Christmas 2011

Unbelievably, this will be our last post of 2011! We had a great Christmas in Little Rock and Charlotte this year. It's hard to believe this was our fourth married Christmas together. We drove down to Little Rock on Tuesday the 20th and headed over to Mike and Kathy's house. Wednesday morning Kathy sent Sarah and I to get pedicures while Kathy watched Shepherd. It was great to spend some alone time with Sarah and get some girl time in. It was a really sweet idea that Kathy had. Wednesday was John's 29th birthday so we ate dinner over at John and Sarah's and gave John some birthday gifts. Shepherd was looking great and even helped John open his presents.

Thursday night was when we celebrated Christmas with the Rainwaters since we were going to Charlotte this year and John and Sarah were going to El Dorado. Shepherd got some John Deere farm toys and he immediately thought they looked good to eat. From us, Shepherd got some books (typical teacher gift) and an Arkansas sweatshirt. He looks pumped to try it out.

It was a great night opening presents and spending time together. On Friday we hung out together and even went to Arkadelphia and had lunch with David's grandmother.

On Saturday we flew to Charlotte to be with my family on Christmas Eve night and Christmas day. We were thrilled when we found out we'd were going to get to fly with Buddy the Elf. Yes! We forgot to ask what his favorite color was but I think he ordered syrup on his peanuts. :)

We got in right in time to hang out for a bit before going to the Christmas Eve service. We opened family Christmas presents on Christmas Eve and enjoyed hanging out with my now ten-year old triplet cousins. They were the flower girls and ring bearer in our wedding and we can't believe they're ten already!

On Sunday night we had a great Christmas dinner and stuffed ourselves on Granny's chicken and dumplings. She can sure whip up a great meal!

Monday morning we had a massive breakfast of eggs, Alabama sausage, bacon, biscuits and grits. Yum. Monday night Granny and Grandad did the traditional fish fry. It's deep fried everything and SO GOOD. This year we were a little more healthy and had some boiled shrimp and grilled cod thrown in. :) It was quite a spread.

After dinner it was game time. Nothing like some mexican train after a complete eat fest!

Tuesday night Tripp flew back to Fayetteville and we drove back to Little Rock with Mom and Dad on Wednesday (13 hours). We got to make a stop in Memphis and have a delicious dinner of smoked pork tenderloin with my Uncle Ted and Aunt Princess got to see my cousins Clancy, Trotter, and Jennifer.

Thursday morning we drove back to Kansas City. We had so much gear to bring home. Our car was packed to the roof...

Tripp gave us an outdoor fire pit, which we had to bring home in pieces, but we got it here thankfully and can't wait to use it. Mom and Dad gave us a step ladder, which sadly, didn't make it back. Our families are beyond generous and we had a wonderful Christmas being with them. We couldn't have asked for a better holiday celebrating our Savior's birth.

Deuce got a little present from Mike and Kathy...he was feeling pretty good about his Christmas too...

We greet 2012 with open arms, and currently, sickness. That's right unfortunately we got back Thursday night and David promptly came down with a stomach bug. It was not a fun night for him, on top of the fact that we were exhausted from all of our travels. He slept most of yesterday while I tried to get our house in order in case I came down sick as well. So far, I haven't gotten sick, and David seems to be on the upswing.

2012 is looking like it will hold lots of fun things for us. The main thing is that now, in less than 5 months, David will become Dr. David Rainwater. The year we thought would never come HAS come, and in fact, has come quickly. We will both turn 27 this year. Mom and Dad will celebrate their 30th anniversary and are planning on taking us all on a once and life-time trip to Italy. David will either start his AEGD or a new job as a dentist! We could stay in Kansas City another year or move back to Arkansas! Who knows what else might happen in 2012! We are pumped to see. Goodbye 2011...it's been a good year!!!

Gospel Group Christmas Dinner

Last night was our first ever Gospel Group Christmas dinner. We've really been looking forward to hosting it and doing a really nice Christmas dinner where we can all just hang out. I had planned to bust out the fine china and crystal, so I spent Tuesday night removing it all from the basement (that was a challenge in and of itself), Wednesday setting it up and deciding how we could seat 11 people, a toddler and a baby comfortably, and Thursday finishing up some food items for the actual meal. David and I had a great time working on it. I couldn't have gotten it done without my hubby either! Here are some initial set-up pictures...

This is the living room table, Eddie, Sheena, Chase (JJ and Mandy's friend), JJ, and Mandy sat here...

The dining room table...David, Me, Nick, Christie, Matt and Diana sat here.

It was so much fun for me to set this all up. As hard as it is to store, keep clean, clean up, and store again, using your china for special occasions is so much fun. We haven't had too many opportunities to use it and this was so much fun. We all ate, talked, laughed, ate some more, and then played white elephant. For dinner I made a ham (on Tripp and Mom's recommendation) and a hashbrown casserole (Kathy's recipe) and Mandy brought a broccoli casserole, Diana brought salad, Nick and Christie brought pumpkin cheesecake, and Eddie and Sheena brought chips and salsa. We had tons of food and it was all delicious.

Aislyn always manages to find something to play with at our house...we were pleasantly surprised when she decided to walk around in this all night. :)

Dinner time! It was a snug fit but we made it work and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. David and I talked and talked after eveyone left about how fun it had been, how thankful we are for everyone, and how nice it is to have people we can truly share things with in Kansas City.

Aislyn helped everyone open their gifts during white elephant...

Matt was really proud of his wooden game set.

JJ was the proud recipient of David and I's contribution to the game...

Aislyn even got her own present.

Whole group shot. Love these guys!

As I pulled out all of our china and crystal to have a celebration with our Kansas City church family, I was quickly reminded of our Little Rock church family and the fact that it is because of their generosity at our wedding that we could do something like this. What a blessing to have been completely "set up" by the people who helped mold us into the people that we are. Now we can share that blessing with other people that we love.

It's almost Christmas break! We have our whole Sunday School class party tonight, I've got a baby shower in the morning, and then we have GOT to finish up our Christmas shopping!

Tis the season to be jolly...fa la la la la, la la la la!

Boards Part 2...Check!

Christmas came early this week...David got his scores back! He passed round 2 of the National Boards! YES!!!!! That is the last test like that that'll he'll have to take. All that stands between him and graduation are his competencies on real patients. We feel great and so thankful to have the test behind us.

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

Hello Christmas! Welcome!

This week we got our Christmas tree picked out and up...Christmas is really here! We went and picked up a Frasier Fir and brought it home to decorate. We were filled with the Christmas spirit so we made some hot chocolate, cranked up the Christmas music, and got to decorating. Mom gave us this great ornament last year. It says, "Merry Christmas...y'all!"

While David put the lights on, I got all the ornaments out and ready.

As much as I love summer, when winter starts to roll in it IS fun. We had a great time finishing up the decor and now all we need is a little snow! :)

David got a little bit sick this week, but is now starting to be on the upswing thankfully. I had a good week at work. It was nice to have a normal week. Friday night we went to the HCA varsity basketball game and today we tried to take care of some Christmas shopping. We're laying low tonight trying to get David back up and running.