christmas happenings

On the weekend of Dec 15, we traveled to Atlanta for a Christmas party at Megan and Adi's.

Brad and me

The Furman crew 

The Shingler and Filipovic families

On Friday, we had dinner at La Fonda and saw John Smoltz.  Pretty sure he knew I was snapping a photo of him.  Oops.

On Sunday, we had brunch with my cousins at Pastries a go go in Decatur.  Unfortunately, we all had a sad Christmas as our grandmother passed away on Dec 18.  She has been in poor health for years but it had gotten much worse since Halloween.  The family had been keeping vigil 24 hours a day for a few weeks.  My grandfather called her home on what would have been his 99th birthday.  The funeral was on that Thursday in Warner Robins.  Obviously, it was very hard but it was good to know she wasn't suffering anymore and to meet a lot of people that she loved and that loved her.  We will miss you Mana!

Because we had so much going on, I did not put up half of our Christmas decorations.  I had to do some because we had the work crew over on Dec 17 and hosted the Shingler Christmas Eve brunch.  We also went to an Augusta Christmas Party last Friday but I took no pictures.  Thanks to the Trotters, Rigsbys, Dunstans and Thigpens for hosting!  I wasn't sure how I would hold up one day after Mana's funeral but it was actually good to get out, see everyone and visit.  

Some of our Christmas cards.

More Christmas cards.  I swear our friends have the cutest kids!

The dining room all set for brunch. This room is done in more natural decor while the living room is more traditional green and red. 

Sideboard

Dining room table

Dining room tree

Front porch.  I need to find some better pots for those trees and add some ribbon.

Tree with all the gifts.  This may have been the worst tree we have ever bought.  We waited until late to get it and it was pitiful.  Oh well...

I made dog treats for our coworker and family dogs.  This was a new recipe and I really liked it!  I will say the dough was easier to work with when I used half whole wheat and half AP flour.  They were chewier though.  I also added some honey and wheat germ.  

Christmas Eve brunch

Adi's reindeer cookie during the traditional sugar cookie decorating contest 

Our lovely creations.  The icing was really runny so we got some messy ones.  

Megan's lady in red and Brad's UGA player

Bill dropped this cookie in the icing and broke off his arm.  He used frosting as glue and a toothpick to prop him up to dry.  That's an engineer for you!

On Friday, Dad and I traveled to Athens to see his family.  My cousins Steve (Uncle Tim's son) and Will (Uncle Stan's son) with Mema.

It has been years since all of Mema's boys were together!  Uncle Tim and Aunt Peggy live in Pennsylvania so they don't get down often.  We were just missing Aunt Karen.  

Tim, Jeff, Scott, Mema, Stan and Daddy