A Christmas Story for people having a bad day:

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.
Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the rum. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.
The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Georgia On My Mind

Well... Russ and I made it home from our unbelievably short trip to Savannah, GA. I say short because we only spent one full day there. However, the drive was LONG!!! We drove a tiring 9 hours for Russ to interview and fit in some tourist attractions all in one weekend!

I must say that I had a blast!! The main attraction that I couldn't wait for was Paula Deen's restaurant! Yes, we ate at The Lady and Sons! Oh my goodness! It was SOOOO good! Since it was Sunday...they had a buffet. All you could eat PLUS dessert! The waitress brought us one of each dessert because we couldn't decide. Yummy!!

Me in front of the restaurant

Inside the Paula Deen store - cute aprons!

Russ and I even stopped for a photo op with Paula herself! (the cardboard one, that is)

Of course I bought stuff! Hmmm...wonder whose Christmas presents are in the bags!?

Okay...so I had my fun! Now, it was time for Russ. Who knew that I married a history buff!? And, let me say, we were in the right place for history! We walked a couple of blocks to the carriage rides. We were dying to see the historic district and the ride lasted one hour. So, we took it. Good choice! I'm sure Russ could tell you all the historic significance there. I simply thought it was beautiful! So, I'm sure I am posting the insignificant pictures just because I think they're pretty.

The private carriage ride - cost: $85! Nope, we didn't take that one!

Waiting for the public carriage ride to begin - in the market area.

We actually lucked out anyway! We were the only two on the ride! These are our guides.

One of the many squares in the history district

This is for my brother! This is the place where Forrest Gump sat on the bench in the movie. The bench was actually part of the set, so they took it with them after shooting the movie. They did build benches later, that looked the same, around the square.

Like I said, I somehow married a history buff. I, however, was never that good at it in school. So, after our tour of the historic district...Russ wanted to check out Wormsloe, suggested by our guide. The family that started this plantation right as they got off the boat in Savannah still lives here. It is a beautiful area!

The entry into Wormsloe - 1.5 miles of oak trees lining the drive. Beautiful!

Russ standing by some of the ruins of the original house. These walls were built from seashells, dirt, etc. to keep the enemies out of their space. Interesting story...but I'll have to get Russ to retell it.

I waited patiently while Russ took pictures of the "landscapes."

We had a great trip! We fit all we could into one day! And after such a long drive home, it was good to sleep in my own bed!

From Our House to Yours...

Well...Christmas is coming very quickly for us this year! We have a jam packed schedule between the two of us. I've been busily shopping, wrapping gifts, and putting up the remainder of the decorations. Russ has been out of town every other day or so on interviews. We are actually getting ready to head to Savannah, GA tomorrow morning for an interview. Russ just returned, tonight, from Mobile. It's crazy around here! But, it's always fun that way. I thought I'd show you a few pics of the decorations so far since most of you won't be around to see them. Hope you enjoy!

The tree and stockings: Russ's, mine, and Farley's (of course!)

Our Christmas tree - notice the gifts I've wrapped so far.

The piano - These carolers are collectibles that my grandmother gave me "on loan" until my dad wants them. My dad used to give these to my mom for The 12 Days of Christmas. He still does the 12 Days of Christmas - just with other things. Some of the gifts include: Dickens Village collection, Clothtique Santas, Gail Pittman dishes, anything else my sister or I pick out for him! Ha! This is a tradition that Russ and I have picked up! It's so much fun!

My CUTE Christmas dishes!!! I love these!

Bunko!

Since I've come to Van Winkle, a lot has changed. As with any school, the faculty changes a little from year to year. After last year, a few of the "original" Van Winkle crew decided we needed to make time to see each other regularly and catch up. What better way than a night of BUNKO once a month!? So, the eight of us that were willing to give up our first Tuesday of each month got together and started our Bunko group. It is SO much fun! We had our second bunko night this week. It was the first time we actually played! Last month, we sat around and talked all night until time was up. So, we just rolled off for prizes!

Strum, Pemberton, Jierski, and Land rollin' the dice!
(Yes, last names first in a teacher's world)

Molly with her Bunko pearls!

Mrs. Pemberton brought everyone a Christmas ornament for their tree. How perfect!

The prize-winners for the night!
Don't get too excited. I won because I LOST the most games!!
Molly, me, and Ms. Daniel (I can't get into calling her by her first name because she used to be my assistant principal!)

SO much fun hanging out with these girls! I can't wait for next month!

Guess who!

Can you guess who this guy is?! That's right...my sweet hubby got his first set of "big boy glasses!" I'm so proud! Ha! Well...seeing as how I've had glasses for as long as I can remember - it's really funny when an adult gets their first pair and has absolutely NO idea what to do with them. You may remember me telling you about Russ staying with friends of ours, Jimbo and Rachael, when he was in Memphis last month. Jimbo is in optometry school. Russ had been complaining of headaches when he was reading, etc. So, Jimbo set up an appointment to see Russ. This is really funny to me that these guys are the future of our medical field...especially after watching all the messes they have gotten into over the years. That's for another post! Anyway, after Jimbo's exam...he found that Russ had -0.75 in his left eye and -0.5 in his right eye with a little astigmatism. I don't think my eyes have ever seen those numbers! They just jumped on up to the more "mature" numbers! Ha! So, we went to find a new pair of glasses for Russ a couple of weeks ago. And they finally came in! Yay! Doesn't he look like a "real-life radiologist!?" Ha!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, many of you have wondered if we're alive because I haven't blogged in so long! Let me just tell you...we have had a FULL Thanksgiving week!! I was off all week, and Russ didn't come back until Tuesday. So, there wasn't much to blog about. Tuesday night, Kristin and Dustin came in town to get an early start on the holidays. We ate, shopped, and worked on making some Christmas gifts. Wednesday night, the rest of the Smith crew came to town. Each year, since my mom's parents have gotten older, Russ and I have Thanksgiving dinner at our house for that side of the family. Last year, my dad's mom moved to Corinth. So, this was the first year we didn't have Thanksgiving at her house. Therefore...you guessed it! We had Thanksgiving lunch at our house for the Smith side. Now, that means that the entire Smith crew stayed in our 1358 square foot house! Nice and cozy! Daddy, Mama, Maw Maw, Kristin, Dustin, me, Russ, and Farley! Lunch was great! Mama cooked most of the meal. We had the traditional turkey, ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, blueberry salad, Greek pasta salad, rolls, sweet potato casserole, and strawberry cake. Yum yum!

Sleeping arrangements in the living room! Kristin and I in the guest bedroom and Maw Maw in mine and Russ's bedroom.

YES, Dustin came to lunch looking like this! At least he dressed up for the occasion!

After lunch, the Coons came over. That's right - I said COON, as in RACcoon! That would be my mother's side of the family. So, you can only imagine! Russ and I cooked for the group like we do every year since we've had a house. We had crunchy Romaine salad, smoked pork tenderloin, grilled asparagus, grilled sausage, cheese, veggie tray, Greek pasta salad, rolls, and spiced tea. For desert, Russ fixed his famous white chocolate bread pudding! To die for!

Maw Maw waiting to eat!

Kristin and Daddy

Me and Dustin

Kristin, Mama, and Russ

Russ was very persuasive trying to get us to taste the grilled asparagus!

Waiting to eat. Admiring the spread!

The food!

The white chocolate bread pudding!!!

Most of the family chowing down!

The guys watching football

Friday morning, Kristin and I talked Daddy into escorting us to the mall at FIVE A.M!!! Yes, we did the Black Friday thing! We shopped until 10:30 or so. Then, Kristin and Russ went back for about three more hours!! WOW! Daddy, Mama, Maw Maw, and myself stayed back to watch the bulldogs get creamed by the rebels. Boo! As soon as the game was over, we packed our bags and headed to Corinth for a little Johnson Thanksgiving time!

Saturday was the official Johnson Thanksgiving Dinner. Russ's dad, Roan, Jenny, and myself made dishes for the meal. There was SO much to eat! It was wonderful spending time with the Johnsons. Russ and Jimmy took their mom to pick out a new Christmas tree. Her old one had seen its day long ago! Ha! So, they came home with her new multi-colored prelit tree. The grandchildren decorated while the adults visited. It was very nice! It's so much fun with children during the holidays! Russ and I had as much fun as the kids did!

Clay and Russ playing around

Russ and Sam dancing to the Christmas music from our blog!

Me and Leah resting after a l-o-n-g go of dancing, twirling, twisting, flying, etc. to the Christmas music.

The Jimmy Johnson family enjoying their dinner.

Me, Jenny, and Russ's mom

The kids enjoyed decorating the tree!

Grace and Leah always have a great time together!

After such a full weekend of visiting, shopping, and LOTS and LOTS of food...Russ and I need to start our diet so we can enjoy all the holiday food coming up!! What a fun-filled week!