'Twas two nights after Christmas...

And my house is a wreck.

Who's gonna clean this mess up?

What a pain in the neck!

Okay, okay so my poetry is not publishable yet, but it'll get there. This has alot of pictures, so be patient. I'm combining two days before Christmas and on through since my stomach virus through the holiday wouldn't allow me to stay up long enough to separate the posts.

Mom and I took the kids to the Grove Park Inn on Tuesday just to browse around. The gingerbread houses were the biggest hits. We also watched Good Morning America on Wednesday morning to see the first place winners since they had already been transported to New York.

Beautiful, gigantic poinsettias.......

Decorated trees.......

Posing.....

Me in front of the polar bear/penguin exhibit which was my favorite.

A different day -- making Christmas cookies.

Opening just a few presents.

Cammie after opening presents and vacuuming. Everything had to be clean and easily accessible for Santa. Cammie's side is the left side and Brookie's side is the right.

The stocking were hung by the chimney with care..... And cookies and milk (and a present from Brooke) were left for him there.

Cammie and cookies... And by the way, the reindeer got carrots outside too, of course. Can't leave them out.

We tracked Santa on Christmas Eve through NORAD (North American Radar Air Defense). According to their calculations, Santa arrived here in the NC mountains around 1:45 or so. That's a good thing, since the kids got up at 4:30. We got a few pictures of them that early, but the quality was questionable. At any rate, Santa was very good to the girls, as is usually the case.

......As I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks....

Dressed in holiday style. In the air, there's a feeling of Christmas.

Amanda and I went to Asheville today to do some last minute Christmas shopping. It was busy, busy but we had a good time. We don't get to spend a lot of time together on many occasions, so this was it! It took us all of 15 minutes to have two bags full of stuff.

Starbucks was abuzz!!

US!

BAM. Two more bags...

We've both wanted to see this, so we took the early afternoon to do just that. Cute movie. Reese Witherspoon is one my favorite actresses. The previews of upcoming movies were highly disturbing, however. All kinds of psycho, evil, child satanic stuff advertised to the point I couldn't even look up to watch it. I don't see how people watch that stuff; it's scary to me.

The traffic tested our patience. It is surely Christmastime in the city.

Oh, Little Town of.......Davidson

We spent last evening down in Davidson. It is such a classy little town. If you remember back in March, Stephen Curry carrried his Wildcats of Davidson to NCAA's Elite Eight. This is where he resides and plays and studies.

Chris, my cousin from Marion was here yesterday for a visit. We had gone down into Davidson last year when he was here and decided to do it again. MadiKat was also with us.

Oh, this reminds me. I have to show you my new Christmas sweater. I haven't bought one in about three years, heaven forbid, and this one was waiting for me in Myrtle Beach at Julie's boutique. I bought it because it has three girl reindeer on the front skiing. The girls and I love to ski, so it was perfect. Also, a Christmas watch of course. I mean really....how can you NOT have a Christmas watch?!?!

So back to Davidson. Really, besides wandering down Main Street, we only had two destinations. One was The Village Store. It's an upscale version of Hallmark with boutique-ey kinds of stuff in it. There's one of these in heaven, I just know it!

Check out the outside decor. Mounds of different types of greenery - holly, cedar, fir, magnolia cascaded from the window boxes and the street lights. This is the decor everywhere in Davidson..which is why it is so beautiful.

Thomas rocked outside the store for a little while. Oh, by the way, he gets the credit for helping me come up with titles for my posts....Christmas songs, no doubt. He has named several of the previous December posts.

Another old, beautiful Davidson building...a home used for some type of business - I can't remember what.
It was only 5:45 when these pictures were taken, but we were all starving. So, on we went to Davidson's 'The Brick House Tavern' for dinner. And, ya got it, it is one of my favorites. It's been several months since we've been there, but I'm thinking we'll go back down with the Privotts' after Christmas.
This VW van was parked in the parking lot. Haven't seen one in a very long time. Kinda funky lookin', don't you think?1966.......hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmm, I wasn't even born yet.

In the restaurant. Smile Christopher, I won't bite.

And last, but certainly not least.....Thomas' infamous leaning salt shaker trick. Cool, huh?!

Run, run Rudolph!!

Well, I just can't for the life of me figure out why Thomas was embarrassed to walk with me the other day. I thought he was going to run, run Rudolph. You see, I am the epitomy of style, grace, and beauty on Saturdays. I look sooooo good, it's hard to be around me!! Just kidding all you people who think I'm serious.

Unequivocal style. Old dumb bells, real rabbit fur ear muffs, an oversized Carolina sweatshirt, and plaid pajama bottoms. To add more, they're high waters. Ain't I cute? Thomas says going down the driveway, "aren't you going to put on workout pants?" "Of course not," I say. "Why would I want to wash yet another pair of pants?" The girls are highly embarrassed that I would put this on my blog. OMG.

Scary Walking Mama.

NO. On second thought, I am just way past COOL!

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree...

At the Garrett girls' party hop!! Camryn and Brooke had a Christmas party yesterday for their buddies - the first we've ever had at the house for them. I think they had a blast. The guests consisted of 12 sweet, very energetic, full-of-personality girls between the ages of 9 and 12. Woohoo! It was fun!

Brooke and Carly waiting for the older girls to get home from school and other guests to arrive. They helped with last minute preparations.

We had lots of food for this crew, but the platters and bowls were empty by 5:00. They were starving after school. Nana had made punch for the occasion, which went over very well.

This is some motley crew. Nah - they're great kids. We were missing two 'invitees' - Savannah and Octavia. This is the beginning of the Dirty Santa gift game. It was so cute to see these girls play this. It was fun for me and Donna (my neighbor) too. Of course we were sharing a bottle of Shelton Vineyard's Riesling. It is delicious. I have never been a wine person, until now. I shared some at a party a couple of weeks ago and then ordered several bottles. Yum.

Some good stuff..... Have I mentioned that I have a hard time drinking gracefully?

We made beautiful glass ornaments. The girls chose a couple of colors of paint plus white or silver, squeezed it into a glass ball and then turned the ball until all sides were covered. They seemed to enjoy this alot.

Sarah and Ashley.

Kayla and Madi (better known as MadiKat).

Izzy. What a sweetie.

The gene of posing... Camryn Beth.

MadiKat, Cammie, Brookie, and Cami. The two extras are my extra children. I'd keep'em if their Mommas would let me!

HHHmmmmmmm...clean up.

Do you hear what I hear.....

And, if you heard what we heard last night at Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach, you would be totally excited about Christmas - like it took anything more for me to be into the Season!!

I knew this was a little blurry, but for those of you who have never been, I wanted you to get an idea of the building's magnificence. The outside of the auditorium is just as beautiful as the inside. It was such an amazing show. I have a specific row and specific seats that I like, so I order tickets early. These December tickets were ordered on July 16th.

Me, Mom, and Priscilla. She's our cousin from Daddy's side of the family. She was more like a sister to Daddy, so we're all very close. Mom drove to Henderson to meet at her house and then they drove on down to Myrtle Beach on Thursday. It's fun, fun, fun having her around.

The girls inside Carolina Opry with the red capes on that their "Aunt" Joanie made for them!

We also shopped at the outlets and at Barefoot Landing, which is where we stayed.

Barefoot Landing, which was desolate of shoppers, except for the Magic Shop, the Rock Shoppe, and Julie's Boutique. Julie C. - are you SURE you aren't part owner in this....it is oh, so right up our alley?!?! Purchases made....period!!

Christmas cuties.

This was taken at a new added "favorite" of mine. Ya'll know everytime I go somewhere new, it goes under my favorites. This restaurant is owned by Bass Pro Shop and is connected to it. It's called Islamorada Fish Company. It offers wonderful menu options and the atmosphere is awesome. LOVE IT!!!

We were seated in front of this huge fireplace with lots of interesting 'things' around it.

Speaking of things...of course I had to pose with this thing. Life would be so boring if you didn't take a little time to have some fun! "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas"...... That song is sooooo me. If you hear that song, think of me singing it just like that chick (whoever she is). Hilarious. Anyway, I'm posing with the upper (I think) jaw of a hippo. Yes, I know my mouth is almost as big-HA, HA, HA!

And, last but not least - the trip there and back. I love the little town of Cheraw. There's a street with big, beautiful, old homes on it that we drive down. This little church was festive. I also wanted to get pictures of the work horses that were going to pull carriages, but le driver kept on keeping on. Enough, he said.

Isn't it cute?

When we go to the coast, I always love seeing the countryside and all the crops and fields. I have stopped to take a picture in the cotton fields before. It doesn't take much to make me smile.

"Oh, I wish I were in the land of cotton; old times there are not forgotten. Look away, look away, look away, Dixieland".