Festival of Lights

I think Clay and I think each weekend... "How much can we possibly cram into the weekend?" Now that we are both working during the week we tend to live for the weekends. So.. this weekend started with my work Christmas party. It was a BLAST! I regret that I forgot my camera. I will do my best to paint a picture for you. Just imagine a ton of people all dolled up at the country club, good food, a dirty santa Christmas gift exchange, and lots and lots of dancing. Clay and I strolled in at about 2:30 a.m.

But like I said, we didn't stop there. We woke up the next morning and got ready for a trip to Branson with our friends Brandi (OT school friend) and her husband Nick. Believe it or not this was my first Christmas Branson experience. I had only been one other time (and we just went to Silver Dollar City) We ate at Fudruckers and shopped til' we dropped. We drove back that night and got in about 1:30 a.m.











Sunday was packed full of Christmas shopping. I got my elbow pads and game face on! I was ready to get out there and get it all done. I DID IT! I AM FINISHED. My mother-in-law and I had a great time. I got in about 8:30 last night and wrapped presents for a couple of hours. Lucky me because it iced over during the night and I woke up to long list of school cancellations this morning. A ton of my kiddo's cancelled today. I will work this afternoon though. But, I have been able to rest up and clean our house.

Ok.. Ok.. Now I am the biggest fan of anything related to Christmas. So I almost regret saying this.. But the following images might be to hard to look at if you do not want to be disappointed in the festival of lights in Branson. The following images were just a few taken to display the "random-ness" of the trail. It literally reminded me of someone going to Lowe's to ask if they had "stuff that lit up on half-price" and randomly placing them in a field with an extension cord.

That's right people... Happy MOO year!


I regret not getting the Hawaiian themed nativity scene....


STATUE OF LIBERTY... what?!? 'Tis the season


and finally.... yes... your eyes are correct. These are aliens. and their space ship.... What better way to say Merry Christmas!


and this was the expression we all had on our face....

Christmas Train

I had a BLAST this past weekend. It all started with the ornament exchange at my house on Friday night and three of my very best friends coming to pick me up on Saturday morning to go to Christmas Train in Adair, Oklohoma to see our long lost friend Megan. This was our first time to experience Christmas Train. It is a big production at Camp Dry Gulch. If you love Christmas.... you would LOVE Christmas Train. It was so much fun to get to hang out with my girls all weekend! Here are some pictures from this weekend.


I know it's blurry.. But if you look closely you can see the actual train.








Yes, it is that time again. Time for the annual gingerbread house competition! This year we had new competition... The Sabatini's! You take a look and see who won!













And finally.... I promise I will not go on and on all night. But I wanted you guys to see some of our holiday decor! Mom and dad... you have to come visit us before Christmas! haha. You get a personal shout out. Feel the pressure. Please ignore the random cords hanging from the t.v. We really need to get somebody to hide those wires.









You wouldn't believe it... But I found a true Garrison snowman! haha!

Gobble til you Wobble

Woo hoo for good food, good family, and good friends. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was a little scared because of the way it started out. I was in charge of an apple pie (highly requested) and I decided to make this key lime cookie recipe for my parents house since my mom loves key lime. I had never attempted this recipe but saw it in Martha Stewart's holiday magazine issue. So it has to be good right?? Well, needless to say I crammed WAY to much in those three work days and had to make both the pie and cookies on Wednesday afternoon before we tried to leave at 4:00. The pie was fantastic and the cookies had potential to be great. I rushed it too much. So we left our house at 5:30 to head to Conway with an apple pie.

Thanksgiving at the Garrison's was much needed family time. It is so nice to get together. We got there Wednesday night and all of the siblings wanted to go to the movies. I am not a movie go-er but I sent my best wishes and instead went to Wal-mart with Terri( my mother-in-law) to the pictures from the Thanksgiving photo shoot. We woke up Thursday morning to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade and stuff our belly full of turkey and dressing. Here are some of the photo poses we got.



Thanksgiving in Lewisville was fantastic. It has been a long time since we have been able to spend 3 days down there. It is so funny to go back and see how different the town is. Well, I am sure the town is the same. I just see it differently now. You know there are always some funny stories from Lewisville. I am so thankful that I can sit down with my family, laugh, and enjoy life. We skipped out on the Black Friday madness. I would rather be stung by 1,000 bees and dipped in hot wax than fight that crowd. Instead mom, Kaitlyn, and I went to Hobby Lobby to get the paint for my latest art project. We ended the paint run with a trip to Starbucks and rode home singing Christmas songs. So fun. I love my family. They are the best.




It's not finished yet... But, you get the idea.
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