Well, we all know the saying, "Saving the best for last", right? And in this case, it is very true... December is the last month of the year and by far my favorite. Not only is it my own birthday (and let's be honest, who DOESN'T love a day about yourself?) but also it is the month of CHRISTMAS! This year, not only did December have these two wonderful events, but God just put the sprinkles on top (I know the saying is really the cherry on top, but I never really cared for any cherries, blah)! Best gift of the year: a new baby girl! My brother and sister-in-law just had their third precious bundle of joy and rightly named her Gloria. She is perfect. And beautiful. And pretty much the best thing since the last niece was born! And I am not biased. At all. Just look at the picture and try to argue.
Not many things are sweeter than a new little baby. I think God actually planned that pretty well, huh?
So this joyous occasion was followed by my birthday celebration a couple weeks later. I have wonderful friends, and thankfully they love to eat pizza too! My birthday just happened to fall on the night of the Ten out of TENN concert at the EXIT IN, so my party was planned for me. We started at Mellow Mushroom where we devoured some pizzas and made a lot of commotion, followed by inhaling some DELICIOUS cupcakes made (homemade, no less) by my amazing roommate, Betsy. It was fabulous. I also received some far-from-disappointing cards that never fail to make me laugh (I have funny friends).
The concert, needless to say, left me speechless! Best concert I can remember going to in a long time, maybe ever! Had some to do with the music and some to do with the fun people that went with me..
Next week after that, we began the Christmas marathon with my mom's side of the family. My mom hosts the annual party now, and while it is a huge feat to prepare and organize that many people, she always does it flawlessly (and I would be saying this, even if I didn't know that she would be reading it... but it never hurts to suck up a little around Christmas time). It was great to see everyone, even if my dad did say I looked like Robin Hood and my belt got made fun of by three out of five uncles. It is to be expected, it is how we show love. Special moment of the night, the big surprise for my Papaw. My Granny had given my mom some old records to get rid of, and being the nosey woman she is (thankfully in this story) she sorted through them before disposing of some... and in the stack she found an old recording of my Papaw playing when he was 17! They played it for everyone, and his response was adorable. Such the humble, quiet Papaw that he is, he just sat smiling that crooked grin that is so "Chester". Love it, such a keepsake that my sweet, impulsive Granny tried to throw away! And since all my mom's siblings were present, we were able to get some great pictures... here is one picture of the whole group... hard to get almost everyone opened-eyed and NOT talking (and if you know my family, you know what I mean)
So, thank you to Gloria Avonlea for starting off the Christmas season right!
