Christmas with Kevin

Kevin and I celebrated Christmas on Sunday when I got back from Maryland. He gave me these gorgeous Yurman earrings. Unfortunately they are very similar to some my parents gave me for my birthday a couple years ago. So....we took them back. Kevin wanted me to get something that I would wear a lot.....but aren't these gorgeous?!!!! He has good taste!

So we went to Morrison Smith in the Myers Park area of Charlotte last night. Look at these citrine earrings!!! SOOOO pretty and I can wear them all the time!

Annnnnnnd....he told me to get this pair too....green pearls!!!! Oh my goodness, so pretty! I'm wearing them today!

Then we went to Cajun Queen for dinner. Yum! It was a great night!!!

Christmas

Dad got a popcorn maker for Christmas....hahahahaha....

And some amazing NC State gear. No he isn't going to play for the basketball team, we couldn't find any shorter shorts - ANYWHERE. Any good ideas on where to find some shorter ones for him to lounge around in after a shower?

As always, we had an amazingly blessed Christmas. My parents always go crazy!!! Some highlights were a pearl bracelet (inch pearl, inch pearl), monogrammed 16oz. tervis tumblers, J. Crew, cooking tools, cast iron skillet, pots/pans (going to pick these up in Charlotte) and some warm slippers!

Mom got lots of accessories from Nordstrom - scarf, wrap, belt, spanx, gloves, and a fancy Kate Spade purse. She had been looking for a purse for almost two years so we snagged the one she saw when she was in Charlotte for Thanksgiving! When you find a good one, you have to get it!!! Yall know how that is!

Christmas Eve

This is my parent's tree on Christmas Eve - so pretty. I love our house at Christmas. Mom always does a beautiful job at getting everything just perfect! Of course I'm a bit biased, but I think our house is the prettiest! ;)
Mom sent out a letter to the neighborhood this year about luminaires and most of the neighborhood took part. Do you all do these in other parts of the country? They are so pretty if everyone makes them. All it is are paper lunch bags with the tops folded down about an inch with some sand in the bottom and a votive candle. So pretty to drive around Christmas Eve and look at the houses and have the streets lined in these!

My brother and I have a tradition of always catching one on fire....

We headed to church for the 10:30pm service. It was gorgeous as usual with a great message and music!

Later today or tomorrow, I'll post some pictures from Christmas. As always Santa and my parents went above and beyond!

As this post comes up, I will have just landed in Charlotte. My flight leaves at 5:15am and I'll be back in Charlotte two hours later! Sad to leave home but glad to see Kevin and Charlotte friends!!!

Nuss and Ash!

I know, I'm running a couple days late but I'm trying to post about one day at a time!

On Thursday I got to visit Nuss, my favorite teacher growing up. She taught us 12th grade English. It was SO great to see her - she was such an amazing role model to us at that age and I will always treasure her as a past teacher and most importantly as a friend. One of my best friends growing up (and still) also visited her at the same time and the three of us had the best time catching up.

Nuss (also known as Jill, haha!) had a child on November 5, 2006 named Evan. He is just adorable and we had fun playing with Thomas the Train!

Hopefully I haven't made any grammatical errors in this post since Nuss is reading it!!! :)

Family Dinner

Every year we have family dinner. Typically it is always Christmas Eve but this year it was on the 23rd. We ended up liking it because it made Christmas Eve more relaxed. Jenni and Frank have been hosting it lately and their house is gorgeous. It is right on the Wicomico River.

A few families do a lil gift exchange...
Mom, Dad and I.

Aunt Susan, Uncle John, their daughter Jenni and Jenni's daughter Frankie. So cute!

Mom, Dad and Jack. Jack is Mom's, cousin's grandson. He's 11 months old!

We always have a good time seeing everyone. The food is always tasty (filets, crabcakes and sides). Thank you to Jenni and Frank for having us!

Christmas time!

We had Kevin's parents, brother and uncle over for dinner the other night before they went to the Panthers game. I fixed some appetizers and we ordered dinner in....that was the plan, I wasn't a slacker ;). Here is my table set...

Then they went to the 8:20pm game - it was freezing. They look like they are ready for arctic!!! We were glad to be watching it in the comfort of home!

We celebrated Christmas with his parents on Tuesday night before everyone left - it was such a blast. They are so welcoming to me. I honestly feel like part of their family! His brother and sister in law went to her family's house in Atlanta and I came home to Maryland. Kevin had to work today, poor thing. Someone has to work for the family though!!! On our way back from their home, we went through downtown Waxhaw - it is so cute, this picture doesn't do it justice.
More pictures to come later today or tomorrow of family dinner (a day early) and other things that are going on around here! Hope yall are enjoying time with your family!!!

Christmas Traditions

This picture was in 2007 and Anna Kate was only 2.5 months old! Unfortunately Clay, Emily and Anna Kate aren't joining us this year (they are heading to Raleigh to see Emily's family). We will miss them so much. It will be weird not having them there.

Typically every year we have family Christmas Eve dinner with my Mom's cousins and their families. This year we are having it on the 23rd instead due to other's schedules. Christmas Eve we'll light the luminaires (which my Mom organized for the neighborhood this year), go to church then play Santa. We'll wake up Christmas morning, do Christmas, stockings and have the same brunch as we always do - an amazing breakfast casserole Mom makes. We always sit at the dining room table and she always gets too fancy with it!!! Typical Mom thing, ya know?!! It makes it special though!

What are your traditions?