Tacky Christmas

I can't believe I never had a tacky Christmas sweater party before last night! It honestly was one of the funnest, most hilarious parties I've ever been a part of. I was extremely impressed with my friends' creativity and willingness to play along with my silly idea. We laughed SO much and thoroughly enjoyed the night. Here are a few pictures from our night-o-fun!!!

Cupcakes!

Tomorrow night I host "Tacky Christmas Sweater Bunco" at my house. I've been busy cleaning, painting canvases for presents, and preparing the meal. The main course will be poppyseed chicken casserole, homemade macaroni and cheese, pan seared asparagus, and cornbread. For dessert I wanted something festive, and since cupcakes have been on my mind (see Haley's blog), I decided to make some! They're Christmas ornaments! The cupcake is a cake mix but I made the icing myself. I put an entire bottle of red food coloring it in to try and make it red, but this is as red as it got! The hook is made of a pretzel inside a Reese's peanut butter cup. The dots are mini M&Ms. I'm a little disappointed in the way they look- they aren't as cute as I wanted them to be. I must say though, that icing is yummy!


More pictures will be coming soon of everyone's tacky Christmas outfits. I can't wait to see what everyone came up with!

Extra! Extra!

Oh, the joy of living in a small town! We had our family Christmas at my Grandmother's house this past weekend. She lives a couple hours away, in a VERY, VERY small town. I happened upon the town newspaper, published weekly and only about four pages in length. When you live in such a small town, not much is newsworthy. Hence, the need for something to take up space. The back page of their paper is a section entitled "Around Town." Citizens call or write in and tell what they did the week the paper is published. These are actual entries in the newspaper. Yes, actual entries, no lie.... Only first names will be used to protect the identity of the victims' families.

"Audie gave Carolyn some really nice pecans. It was a nice surprise. Thanks, Audie!"

"Mary, STACY, and Russell carried Ora Mae out to eat at Ryan's on Thanksgiving Day."

"Howard talked with Ora Mae on the phone Sunday afternoon."

"Lessie, Viola, and Nomie shopped Friday."

"Shirley made a trip to see her doctor last Tuesday."

"Braxine enjoyed a telephone conversation with her brother."

"Margie's son carried her out riding on Thanksgiving Day to several places. She really enjoyed the outing."

"Violet visited her brother Bug in the hospital several days last week."

If you've blown your nose in the past week, or maybe taken a shower or eaten a meal or two, call 555-867-5309 and have it published.

I thought you were supposed to find GOOD deals on "Black Friday...."

Updates

First off, I want to thank Martina, Julie, Andrea, Jennifer, and Katie for their great ideas for my new weekly posts. I think I'm going to use all of your ideas and have a weekly favorite, whether it be a quote, song, item, etc. I'm excited!

I'm soooo glad to be off this week for Thanksgiving break. Haley's readers already know we had a girls weekend this past Friday through Sunday. We had such a great time- eating, shopping, and decorating the house for Christmas. It was a much needed break for me. I laughed so much I cried (imagine that) and thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with some of my favorite girls. Here are the before and after pictures of Haley's mantle that we decked out with Christmas decorations.



Haley and I decided to try our hand at painting Christmas canvases. I came straight home and painted my first one last night. Here's the finished product.



I'm excited about spending time with my family later on this week. Cort and Trey are coming home Wednesday night. I always look forward to seeing them. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing sister and a wonderful brother in law that makes her so incredibly happy. The entire family, nine kids and all, will be together Thursday. I will try to post pictures next week. Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday. Happy Turkey Day!!

________________ of the Day

Alright, so I'm wanting a weekly post to publish on my blog. Katie has her weekly random knowledge, Julie has a weekly poem...and I have nothing. I've been thinking about what to do for a while, but nothing has come to me yet. I'm begging for ideas. What can I post weekly that would be interesting and fun to read? The person with the best idea gets a shout out in the next post. Hurry! Think, Think, Think!!!!!

Harvest Festival

Our annual Harvest Festival was last night. We invite everyone in the community to come out and dress up, trunk or treat, play games, and enjoy free food. This year I think we hit an all time high in attendance. Last year we had around 3000 people and just judging by the looks of the number of people there last night, I'd venture to say we had even more this year. My job each is always the same...to paint faces. There's no telling how many little cheeks went home with my "masterpieces" on them. It was lots of fun!


Love this girl...

Thanks for the cute ghost tattoos, Katie!

Loyal fan... :)

My sweet little witch!

Charlie Man!