I really hope everyone had a great Christmas - I know we did!!!  The girls had an amazing Christmas and so did Daniel and I!!  Here are some pictures so you can peek into our day...

I love the things during the Holidays that are just full of spirit and meant for other people to enjoy!  That is exactly what we found last night...  

This is the first place winner for creative lighting...

I took this one because we immediately thought of Chevy Chase in the movie "Christmas Vacation"... It looks pretty though!

I liked the red and white!

This is Casey very shortly after entering the neighborhood...

And here is Sydney when we are about to leave - I guess all the excitement got to her!

 I have a small video of the home that has their lights set to music but it won't uplaod this morning - I'll try again later!!

Tonight Dawn and I decided to take our girls (just Sydney for me - no way would Casey make it through a movie) to the movies and watch Disney's new movie Bolt!!  Both girls were so excellent and the movie was very cute!!  AND it was another excuse to eat popcorn - like I need an excuse for that!!!  Sydney hasn't stopped talking about it since we got home and has already pleaded with me to buy it as soon as it appears on DVD!!  

So I thought it was time to buy us some matching stockings for our mantle and I did just that!!

Daniel and I got our favorite (and only) babysitter in the world last night - Joy - and we went to his Fire Dept. Christmas party!!!  It was a GREAT time.  Good company, Good Food, GREAT drinks and some really funny gag gifts!!!  After dinner we went to a couple of different bars called Dolce and Swig which were both awesome but it made us realize that we are getting to OLD for bar hopping!!!  Everyone else was just starting to show up when we were both ready to head out!! We're not such crazy party animals anymore huh??

And it's edible at that!!!!  

Have I told you lately that my neighbor Dawn  is AMAZING!!!  Well she is and this is one of the MANY reasons why!!!  

She sent us a gift from "Wine Country Gift Baskets" that is filled to the top with all these great goodies and the absolute best part they are mostly CHOCOLATE.  She knows me all too well!!!  

Thanks SO MUCH Dawn!!  What would I do without you to supply my chocolate habit???!!!

Yes that is right snow...

I know it is nothing really but it is snow and we live in SOUTH TEXAS!!!  Apparently north of San Antonio where some of my coworkers live they had a small accumulation on the ground.  

I was browsing through other peoples blogs the other day and I came across this website -

Finally got it up and finished!!!  We went with a red and green kind of theme!!  I wish we could have fit our star on top but the tree is 9 feet tall and the ceilings are like 9.25  feet tall!!  No such luck but I put a pretty bow up there and it feels complete!

Hope you are all having a great Holiday Season so far!!  We miss you all!!!

As I already mentioned we took the girls in for Christmas Pictures...

When I was young I will never forget the nights leading up to Christmas.  My brother and I always had an Advent calendar and every night we opened it and found a different shaped piece of chocolate.  I have looked for these for Sydney for the past few years and had no luck!  I could find ones that gave them a new little toy each night but I thought it was more special (and a little less materialistic) to get a little chocolate treat so I held out and hoped I would come across some.  I did - in a store called World market I found one from Germany and needless to say Sydney and I were thrilled.

I bought this singing Santa that when you press his button sings and slides all over the floor. Casey fell in love immediately and hasn't let it out of her sight yet.  I thought it was so cute how every time the music came on Casey and Sydney would dance around the house like crazy so I tried to capture a little of it... ENJOY!!!

Today was a crazy day from start to finish...

Last night I flipped through all the sale flyers and seriously considered getting up and going to the stores at 4am.  Then my senses kicked in and I decided against that CRAZY idea.  No No - why do that when I can just go this morning - Surely most people will be at home resting because they were up so early shopping! HA!

Day of Thanks - The Final Day!!

Hopefully everyone had a great day with their family and friends.  Today was a great day at my home we had my Father-in-Law Frank here, the Braun Family, and also Dawn's brother, Curtis and his girlfriend Lindsey  came.  It was a full house!!  We had a fried Turkey and a Honey Ham and all the side dishes you can imagine!  Tons of desserts and LOTS of wine!!  I am stuffed beyond belief right now but am already excited for leftovers tomorrow!!  

Here are some pics from our day!!!  

Casey was exhausted just from watching me cook and clean!!!

Daniel and his Dad frying up our Turkey!!

Jamison playing catch with Daniel...

Sydney and Adelaide collecting leaves for the "Leaf Pie"! Yummy...

A couple bottles of wine later and this is what you get!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!