Family Visits

Before Christmas,  George and I made three separate trips to visit some of the family.  On Dec. 20,  we drove to Tullahoma to visit George's 100 yr. old Dad.  We took him to lunch ---and he woofed down some fried chicken,  onion rings,  slaw and a big brownie topped with ice cream.....   Gee---that man still can EAT.... Awesome,  isn't it????  The picture above is of  George and his Dad..  I love that picture,  don't you?

Then on Dec. 22,  we drove down to Dalton, GA to have dinner and spend some time with son Jeff and his bride, Dawn.  Those two are SO happy ---and enjoying their first Christmas together as man and wife.  We gave them a "First Christmas" ornament... They fixed some delicious Gumbo for dinner.... YUM... We had a wonderful time with them.  The picture above is their gorgeous Christmas tree --which they picked out together at a tree farm.  Isn't it pretty?

Here is a picture of the newlyweds which I took while we visited.   Jeff inherited 3 doggies.... Dawn is holding Henry.  The other two are bigger dogs which stay outside most of the time.  Henry is ADORABLE---but it has taken him awhile to share his Mama with Jeff.... ha

THEN--on Dec. 23, we drove to Nashville to have dinner and do some photography with George's beautiful daughter, Kelly, and her hubby, Chuck.  They live in Buffalo --so we don't get to see them often.  BUT-since they were in Nashville attending an event,  we took the opportunity to meet with them for some time together...

After dinner,  we drove to an interesting old cemetery to do some walking and take some pictures.  The cemetery,  Mount Olivet  Cemetery,  is really interesting.  The weather was TERRIBLE (cold and drizzly) --so we didn't stay long.  BUT--we did get some good pictures while we were there.  The picture of Kelly and Chuck above was taken at the cemetery.  They were standing next to a HUGE Magnolia tree (which I have pictured in the next photo below).  NOTE:  Chuck is really taller than Kelly---but she was standing on a large tree root.

The cemetery (250 acres) was established in 1856---so it is very old with some interesting sculptures.  Besides these sculptures,  there were some AWESOME old trees on the property.   The picture above was one of the largest MAGNOLIA trees I have ever seen.   Note the trunk of this huge tree in the photo above of Kelly/Chuck.

Besides the Magnolia tree,   I also saw the largest HOLLY TREE I have ever seen.  In fact, there were several Holly trees in this area ---and probably more Magnolias.  The picture above shows one of these gorgeous Holly trees.  They are LOADED with berries.... So pretty!

And here is a close-up picture of some of the beautiful Holly berries.

Finally,  I'll close with some photos of some of the gorgeous sculptures in that cemetery. 

 As you can imagine,  we had a wonderful three days with family.  That made our Christmas very very special this year.

We drove to Tullahoma yesterday to see Dad.  (We go down there about every other week.)  He is fine ---and kept talking about someone selling all of the horses... HA HA ---he has never had any horses!!!! Bless his heart.

Hope you have a great weekend.  I will see you on Monday.   HAPPY 2013 to YOU.

Hugs,

Emoticons

Christmas Morning at our Home

Hello There --and Happy New Year!!!!  Hope all of you had a fabulous Christmas.  I do have one more set of photos to share --that of Christmas Morning at our House... Hope you don't mind seeing one more set of Christmas pictures!!!!!

George and I did have a fabulous Christmas this year.  We were on the road 3 different days---visiting family... On Dec. 20,  we drove to Tullahoma and celebrated Christmas with Dad Adams... Then on Dec. 22, we drove to Dalton, GA and had a wonderful day with son Jeff and his bride, Dawn.  AND--on Dec. 23, we drove to Nashville and visited with George's beautiful daughter, Kelly, and hubby Chuck (who were visiting friends in Nashville)...

Because we did the 'family thing' ahead of time,  George and I celebrated Christmas at home with each other --and enjoyed a fabulous day together both on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day.  We enjoyed a couple of our traditions on Christmas Eve;  one was sitting together and listening to the entire MESSIAH on CD,  and the other was opening ONE gift each along with sharing some Eggnog before going to bed. 

Then on Christmas morning,  we slept in (which was nice),  had breakfast and did our devotions BEFORE opening presents.  (That's a switch from the olden days when we had children at home.)  Then we cleaned up, got dressed and took our set of photos together using the tripod... We do this every Christmas --so that we'll have some new pictures for next year's Christmas Cards...

For those of you who know us,  you will know that even though I make a 'big deal' out of Christmas (and most everything else in our lives---ha),  we don't spend alot of money at Christmas.  One of our traditions is buying each other special ornaments each year for our tree.  We love doing that so that every Christmas, we can relive the previous years through our ornaments.

Hope you enjoy seeing some of this year's photos.. Be sure to click on them for enlargements...  Above is a picture which George took on Christmas morning BEFORE we opened our presents.

Here are a couple of t-shirts we gave each other.  We had never had a Great Smoky Mountain National Park t-shirt --even though we have been there a million times and love it there.   George got us a Grand Canyon Sunset t-shirt ---made from a photo which he had taken when we were there in 2011.

These are some of the ornaments we gave each other this year.  There's a music one --since we both love music.  There's a bird one--since I love my backyard birds...  The one in the bottom right corner is of Beehive Geyser (Yellowstone).  George took that photo when we were there this past September.

Here are some more pictures taken that morning... See that cup?  George took a picture from one of our Fall trips to the Foothills Parkway in the Smokies and had it put on two cups for us...  AND--see the angel?  That is a beautiful Willow Angel which hangs on the tree.  I collect Willows --so was THRILLED to have this new one.

Here are more ornaments... The top one on the left is a picture George took from inside the Air Force Academy Chapel when we were there in September.  Next to it is a Mt. Rushmore ornament... Below on the left is a little wooden angle for our tree... AND--the new Willow Angel is beside it...

I love my new Waterfall Calendar,  and George  (and I both) love our new Electric Blanket... Santa knew that we needed a new one since our old one quit working!!!

Here are just some of the 'many' pictures we took with our tripod on Christmas morning... You'll have to pick out your favorite... I'm saving my favorite one to show you at the end of this post....

Here's one more set of pictures from our gift exchange... There are three of George's pictures which he had blown up and framed... I especially love the one in the top left.  I've never had a canvas picture before --and this was taken from one of our favorite places,  Skyline Drive in Virginia...  The middle one on top shows my new Photo Shop Elements 11 program.  AND-the framed photo on the right was taken by George in the Smokies.  The photo on the bottom right is of Pikes Peak --and shows those gorgeous Aspens in bloom.

AND----to prove that both George and I can be SILLY (not that I need to prove that--ha ha),  here are a couple of crazy pictures taken while we were taking tripod pictures --looking for that perfect shot.

Finally,  here is my favorite Christmas picture of us taken in 2012... This one will probably be on next year's Christmas Cards--unless we change our minds between now and then... ha ha

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and a fun New Year's celebration.  Did you have your 'black-eyed-peas' yesterday---for good luck???  I always make Hoppin' John  (which is a rice, black-eyed-peas, bacon, ham, sausage, onions casserole) ---so hopefully, we will have a fabulous 2013...

Love to ALL,

Emoticons