The decorations were absolutely beautiful....
Especially the pineapple tree....
I can't believe it's getting so close. Only 17 more days and I'll be a married woman!....so I guess I can go ahead and share....We have changed wedding plans and date. Instead of having a big shebang here with lots of people and flowers and bows and frills and things, Matthew and I are going to Hot Springs to get married. Just the two of us with no frills. I have never really wanted a big wedding here. My first choice was a beach wedding, but that didn't work out for us. This will be the next best thing!!! I'm so excited and can't wait until 24 days from today!
We'll be staying at a very romantic bed and breakfast. They're treating us with wedding cake and champagne for our honeymoon night. Then we'll enjoy a couples massage and thermal baths on Bath House Row! Yay!
We do still plan on having a reception on the original wedding date so we can share our happy day with all our friends and family! Lots to do and look forward to in the upcoming weeks. :-)
We had such an awesome Christmas in our new house. It was so nice for Matthew to have vacation to take while I was out for two weeks so we could spend time together during the day. It was fun decorating the new house and getting it ready for Christmas.
I always enjoy all of our family traditions during this time of year. On Christmas Eve, we gather at my mom's house and when my dad gets home from work, we open our presents from each other. Even Rascal got dressed up for the occasion!
Then around 5ish, all of our family starts arriving! And bringing food. And presents! Alec kicked the night off by reading a Christmas poem that he wrote....
After eating all the good food and digging into the presents, Mimi read Twas the Night Before Christmas and we all gathered around in the kitchen to listen.....
Some of us didn't pay attention:
Then it was home (in the snow!!!) for everyone and time to get ready for bed (and Santa) for us. Alec & I slept in the extra room. Well, we didn't really sleep much. I tried really hard, but Alec kept sitting up looking at my face to see if my eyes were open and then seeing what time it was to see if we could get up yet. Not to mention the spring that was poking up out of the mattress. My PJs snagged on it when I rolled over and tore a nice hole right over my rump. FINALLY morning came and we got up to see if Santa came.....
And he did! We got so many cool things and everyone was so excited to open presents! And then it was time to go back to bed and rest!!!!!!
I'm so fortunate to be blessed with such a wonderful family. I love each and everyone of them. I'm so looking forward to this new year and everything it will bring. Keeping old traditions alive and building new ones with my new husband and family! Time to start planning a wedding! 
