Christmas Evening with the Harrells

After hanging out at Grandma Angell's house, we went back to Dustin's family's home where we exchanged gifts and had a great time.

Opening gifts

Dustin's amazing parents
We both got GREAT shoes!
What causes this?
Kayla and Jessica with their owl bandannas... haha!Keep the cameras rolling!

Christmas Day with the Harrells and Angells

This year we arrived at the Harrell gathering on Christmas evening. Before we arrived we changed into our "tacky Christmas sweaters." We and Dustin's sisters planned a few weeks in advance to wear them to this event and see what people had to say. It was pretty funny. We had a great time!

Aunt Donna and Wayne
Dustin and his sister, Kayla, karate chopping each other.
Me and Dustin's sister Jessica. Complete with tacky Christmas sweaters and bows.
Jessica is whispering a sound that Dustin's Mom hates into her ear. Look at that expression!
Make silly faces!
Us with our tacky sweaters.

Dustin and his cousin, Jonathan.
Grandma Angell- she is so sweet!
Uncle Tommy

Christmas Day with the Dickens

On Christmas Eve my family comes over. On Christmas morning Dustin and I wake up and have "our Christmas." After we have exchanged our gifts we get ready and go to my parents' house. We eat brunch there and exchange gifts with my parents. Throughout the day people float in and out of my parents house. We get to see my Mom's Mom and her husband, my Mom's Dad and his wife, and My Dad's Dad and his wife. It is a busy and extremely fun day. In the late afternoon we leave and go to Dustin's Grandma's house to exchange gifts with the Angell family. And finally we go to Dustin parents house where we exchange gifts with Dustin's parents and sisters, and we stay in Winston with his family for a few days after Christmas. It sounds really stressful, but it is very relaxed and fun! Here are some snaps from the Dickens portion of the day.

Always taking pictures...
My wonderful Mom. Christmas Day is also her BIRTHDAY!!
TJ checking out Emily's exciting gift!
Dustin BIG present!
The big box contained a much smaller wrapped box, which contained an iPod. Dustin was thrilled!
Dustin and my Dad mastering the Rubiks Cube.Then the craziness begins!

Ellie got a baby that talks, moves, and sucks a bottle! She was happy.

I love my Daddy.
Present time for Katie!
I love stockings.
Every year I get a HUGE bag of my favorite candy.

My Dad and his brother, Uncle Tony. They didn't plan to dress alike...

My Dad's side of the family.

Somehow we did not get any pictures of my Mom's parents stopping by... That is sad. We had lots of fun with them too!

Christmas with The Dickens Family

It is so fun to hang out with family and make new memories every year. Here are some snaps of our gathering with the Dickens side of the family. This was at my Grandaddy Dickens' house.

Ellie taking pictures with Nana's camera!
Woah TJ!
Dustin tormenting the kids- they love it!
My Daddy- in deep conversation.
Present time! My Mom and Ellie.

Ellie got a puppy.
My Grandaddy Dickens. He is so sweet.
Present time for me!
Talking with the family...

Christmas Eve at Our House

Ever since I was a little girl, my sisters and I have exchanged our gifts for each other on Christmas Eve. We would listen to my Dad read the Christmas Story from Luke 2, then we would hang up our stockings and carefully place our homemade Christmas goodies (and some of Mom's famous Pound Cake) on a plate for Santa. And then the three of us would sit in a little circle on the floor and open the gifts that we had picked out for each other. Now that I have three sisters and a brother, and now that I'm married, we still carry on the tradition. Except now everyone comes to my house! I get to make a big dinner, turn on some Christmas music, and welcome my family. It is a very special night and we have so much fun exchanging sibling gifts.

Buddies and Brothers
Ellie loves her Daddy
Me and my 21-year-old sister, Katie
Katie and little Ellie

Emily loves the Carolina Panthers... so she got some Panthers earrings. She was excited!
Katie got two umbrellas- necessities for walking to class in the rain!
Dustin and Katie constantly aggravate each other.
Dustin and Katie have a tradition of picking on each other (not just at Christmas, but at every gathering). But at Christmas they take it up a notch by giving each other some ridiculous gift(s). Last year Dustin gave Katie a $1 DVD from Target called "The White Gorilla," (with a subliminal message that that's what she is). When Katie opened it she had a shocked look on her face and told him to quickly open his gift. She had purchased the SAME DVD for him! It was pretty crazy. This year Dustin gave Katie a goody bag full of stuff like corn cushions, laxatives, a book about getting out of debt, a $1 DVD about "The Legend of Bigfoot," and a lot more. Katie gave Dustin some incense, telling him he needed it to cover his terrible smell... wow. All of us laughed until we cried (especially watching Katie take each terrible item out of her bag) . It is a weird tradition, but funny too.

I Just Love Dial-Up Internet!

You probably already know (if you have ever used dial-up) that the title of this post is utter sarcasm. When I want to use the internet at home I make sure that the laptop is connected to the phone line, I click on AOL, and I wait impatiently as the numbers dial and the connection squeels and shrieks. Most of the time while I wait for the connection I think to myself, "why don't we have high-speed?" Then I remember that it is expensive, we do not need cable TV, and dial-up is only $9 a month. "Oh yeah..."

Usually I use the internet when I'm at work while the little boy I keep is napping, or when we are at our parents' homes. But lately we've been home a little and I have been aching to post our Christmas pictures on the blog! As you can imagine, it takes about 45 minutes to upload one picture, so I will have to wait until next week to add the Christmas pictures.

So the point of this post is to let those of you who read our blog regularly (if you exist!) know that there is more to come! I usually try to post every few days and I will be getting back to that schedule next week.

In the meantime, we hope that all of you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We certainly did! Our time spent with our families was absolutely wonderful. We had so much being with all of them. If only it could have lasted longer! And every year we are blown away by the generosity of our parents, families, and employers. They are all FAR too good to us. We cannot even express our degree of gratefulness to each of them.

We are even more blown away by the gift that God so graciously offers us. The gift that we celebrate at Christmas time is the birth of Jesus Christ. The baby who became a man who became a sacrifice, all the while the Savior of our souls. If you have not already, it is not too late to read the Christmas story from Luke 2. There you will discover the real meaning of Christmas.

A Thanksgiving & Christmas Celebration

My sweet Grandma (Me-Me) combined her Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers this year. It was really fun to hang out with family, talk, and play with all the kids- not to mention the food!! My Grandma is one of the BEST cooks in the world, and that's a fact. It was a fun afternoon.

Everybody loves Dustin. This is my cousin, Carlie.

Me and my Daddy

My wonderful parents
The whole family! There are alot of us, huh?

Ellie

The "Big Girls"
T.J.

Trying to take a good picture is almost impossible. Dustin is being silly, I'm laughing, and there is always someone silly in the background!