Hello, Holidays!

Ho, Ho, Ho! Jingle all the way! Deck the halls! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

As it is for ALL of us, the holidays are certainly a crazy busy time of year, what with extra family gatherings, holiday events, friend get-togethers, church events, decorating, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and, oh, yeah, just generally living day-to-day life. Ha! But it's also awesome, isn't it? 

We kicked off our holiday season with a bang over our Thanksgiving Break:

• We celebrated all the things we were thankful for throughout the month, with the kiddos listing something they were thankful for each morning that was then listed on our little wreath, which included: Dolls with long hair and dresses; Underwear and clothes; Sprite that Daddy gave me; Peppa Pig; God and Jesus; All the trees; All that you've given us; television; Minnie Mouse suitcase; Spiders; My little brother, Harrison; Pop (because he fought in the army for us); Nana; Bammy and Digby; Mom's beautiful ponytail; Raleigh; Banks; Mommy and Daddy; My teachers; My life; Abigail; My family; Cars; Us.

• We filled three Operation Christmas Child boxes for children in need:

• We headed to Clemson with some of our best friends for the Tigers' last home game of the year, which also happened to be Military Appreciation Day (and we won! Go Tigers!):

• We got a little wild and crazy 'round the Lu household

• We rested and rested some more...and some more. It was just lovely.

• We traveled to Aiken to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with my hub's "side" of the family. We soaked in lots of time with our Nana and Pop and loved seeing all of the extended family as well!

• On Thanksgiving morning, we headed to Columbia to spend the day with my parents, my stepbrother and sista, and my precious nephew. We watched the parade, had a little shooting competition :0 (Bammy whooped us all!), and devoured our meal.

• We returned to the Mill, and bright and early Friday morning, my girl and I headed out for some Black Friday shopping. Although we were sad that the girls from my whole "side" of the family weren't able to continue this tradition together this year due to different travel schedules, Raleigh and I had a blast shopping and dining out, just the two of us. <3

• We spent Friday afternoon together as a family, hiking our local Greenway, skipping stones in a pond, watching a train race past and then walking along the tracks, and visiting the horses and donkeys on the extensive land. It was awesome.  

• We spent Saturday with several other couples from our neighborhood, cheering our Clemson Tigers on to an undefeated regular season  after we took down the Gamecocks (!!!) while enjoying friend time for both the kiddos and adults alike (11 adults; 15 kids!).

We concluded our Thanksgiving break by carrying on a fun family tradition, but more on that in a future post. :) While the next few weeks are certainly going to be crazy and busy and tiring, they are also going to be full of time with family and friends, filled with plenty of memory-making and just all around good cheer. I can't wait!