Ten on Tuesday

1. So, the first day of winter has come and gone – meaning the days are [[really]] getting longer - yay. I do miss those ‘winter soup nights’ that always started on the first day of winter and went through the first day of spring [monthly get-togethers, at our house, with warm soup and fellowship.] Maybe we can do that again in a couple of years [next year we should be attending a graduation so I know I won’t be thinking about soup – lol –]
2. And then we were Christmas-ing for the rest of the week – had our family dinner and gift giving on Thursday evening with Matt, Drew and his sweet Haley – SO NICE to just be together. LOVE family time and it’s far too short these days – [We had sautéed shrimp, salt-crusted prime rib, crash potatoes and roasted veggies with salad and rolls. – I’ll get recipes up there after the first of the year – promise!]
3. Then on Friday we drove up to Tennessee for Craig’s family Christmas – I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical of how Christmas might play out in a hotel room – but we had a huge room and brought in chairs from the other rooms so it was just like sitting in a family den and being all together. We took our little rustic tree [designed for a mountain Christmas] and goodies that included snowflake cupcakes and a crockpot with meatballs, and everyone brought more goodies to share as we enjoyed being together and opening gifts [- they wanted to do something different since this was their first Christmas without Daddy – and while he was on everyone’s minds, I think we had a very good gathering afterall.]
4. Saturday we shopped a little at Providence and Opry Mills [yes! THREE stores are open now -] and then headed out to the Opryland Hotel – which is ALWAYS gorgeously decorated for Christmas – Love that they make no excuses for the reason for celebrating Christmas with this HUGE nativity scene in the entrance to the hotel. And I LOVE these huge poinsettias made of lights – they’ve been there for as long as we’ve been going to Opryland to see the Christmas lights – OMGoodness – 27 -28 years now?!?
5. That evening Craig and I decided at the last minute to run down to a local church for their Christmas Eve Service - a lovely little church with traditions unfamiliar to us – communion was done by tearing off a bit of bread and dipping it in a communal cup of wine. Still, it was very nice to be out at midnight and recognize our Savoir at the beginning of His Day –
6. Christmas Day we headed over to attend church with my sister and her family and enjoyed singing familiar tunes and joined in communion in the good ‘ole Baptist way – lol. Love what their preacher said about God loving us SO MUCH that He would squeeze into an earthly body just to show us his love – by giving the ultimate sacrifice. [AND – it was a treat to hear our nephew playing drums – what a great job!!]
7. Then it was home to have some of that left-over prime rib with freshly made garlic mashed potatoes – yum – and to unpack the car so we can do it all again next weekend – lol [well, we’ll only be gone one day next weekend to celebrate with my family, and we have a full week of work and activities between now and then -]
8. We’ve also had a house full of kids a couple of nights this week – and we love that actually – SO GLAD they helped us finish off the sweets we had made!! So glad the youngest and his friends still feel comfortable hanging at our house -
9. And yesterday Craig was up early to go duck hunting [he brought some home to cook – eek!] and I just had a lazy day of catching up with friends on the internet and television watching and knitting – getting ready for the new year -
10. – do y’all enjoy opening a new calendar as much as I do?

PS- Be watching for a fun blog hop coming January 7th - with lots of ideas on how to use your 'vintage' [haHAha] scrapbook tools and other supplies!