Happy New Year!

I wrote 2007 for the first time yesterday. It was weird to say the least. When I think about the fact that I graduated from college almost 7 years ago and from high school almost 12 years ago (yes, I was on the 5 year plan in college!), it blows my mind! Not to mention that I'm gonna turn 30 this year -OMG! I'll come back to the new year in a bit.

Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? I suppose we got caught up in the holiday rush!

We had a really nice Christmas. Dave and I opened our gifts for each other on Saturday the 23rd. We knew we'd be out of town for Christmas Eve and Christmas day and we were too excited to wait that long. We both got all the things we asked for.

Christmas Eve we decided to go to Mom's home town to spend the night with my aunt and uncle and cousins. Every year they have a Christmas Eve program at the church that Mom grew up in. The program starts at 11:00 pm and lasts until midnight. My uncle directs the program and Mom always sings in the choir and usually sings a solo as well. I didn't know she was singing a solo this year, but she did a beautiful job as always. As soon as the last song ends the congregation sits in silence as the church bells ring to let everyone know that it's Christmas day. What a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas.

Christmas morning we all gathered in the living room at my aunt and uncle's house to open gifts. We go around and take turns opening gifts while everyone watches so we see what each person gets. Shortly after we opened gifts Dave and I left to go to Granny and Grandpa's house to celebrate Christmas with Dave's family. We had a really good time visiting with all the family. That night we headed back to Columbia to check on the kitties and the puppies. They were pretty excited to see us. We opened their stockings when we got home. They got some special treats including cat nip and grass for the kitties and special toys and bones for the dogs.

New Year's Eve we decided to stay off the roads and spend a quiet night watching movies and relaxing. No complaints here. I always found New Year's Eve to be rather anticlimactic anyhow. And we had to make sure we were ready for New Year's Day dinner. My dad's side of the family all gather on New Year's for ribs, Hoppin' John, and collards with dumplings. Yum! The family has gotten soooo big. I don't even know how many kids were there. But we had a great time listening to stories and laughing at everyone.

Highlights for my time off from work: great food (I made fondue for the first time - yummy! We also had fabulous shrimp and grits.), seeing family, spending uninterrupted time with Dave, and watching good movies (A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger - oldies but goodies).

Again, we fell down on the task of taking photos for the holidays. Maybe that should be one of my resolutions this year. I hope everyone has gotten off to a great start in 2007!