Holiday Recap : )

This has been one of my most favorite Christmas's of all time. I knew it would be. When I turned 24 this past October I told everyone that I just felt like it was going to be a good age to be. Don't worry..i'm sure I'll be freaking out come 25. Another favorite age for me was 17..I don't know why but it was just a good age to be. I was old enough to drive and be on my own but I didn't really have any real responsibilities. I think it was more about the anticipation of what the next few years had in store for me. I knew everything was about to change, I would be going to college and everything was so up in the air and exciting. I think that's why I've been so excited about being 24..I have another one of those feelings. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next year or so but I just feel like some big changes are going to be happening and that makes me excited. I couldn't be happier right now in my life...I am completely surrounded by the people who love me, I've found it really is possible to do something you love for a living, and God continues to amaze me every day.

So, without further ado..12 of my favorite things about Christmas this year...and a nice collage to illustrate!

12. Seeing Holland White!

11. Heather calling Holland's haystacks.. "hay-patties"

10. John carrying Mary Michael out to the car after she fell asleep during our church's Christmas Eve service.

9. G R A N D M A.

8. Mom's excitement over her motorized pool lounge..ha

7. John & Kate's version of the "12 Days of Christmas"

6. Finding pictures of Brody & MaryBeth on my camera

5. Dad & Oliver pictures

4. Kate's pin-up poses

3. Aunt Sue's pin-up poses

2. John looking like a ninja

and my number one most FAVORITE thing about Christmas this year....

Yep...that's right....Celine Dion...next time you see John out and about tell him just how awesome he is ; )

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cherub Choir

Last Sunday the Cherub Choir performed for the Christmas Service and I thought I'd share a few pictures..

Little Miss Anna Preslee was stylin' in her little green dress!

had to get a picture of my dad..

Merry Christmas!

Kathryn & Lacy

I've known her since she was a baby. When she was two years old and I became her babysitter she would fall asleep on my stomach on the couch after a long night of bubble baths and running circles around her house. We've been all over Disney World together, rode down her dirt path with her sitting out my sunroof singing at the top of our lungs. I have so much love for this girl it's not even funny. The cool thing is that I still get to spend time with her even though she's grown too old for a babysitter. This year for Christmas she wanted to make a calendar of she and her horse Lacy to give to her family. It's been a fun project to work on so I thought I would share it on here.

Love

She is the cornerstone of our family

the best cook known to man

a warm lap

always, always a kind word

she hates to have her picture taken

but I think she's the most beautiful woman

in the world.

Dear Harry

You're right. This does take the cake for worst movie ever. At least the car was cool.

Love..Bessie

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Friday afternoon John and I loaded up Betsy (my honda accord that's rapidly nearing the end of her life span-dad spends way too much money, thanks dad, on her-and I just found out i'm 2 months behind on my inspection..oops, BUT she still gets great gas mileage so I keep driving her) and headed to Charlotte for Operation Christmas Child with the Surles family. Operation Christmas Child is a mission of Samaritan's Purse where each year they collect Christmas boxes for children overseas. Charlotte is host to the huge collection and distribution center and here people come and volunteer sorting and packing boxes. Since 1993, over 61 million shoe boxes have been distributed. After a quick training session they sent us out to the huge assembly lines and we started our task of unpacking, inspecting, stuffing, taping, and repacking boxes. I have to say, although an assembly line career isn't one I dream of, it definately is a pretty stress free job as you are doing the exact task every.single.time. And they played Christmas music over the loud speaker..so it seemed more like Santa's workshop than it did work. On top of that I got to see some of my dad's side of the family that I haven't seen since I was "this tall". The special treat was seeing my cousin Leanna, whom I absolutely adore!

Leanna

her oldest son, Joshua

pay attention to the speaker, sir! : )

we stopped packing to pray over the boxes

John's job was "repacking" the boxes by age & gender..he said it was like a big game of tetris because you had to get at least 14 boxes in each bigger box and they were all different sizes..

how many engineers and baseball players does it take to pack a box?..(3)

sweet kate...she was a "taper"

.my family.

"no, you can't take the box home!"

free t-shirts..always a plus

(i'm also testing a new action for photoshop I just downloaded..I kinda like it)

the whole group

What a fun Saturday! After lunch we went back to Matt's for a quick nap then John and I had dinner with Jill & her (recently acquired) fiance! I finally got to see the bling...I think I actually stopped Jill in mid-sentence when she waved her hand in front of me...and just snatched it right off her little finger..haha..sorry Jill! But great job Daniel! : )

After dinner John and I headed to the movies...he had really been wanting to see "Role Models"...but I had already seen it so naturally I convince him that we really needed to see that new movie "Australia" with Nicole Kidman & Hugh Jackman instead..and he's such a sweetheart that of course he gave in....well.....3-hours-later we finally get out of the theatre...John's just smiling and shaking his head and i'm thinking "i'm never gonna live this one down" (we have this long-running inside joke about who picks the worst movies...he does, by far)..and we get to the car only to find it unlocked. Unlocked...for three hours on a Saturday night in Charlotte at a very crowded mall....with...drum roll please....my camera bag with ALL my equipment sitting very pretty in the backseat. Let's just say I think I get at least 5 "bad movie passes" for that one and man oh man, how thankful I am for you Betsy...in all your rustiness..no one would ever think to look in your back seat for anything of value. Whew.

Holiday with the Herrings

The day after Thanksgiving I headed over to my friend Brittany's house to get some pictures of her family for Christmas. We found a really cool location right down the road and with such an attractive family we got some really great shots!

Thomas was a good sport & literally s.q.u.e.e.z.e.d into his shiny blue racing car in front of the tree!

the boys..

and the girls..

and Sophie!

Thank you guys! : )