Mr B in Big D: December 2008

Merry Christmas everyone! I can't beleive that Christmas has come and gone. For some crazy reason it seems like the older I get the faster Christmas comes and goes. I remember as a kid it took FOREVER for Christmas to get here. Terry and I really had a wonderful holiday season here in Dallas. I definitely love decorating for Christmas (as you can tell by all the pictures.) It is the only time I decorate the house all year. This year we also were having 10 people over for dinner on Christmas day so I really went all out with decorations, and did 2 table centerpieces as well (of course I will need more storage boxes to put all this crap in once the holidays are over). It just looked so darn festive and brought back warm memories of Christmas as a child. I remember we always had such a brightly lit tree that seemed magical. I remember the blinking christmas lights in the window that dad would put up. I also remember the wonderful christmas music my dad had recorded on his reel to reel tapes that he would play. I remember my grandparents and all my aunts houses all decorated so beautifully. It just made me want to do the same to my own home, and make it warm and inviting for the holidays. I was so excited when it all was done and Christmas was here.

Christmas eve we went to our friends Todd and Bill's house and had pizza and then went driving around looking at Christmas lights (another tradition I loved as a child.) We exchanged gifts with them, and had so much fun. We are so lucky to have such fun wonderful friends like them here in Dallas, and we love them like family.

Christmas day we got up and exchanged gifts (we slept in of course, and I NEVER did that as a child). We both bought each other way too much stuff. Actually our main christmas present, a gas log fireplace, was installed 3 weeks earlier. I know your thinking who needs a fireplace in Texas? Well we have our few days of cold weather and it's been fun to be able to have a fire then. Of course we couldn't lay around too much. We cleaned the crap out of the house. Terry made homeade apple pie, and rolls for dinner. I finished the decorating touches and set the table with our new china (another christmas present, thanks JCPenney closeout sale!!) Around 5:00 pm all of our guests arrived. We all got drinks and sat around the family room and had shrimp cocktail, and duck pate. Then we all sat down had a christmas toast and ate ham, funeral potatoes, beans, and homeade rolls. It was so good and we had the best time getting to know the new friends in our home and catching up with old friends too. Then it was back to the family room for more drinks and homemade apple pie and vanilla ice cream. I just am so happy to have made some good friends here in Dallas. The only thing missing was snow and a white Christmas. It was so crazy but it was 70 degrees and sunny on Christmas, and the next day we hit 83. Terry and I just laughed as we sat on our porch in short sleeve shirts. We definitely are not in Utah anymore!!

Well anyhow there goes another year. I can't beleive how fast life seems to pass by sometimes. I'm ready for another year though, bring on New Years!!!!! And now for the endless pictures!!!

Here is our pretty fake tree we decorated all up. We sure love it, and it looked great!

Here is one of 3 big poinsettia plants. This one is in the entryway!

Here is our new gas log fireplace, stockings, and fun bubble lights on the Mantle in the family room

I decorated the dining room sideboard with martini glasses and a crystal vase filled with ornaments and lit with white lights. It was so pretty at night!

Here is our festive table for Christmas dinner

Another shot of the table. I did red and white candles and red and white roses.

Here is a side view of one of the center pieces (one with red roses, one with white roses)

Here is a long view of the 2 tables set up between the dinig and living rooms. It was such a cute Christmas table!!

Terry and I in the dining room.

Finally here is our group of friends who were nice enough to share a Christmas meal with us. Thanks so much Jerry, Mike, Leo, Todd, Bill, Ryan, and Bill. We love you guys!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Well here I am writing about Thanksgiving a week late, but I suppose it's better late then never.
Terry and I had a nice long weekend, and we had lots of fun. Thursday we met at our friends Todd and Bills house for thanksgiving dinner. There was a good crowd of friends that showed up. Todd even got a suprise visit from his mother from Utah (Bill was so sweet to arrange that.) I made 2 pumpkin pies that turned out really good (don't tell anyone that I actually baked.) Terry spent hours making ribbon jello. It's so funny how people outside of Utah have no clue about jello. Our friends from Texas just looked at us funny and laughed, but they all ate it anyways. It just wouldn't be a proper thanksgiving without ribbon jello!!! It was so much fun hanging out with friends and stuffing our faces with WAY too much food. We spent the rest of the weekend doing some shopping, putting up christmas decorations, watching movies, and being lazy bums. It was wonderful. Here is a few pictures from the weekend: