WHITE Alabama Christmas!

Harrison and I had a very packed Christmas holiday! Tuesday was our own personal little Christmas in Asheville. We finished Christmas shopping and dressed up for a fancy dinner at the Red Stag within the Grand Bohemian Hotel. Wednesday we headed to Newnan, GA to celebrate Christmas early with Aileen and our nephew (Pilot dad, Andrew, was at work). We had a wonderful time with them; they're getting so big! Thursday we headed to Auburn to spend a day and a half with the Williams/Whatley side of the family. We went out in Auburn Thursday night with many of Harrison's friends from highschool. Thursday we had brunch with Harrison's extended family, then later had people over to shoot hand guns! What else do you do on Christmas Eve in Alabama? I have to say, I'll choose my 20 gauge shotgun any day over a pistol, but we still had a blast.

-- For Christmas, Harrison's parents got him a "Webley" pistol: A British officer's pistol from WWI. He was beyond excited!

Christmas Eve night we took off from Auburn to Gadsden to visit the Cunningham side. Aileen's family didn't come this year, because the boys are getting big enough where they need to have Christmas at their own home. I was so excited to get to see the rest of the family: Mom, Dad, David, Nate, Kellye, and Paige (the newest edition)! Paige is almost two months old now and she's so perfect! We went to mass Christmas morning in the SNOW!!!! Snow in the mountains of NC is expected, but Gadsden is a different story! It was a beautiful white Christmas in Alabama. We opened presents, held Paige, and played fun family board games all night!

Sunday after mass, we had to head back to Asheville. The drive was fine until we hit some treacherous conditions in the mountains. There was about 8 inches of snow on the sides of the interstate, and the snow kept falling. We were confident in the AWD capabilites of our Subaru, but it was still scary! We finally got home to find out that one of our heating units broke for the second time this month! We could see our breath in the air of our bedroom! Thankfully, Aileen had given her heated mattress pad to us for Christmas. That helped us sleep comfortably until maintenance could arrive in the morning.

O Tannenbaum... & Heisman

We bought our Christmas tree from a beautiful farm in Burnsville, NC. Harrison enjoyed strapping it to the top of the Subaru on the first snowy day of the Christmas season.

I don't mean to brag, but we have the BEST spot ever to place a Christmas tree! We're in love with the architectural details of our 1920's downtown Asheville apartment.

This year we have a new tree-topper. It's a lovely angel that my mother-in-law gave us.

Check out Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party to see other lovely trees!

As you can see, the Christmas tree skirt that I made (see the 'Arts and Crafts' section) is around the bottom. It is too small, but I plan to extend it with some green velvet trim and fringe.

I took a few pictures of some of our most prized ornaments. Below you'll see our engagement ornament, our favorite AU ornament, The Constitution, my 2005 nursing school ornament, scrubs: 2006 - I became an RN ornament, 'Tracy's Diary of Christmas Memories" ornament - handcarved by my grandfather, 2006 Asheville ornament (the year we moved here), "6" ornament - for beating Bama 6 times in a row in the Iron Bowl, our 1st Christmas as a married couple ornament, our sorority and fraternity ornaments, camping Santa ornament symbolizing Harrison's 2004 thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, Harrison's kindergarten school bus ornament, and Harrison's fingerprint snowman.

This year, Harrison and I enjoyed decorating the tree while sipping wine (our favorite: Sangiovese) and watching the Heisman ceremony on ESPN. It was so exciting to see Auburn's own Cam Newton win the prestigious award!

SEC Champions, 2010

WAR EAGLE!

12/4/10

Miracle pass: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D6c50Cfz9Q

Toomer's Corner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq1dcfvQw94&feature=related

Auburn wins the SEC Championship against South Carolina: 56-17!!!

That's the biggest score difference in SEC Championship history!

Harrison and I were at a friend's wedding with some fellow Auburn fans during the game. We had a wonderful time at Laura and Kenny's wedding. I have to admit that we were all getting game updates on smart-phones during the reception. We were all so excited!

We are really looking forward to playing Oregon in the BCS National Championship on January 10th. Harrison and I want to go, but he has comprehensive exams the following week, and he'll be cramming. I would go with several of our friends, but I'd hate to celebrate a possible National Title without him. We still aren't sure where we'll watch it.