Merry Christmas Eve

Wanted to share pictures from a home near us in Augusta that is decorated for Christmas.

Santa's Camper

And those are poinsettas planted along the walkway.
I think they've got the Christmas spirit! Hope you do, too!

Baby Goats

There were 2 new baby goats born in Camak this week. Due to the rain on Saturday, we were limited in our pictures and only able to tell the sex of 1 of them (a female). Below are the pictures we have so far.

Crazy Time of Year

I can't believe that Christmas is almost here! Now that Cary and I are working full time, it makes for a different holiday season. We no longer get weeks off for finishing finals. Nor do I have plenty of free time to shop. We will be working right up until Christmas like the rest of the real world.
This past week, Cary and I attended some Christmas parties with friends, family, and co-workers. First up, Our small group from Stevens Creek Church held a tacky Christmas party. We all donned our favorite tacky sweaters/Christmas wear and got together for some food, karaoke, and fellowship.

The crazy gang {love ya'll!}

We all exchanged gifts...

And J.T. even fit in a little time for exercise...

Friday night was busy as we stopped by my "office" party and also Cary's party for his department. We spent Saturday between two parties as well. The early afternoon was spent at my parents' house with my Mom's side of the family. In the evening, we traveled back to Augusta to my brother and sister-in-law's Christmas drop-in. We aren't done yet with family get-togethers. Christmas day will hold a lot of traveling for us! It's been a crazy week, but a ton of fun.

Our First Christmas Tree!

This past Saturday we took a trip to Gay's Christmas Tree Farm in south Augusta. The owner is the father of one of our small group members. They grow several different breeds of Christmas tress...you can walk out to the field and pick and cut your own.

We could have chosen to cut our own tree, but instead chose an 8 ft. Fraser Fur from the pre-cut ones {Fraser Furs are native to North Carolina and only grow at high elevation, by the way}.

This is Cary's first year of having a live Christmas tree.

Mr. Gay is shaking out the tree, getting rid of any loose needles. And I can attest, that little shaker machine works! We did not drop a single needle in the apartment putting that tree into our stand.

Up and in the stand {hopefully safely secured} and full of water!

Now to decorate...
We decided to decorate the tree with our ornaments from childhood. So every ornament on the tree was either handmade by (or for) us, given as a gift, or acquired over the years.

Oh, yeah. What do you think of the tree skirt? It cost me $1 from the Dollar Tree. Ha ha!

The first ornament to go on the tree was a gift from my Mom and Dad {the Lenox Wedding Cake ornament}. It says "Our First Christmas Together."


Adding more....

Cary helped, too...

The Finished Product:

Close up:

One of the homemade ornaments from when Cary was young: