Two Special Birthdays

Ring Christmas bells, merrily ring

Tell all the world, Jesus is King.

Loudly proclaim, with one accord,

The happy tale, welcome the Lord!

Come, all ye people join in the singing

Retell the story told by the ringing.

Merry, Merry Merry Merry Christmas!

And Happy Birthday to my Dad!

I hope you had a wonderful Birthday, full of memories!

We love you Dad!

If the Fates Allow

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,

Let your hearts be light.

From now on our troubles will be out of sight. 

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the yuletide gay.

From now on our troubles will be miles away.

Here we are as in olden days,

Happy Golden days, once more.

Faithful friends who are dear to us,

Gather near to us, once more!

Through the years we all will be together

If the fates allow.

Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow.

So have yourself a Merry Little Christmas Now!

Merry Christmas Eve, and Happy Birthday to my wonderful Dad!

Santa, Round Two

So we tried Santa one more time, at a neighborhood party of a friends.

Seeing as this experience would be more intimate than Bass Pro Shops, we had high hopes.  

And guess what?  He didn't scream bloody murder!  (at least not after the first try)

and even sat in the big man's lap for a hot minute.

It makes a big difference when you have all the time in the world to talk to him, check him out, and finally, after much coaxing, decide you will in fact, "give Ho Ho a hug."

Can't wait to see what he brings to our house tomorrow night! 

Lunch Date

The fam celebrated a Christmas lunch at Grandmama's apartment last Sunday.

Most of that side of the family was able to attend, and enjoy each other's company and some really yummy ice cream.  

There was an empty chair, but these five decided to snuggle.

This is my mom and her mother.  

The view from Raughley's perspective

It was so nice being together and look forward to seeing them all again!

In Which Raughley visits Santa and has a panic attack.

You've all heard the tale.  

Baby visits Santa, Baby screams in Santa's lap,

repeat. (until Santa probably goes home and has a BIG cocktail) 

Why I though my little man would be different I do not know. 

We talked about "ho ho", we pointed to him, ooed and aaahd at the reindeer, even went to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops to make the visit less stressful than say, the Galleria.

Some wonderful old man even gave us his "Bass Pass" which let us to the front of the line.  All signs were pointing to a positive Clause experience.  

He pointed at Santa and ho ho'd, and I got my camera ready.  It was time...

For the drama

The torture!

The "why did you do this to me mom and dad?" 

But then we found the crayons and all was made better.  Maybe next year Santa will not be such a torturous experience!

Holiday Cocktails!

The Morris-Walker-Byrd Bunch invaded the Gorrie's home for a Holiday Engagement Soiree for William and Frances Ellen this past weekend. 

And when I say invaded, I mean took over!

Both the Bride and the Groom have big families (and really close friends who are as good as family), and everyone was so excited to get together and celebrate the happy couple. 

It was a pretty dressy function, and it was fun to see the men put a festive twist on the dress code with fun Christmas ties. 

And the ladies were decked out in their Holiday finest as well!

With only two weeks to go until the big day, there was plenty to discuss and get excited about.  

Such as rehearsal dinner toasts, getaway cars, honeymoon plans, and of course... Bowl Games!

I finally got to wear my winter white dress, which made me feel a bit like Jackie-O :)

It was fun to visit with out of town relatives,

and hear what little we could about the bachelor party in Peridido!

The Bride and the Groom looked so happy!

(And super sexy too)

And then came the obligatory fam shots by the Christmas tree.

Ginny and Bubba (above)

 Mom and Dad (below)

Below: Frances Ellen's fam, minus the three stepsisters.  

Then, as things are just beginning to slow down, we notice a few people are missing from the group, notably all men.  We soon found them playing golf in the basement...

Quite a way to end a great night!

The culprits.