Merry Christmas!

We had an action-packed Christmas weekend! On Friday, Harrison and I went to his parents home and hung out with his sister, who was in town from Tampa, and their parents. After finishing all of the wrapping on Saturday morning, Christmas Eve, we went back to Beauregard where we shot skeet behind The Williams' home. This is becoming a Christmas tradition for us, which I like very much! Harrison's cousin, Katie was in town also, and we took some pretty great photos around the Christmas tree with our guns. I'm waiting on Mr. Williams to send me those photos so that I can post them here. For now, I'll post the photos of our brown paper packages tied up in string and stamped with our 'W' wax seal:

We went to our first Christmas Eve Mass at St. Michael's and it was beautiful. We arrived 30 minutes early and still had to sit in the 'extra' seats at the back! They only have two Christmas Eve Masses and the other one was 10pm, so this one was the more popular service. Here's a picture of our new church:

After Mass, we went back to Harrison's parents for Christmas dinner and to exchange gifts. Because Harrison rarely ever lets me take pictures of him/us, I convinced him to take a few since we were spiffy from Mass. I thought it turned out okay, other than the doll on his parents mantle being in the background. By the way, I'm wearing a skirt, not pants (as a friend had originally thought)!

The beautiful Williams' family tree:

Beth playing her role of 'Santa,' Nana sipping on her coffee, and Esther taking it all in.

The coolest cat ever, The Senator:

On Sunday/Christmas, Harrison and I woke up in our own bed at our own home. This is the first time that neither of us have been with our families on Christmas. I guess we're grown-ups now. We went over to The Williams' for the traditional Christmas breakfast (frozen summer fruit cocktail/slushy, sausage balls, banana bread, coffee) and the opening of stockings from Santa.

Afterward, we hopped in the car and headed to meet my side of the family at The Swartz's home in Newnan, GA. We met up with my parents, Aileen, Andrew, Ryan, Blake, Hailey, Nate, Kellye, Paige, David, and my Uncle Dave (in from Raleigh, NC). The house was packed with family and laughter and we had a great time together. Aren't these kiddos adorable:

I love how Ryan is wearing his Spider man muscles costume and Blake has Baby Sue's legs wrapped around his neck.

Here's a classic photo of Harrison at the dinner table:

Aileen and I with my newest niece, Hailey:

The Cunningham kids with the newest addition to the family:

Paige unwrapping Elmo. She loves him and the color red!

Bottles for the both of 'em:

Look at those thighs and rosy cheeks! Isn't she the most adorable kid ever?

Uncle Dave is known as the family trickster. Here he is with his newest 'creature.' He's got the boys convinced that it's a pet and they're a little hesitant about it.

This year, we all played Dirty Santa or White Elephant. Nate's gift was this Big AL whose shirt read 'I love Bama.' Luckily, it came with a noose!

Pops, Aileen, and Hailey

Gigi with Hailey

After making it back to Auburn on Monday morning, I needed some time to decompress from the adventurous weekend. I took a long nap while Harrison's family went to see a movie. Afterward I met up with them at a new restaurant in Opelika, Ma Fia's. They've only been open for a couple of months and business is booming for them, so the service was a bit delayed. I can't say enough great things about the food though. All the ingredients are fresh and prepared via scratch at the restaurant. The red sangria is outstanding...the salmon pizza is fantastic... I'm still dreaming about the lobster ravioli... and the smores pizza is a great dessert (as well as their Tiramisu). They also have three choices of Sangiovese, which is rare to find and is my favorite red wine. I can't wait to go back.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!