Christmas Fun Part II

Oh goodness.....Christmas seems like it is a million miles away now....even though I just dragged our lighted Snowman out of the front yard this week.....#he'llbebackagainsomeday

We were so excited to host one of our favorite events this year, The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Dallas actually has a Ugly Christmas Sweater STORE, but I did my own thrifting and found some pretty ugly ones myself. (Now to Ebay they go!)  Our small group from church got in the spirit too; we had so much fun!  

Jeremie has a "Go big or go home" attitude about any type of dress up parties. He didn't limit himself to an ugly sweater. He also sported a blue bow tie, snowflake suspenders, and green corduroy pants. He won the contest hands down! Apparently, people didn't think my sweater with Christmas puppies was tacky enough. Because everybody has a sweater with Christmas puppies on it..... 

Stephen, in the red, came in second place. This was the 80's style sweatshirt, with so much going on on 1 piece of fabric. An ice rink, a covered bridge, horses, a barn, carolers, it really "told a story".....

Sweet Chelsea (on the left) sported Christmas cows and Erin had light up earrings and necklace in the shape of Christmas bulbs.....

We added an element this year, which was "Re-gifting" and it was hilarious. The purpose was to find something in your house that is ugly or that you don't want anymore. (In our friend Joe's eyes, it was just to randomly grab whatever was on the kitchen counter, which were very nice items...his wife was not too happy.....)  Anyway, we had some great gifts show up like John Wayne movies and a Shake weight. (Shown above.) I found a REAL mounted squirrel head with a cowboy hat and red handkerchief around its neck at Goodwill for 99 cents. It was a hot item and got stolen many times. I also pulled a fast one on Jeremie, which I wish I would've videoed now.  If you've read my blog before, you know how I despise dislike the styrofoam snowman head topper that was a gift to us years ago. Erin even commented that my tree was so elegant, but that the topper was "interesting".  Jeremie LOVES Frosty, and loves even more that I don't like him. But he adorns the tree every year, and every year I joke that he might just get lost one day. So I decided to include Frosty in the re-gifting portion of the party to see how Jeremie would react. While Erin distracted J in the kitchen, (Chelsea, my daring and taller friend) swiped Frosty off the tree and I wrapped him up and put it with the rest of the gifts. J had no idea! Erin purposefully unwrapped Frosty herself and I saw J look at it curiously, then look at the tree, then snap his head back to me and give me the UGLIEST look I have seen from my husband!!! He seriously thought I was trying to give Frosty away.  After a good laugh, I assured him he was just a part of a good set-up. Took him a few minutes to calm down....I loved it!  

Before we head to Mississippi for the holidays, we usually like to open our family gifts, and the best part is watching Manny with his new little "friends"....

After heading to MS, everything after that is a blur!!! Every year, I'm so sad that I barely get ANY pictures of us with our families during Christmas, but by the time you eat, open gifts, and put on your stretchy pants, it's over! We had a great time at our traditional breakfast at J's grandparents', lunch at my parents' and then off to visit my grandparents. We are SO thankful that our families all live within 30 minutes of each other so we can see them all on Christmas Day! 

This is the only Christmas Day action picture that I got, and I think it's pretty funny....

As most dads do, they have their daughters wrap the gifts for the wives...my dad made a note on the bottom of this gift that proudly says: "I tied the bow myself"........love it!

The day after Christmas I hit the road for Alabama to visit BFF and new mama Mary Perry and Baby Emmaline...this was the first time to see that sweet thing, and boy was she sweet!!!  

We were just missing our Auntie Meg!

The Fourth Muskeeter!!! A new generation!

Back in MS, we squeezed in a wedding (what's a trip to MS without a wedding?) Jeremie's cousin, Madison was a gorgeous bride.  The reception was a J's parent's house, so I had to tapped into my Miss Hospitality roots and served punch and cut cake!

We were pretty tired by the time we got back to The Big D. New Year's was spent here at the house (with great food of course) and we were in bed by 12:30. I always watch the countdown and see people partying on FB and think "Should we be all dressed up doing something crazy?"...and then I think back to 2010 when we did just that and wished we were at home in our pj's. Ha! So I took another sip of my hot chocolate, kissed my hubby and didn't give it another thought! 

Happy New Year! And before we know it, it'll be February!