Three Words

Madison Square Garden.

One reason: Phish.

Happy New Years, hope its jammin.

25th Day of Christmas: Christmas Day

And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Luke 1:35-38


As we celebrate the birth of Christ today, may we also be like Mary - willing servants of the Lord our God. 


Merry Christmas!!

24th Day of Chrstmas: Little Santa

Hello from a little Santa Clause! May all your wishes come true tonight :)

Merry Christmas!

23rd Day of Christmas: Skipping Christmas

Skipping Christmas, me?? No! It's the book by John Grisham. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is reading books - The Crippled Lamb, the Polar Express, Room for a Little One, The Nativity Story, Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Grinch, and so on. Children's books are so fun to pile on your coffee table because you can pick them up and be reminded of memories of Christmases when you were a kid. 


This year since most of our Christmas stuff is boxed away, I decided to re-read Skipping Christmas, a novel about the Krank family who decided to spend their money on a cruise and skip the whole holiday she-bang. I enjoyed it as a new tradition to read a more adult book still centered around the Christmas season. 


I made sure I finished reading it before we left my parents', because the movie, Christmas with the Kranks, is one of my mom's favorites. I've only seen it once, when it first came out, and it was fun to watch the movie and compare right after reading the book. My review on the movie? Definitely not a good re-make of the novel. I think the story of the book would have been a great movie, but I guess the writers thought it would be too boring, because they shortened the part of the movie based on the book and then added about 45 minutes at the end that had nothing to do with the book. I didn't like that very much because the climax of the movie didn't go along with the book at all; I think if you're going to do that, you might as well not base it around the book at ALL instead of trying (poorly) to copy the book. The acting wasn't great, but it's hard to seriously mess up a Christmas movie, so it was still enjoyable. 

22nd Day of Christmas: Jekyll Island

I felt like Alice in Wonderland. Enthralled by the warm breeze and ocean scent, I climbed up into a big oak tree and gazed at the lush green grass while men dressed in white played croquet in the background. Jekyll Island used to be a retreat only for the wealthiest power-holders in the country; the ritzy had their own private cottages that put every other use of the word cottage to shame. They dined on tea in round conservatories, and doubtless enjoyed Christmas off the coast of Georgia more than most families were able to do.


We re-captured the ambiance of an almost-gone memory of olden days by taking our tea in the same conservatory, overlooking a pool and accompanied by bagpipes that I'm not sure existed at the time the millionaires vacationed. Jekyll delighted us with a fantastic sunset, the third I've seen since I've been here if you recall. This whole trip has been a wonderful blessing so far; I have been taking advantage of the time with my family and most relaxing of weather during this perfect Christmas vacation.

the largest cottage ever built

people playing croquet in front of the main building

i LOVE the trees!!

bagpiper we saw and heard from our tea room

lit up for christmas

we also overlooked the pool

pretty pinecone decorations that my mom and i will copy next year!

red robius ? tea

LOTS of yummy petit fours!

their pre-hawaii hawaii picture

21st Day of Christmas: Saint Marys Sunset

On this lovely day it was warm enough to wear shorts, short sleeves, and flip flops! I love this place! I missed out on the big bike ride because I was tired from running earlier, but I got to sit outside and read, which was very relaxing. Then my mom and I went shopping to some of the cute little stores, and got a couple last minute gifts, including the perfect ornament for next year's gift exchange - a sock reindeer! We got one for ourselves too of course, since they were buy one get one free. We ate dad's burritos for dinner and then played a game of Spinner. I got the all-time record score of 40!! I never got more than 5 on any round until the second to last, when I got 23 points - over-doubling my miniscule 16. Try to beat that, anyone. (It was so lucky!) Oh yeah, now for those sunset pics. Ps sorry for making you jealous again!

Christmas tree sunset...i think this is my new favorite thing

cute little inn

spanish moss

another cute historic house

20th Day of Christmas: Christmas at the Beach

When my parents moved a few months ago, they transitioned permanently to their vacation home in southern Georgia. Their home is in a wonderful community, and they're only about half an hour from the beach in Florida. It's sad that they're so far away from us now, but what a great benefit that when we come to visit, it's like a vacation! Unfortunately we missed the beautiful weather yesterday (we left too late), but I thought it was a great opportunity to take some pictures. Merry Christmas from Amelia Island!

my handsome hubs

mom studying

the guys relaxing hard

flip flops 4 days before Christmas? i'll take it

amelia

parents!

thankful for a day at the beach

and a lovely sunset picture

19th Day of Christmas: Merry Christmas from the Clouds

Florida welcomed us for our Christmas visit by providing lovely blue skies and puffy clouds flying in. We knew it wouldn't be as chilly down here, but when we stepped out of the airport we were greeted by a warm breeze accompanied by the delicious smell of the south. My parents were asking us what our plan for the day should be, but we were completely content to just sit in the car with the windows down and take in the weather. I ended up getting a relaxing hair cut, while my family chilled at Panera. This morning I got a massage and then we went to the beach, to make life a little more stressful. ;) Merry Christmas from Florida!

coming out of a cloud