Christmas is almost here!

Well, let me give all my loyal and patient readers a quick recap of this CRAZY BUSY holiday season! Let's begin with the pictures of the rehearsal dinner I coordinated and decorated for this past week...Jeremy Richey and Amy Woodhouse's. Cynthia, Jeremy's mom, asked for my help several months ago and told me she wanted a theme! I chose Winter Wonderland and began telling her bits and pieces to pick up while I was in school and couldn't be here with her. She did a great job on picking out exactly what we needed to make this party a success! When I got home, she took off work for a week to be there to help me with whatever I needed (to Randy's dismay I'm sure - the store just isn't the same without her!) Anyway, we went to work last week and finally completed the chapel of FBC for guests to arrive. I think Cynthia was very pleased with the way everything turned out and I KNOW it was an emotional and happy night for all involved! My passion and ambition is to own my own boutique and plan events so this was a great first party to plan! The people were fantastic and so pleasant to work with...and yes, I will be calling on those same people when it is Lee and my turn! Here's just a few pictures to give you an idea of what the decorations were like. The pictures were taken during daylight so the ambiance is a little off, but use your imagination to insert moonlight and food!

A view from the stairs

The entrance...later the candles were lit and the windows were glowing!

The staircase

The glowing windows with a bit of snow

The food table...before the food arrived

The ice trees...made with antique chandelier crystals and lit homemade trees

The bar tables for those wishing to hang around the food

The door markers

My proudest item...I turned my least favorite part of the room into my favorite piece!

Where the carols would soon be played

The head table...from a terrible angle on my part!

Next, let's talk about the fact that Lee and I graduated!!! YAY! Me for the second time and FINAL time, and Lee for the first time and hopefully not the last (dental school)! To celebrate the occasion, Rhonda asked our families to dinner at Ruth's Chris in Memphis! We were so excited awaiting the amazing steaks and a fancy atmosphere. The night finally came and we loaded up in two vehicles and went to Memphis. The dinner was, as always, spectacular and the company was so fun and comfortable! We talked and laughed and celebrated for a while and several ate dessert while others drank coffee. We were finally run out for staying so long (not really) and headed home feeling older and happier and all that much closer to being married! Here are just a couple shots from the evening:

Lee and I by the fireplace (my favorite spot of the evening of course)

The whole crew (Sissy, Rhonda, me, Lee, Daddy, MawMaw, Mama, Dustin, and Mimi)

Thanks, Sissy, Rhonda, and Daddy for picking up the tickets!! :)

Now, for the last item of business on today's agenda: Lee and I becoming one family at Christmas time! So,...you think our fireplace is filled with stockings now? Just wait - MawMaw and Mama surprised us with a brand new addition to the mantle this year...Lee's stocking. Our family has had these stockings from generation to generation since my grandmother was young. Each addition to the family gets a past member of the family's stocking with the name re-done. Well, Lee got PawPaw's. That was so special to me in so many ways! These stockings are so sentimental and mean so much to our family and now Lee is sharing in that family tradition. Don't get too excited - it isn't UP yet....since he isn't an official family member yet and Russ wasn't initiated until the first Christmas he was married to my sister. BUT, Santa does bring goodies in it and all...he just finds it in a chair next to the fireplace!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one Christmas, Rhonda texted us the other night with this picture:

She had gotten her housekeeper to make homemade stockings with our names monogrammed on them! They are super cute and SO RHONDA! She has already hung them right next to Coco and Izzy's stockings (the puppies) at her Jackson home and I can't wait to see them this week!

The transition year on sharing our traditions has begun! We will be spending the 23rd with Fred at his new house in Pickwick, followed by an afternoon of Christmas cheer on the 24th with the Tull family at Mr. Sam and Mrs. Barbara's house in Corinth. We will then enjoy the Christmas Eve service at church as always and head back to the Tull's for some more fellowship. Then, we will continue our tradition of opening gifts at my house with the family (Daddy, Mama, Megan, Russ, me, Dustin, MawMaw, Rhonda, and Lee)! After that, it's goodbye for me and Lee until Christmas day (until next year anyway). We wake up and do our separate Santa's then it's back together for a day of fun at Rhonda's with the Vanderford side of the family. My family will be traveling to Jackson, MS as always and it will be my first year to miss that...bittersweet but SO exciting! Lee and I actually took a trip down to Jackson just to see everyone and let them know I wouldn't be there this year. Yay for new traditions and exciting new beginnings! Can't wait for 2010!!

I'll update again today or tomorrow with pictures of what our family has been up to this Christmas...too much to swallow in one post, I promise!