. He permeates the holiday season and brings a joy that those who don't know Him are drawn to. They know there is something special, something better than the everyday lives they know, but they often buy into the materialistic lies that the world tries to sell. I enjoy presents. This year we got an amazing new dining room table to enjoy family meals around! Our old one was a wobbly, old kitchen table that we've had for 8 years (since we got married) and that my parent's used for many years before that. But presents are not what it's about. I loved looking around at my family during Christmas. I loved seeing the joy written on their faces as we spent time together, as we laughed together, shared happy hour together, as we watched the little ones laughing together. We have been blessed and we know every good thing comes from God. Like Christmas.

Tacky Sweater Party...

This year I hosted my first annual Tacky Sweater Christmas Party. I had around 30 lovely ladies who were able to come and it lasted until 2:30 in the morning- can you say, success!?
Here are a few pics from that night:

The trophy and voting booth.

I love Christmas!


My amazing mom who came down to help with the party and drove 4 hours down and 4 hours back in less than one day because she's SUPERMOM!








DIRTY Santa exchange. Some dirtier than others.


JULIE WAS THE WINNER! She had Baby Marley a couple weeks later- such a rockstar for being out and partying that close to her due date!

The four with the highest votes for tackiest.

CHEERS!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Thanksgiving...

Hi. My name is Sarah and I blog...once every three months or so that is. =)
Thanksgiving was at my parents' house this year and it was lovely (as always).
This year we had two new attendees:

Matt Wilkins, my sister's fiancee. It feels like he's been part of the family for quite awhile and we're all very excited to have him for many more Thanksgivings to come. =)

Matt and Liz


...And Stophy. Or Chris McCaffery, as those who haven't known him since he was a baby call him. He is our cousin and we all agreed that we wish we could just keep him for every holiday. Especially Jackson. Jackson was very impressed by Stoph's abilities to rake huge piles of leaves and then to hide in them, as well as his sword fighting. He was pretty devastated to learn that Stoph would not be coming to Christmas.

 
Stoph and I.
This is the table. We had a gazillion people this year. I don't remember the exact number, but a lot. Becky and I set the table, but really we just put things where mom tells us to. Mom can out Martha Stewart Martha Stewart on Thanksgiving any year.


Seeee?



The Beautiful Pierson Family: Danny, Anne, and my precious nephew, Luke.
 

Stoph and Becky played football. Or at least did a great job of faking it for this photo.



Dad made and then carved the turkey. He looked a little scary...uh, intense.
Oh, hey to my ADORABLE mom and baby Chase.
Jackson, Chase, and Gigi.
Post dinner we had a rousing game of spoons. Just like the Murphy reunions of ole.
Mom was pretty excited about her win!
My baby sister and I. Cheers.




Dad taking a pic from outside.

Ending the night with sparklers and fireworks! Naturally. =)

2010 was a year that was easy to be thankful for. God has given us so very much and it's hard to imagine wanting anything more.