2 for 1 Holiday Special

Two holidays have passed and I have not written. I guess it's good news that we have found ourselves that busy.

Princess and t

This Fall was jam-packed with trips back to Greenville/Clemson to support our Tigers and spent time with our families. This Halloween was particularly exciting for us as we got to spend it in our new house. Since our first year together, Chris and I have hosted a costume party. Since this year made it the 6th annual party, we basically had no choice but to keep it going --despite the move. Normally, we have it at my Grandmama's house on Lake Keowee the Saturday before Halloween but, seeing as we are now in VA, it made much more sense to break in our new place and invite new friends to come. We had a great night and it pretty much doubled as a house warming party as none of our new friends had come over before.

If there's one thing I get a huge kick out of it's hosting/planning an event. We had a chili bar, cupcakes, spiked apple cider, cheese ball with crackers and apples, and candy (of course!). There's always a vote taken for best costume and, this year, there was a three-way tie. To narrow it down, we had a dance-off to "Thriller" in the backyard which led to another tie breaker--rock, paper, scissors. Our lucky winner was a Erin, a new friend from church, who dressed in a footy-pajama zebra costume.

3rd Place: Jenna & Matt as "Mama" & Honey Boo Boo

2nd & First Place- Jenna as Cheetah & Erin as Zebra

Halloween didn't stop there--Oh, no...there's more! Our street has a block party (pre-trick-or-treating) each year and we got to join in on the fun! All of us enjoyed chili, beer and other delicious fall goodies. Mid-party, all the kids were dressed up and ready to take to the streets.Chris and I walked home (across the street) and gave out candy to the masses! We actually had a more than 4 trick-or-treaters this year and loved every second of it. Our neighbors are so awesome that (mid-trick-or-treating) they invited us over to grab some freshly brewed Fresh Market pumpkin-spiced [decaf] coffee. I can't tell you how much I adore the open-door policy around these parts! In case you didn't know by now, I absolutely love Halloween. How can you not?! What a fun/cozy time of year.

Skipping WAY ahead....

Then there was Thanksgiving. It was, indeed, a whirlwind. A fun whirlwind, but a whirlwind nevertheless. I would be lying if I told you all this traveling back and forth to Greenville is easy...it's downright exhausting at times when you're not used to it! This was how it all went down: We departed Roanoke for G'ville on Wednesday (which was a half-day from school) and arrived in time to drop off the dogs at my parent's house. From there we headed over to my Aunt Gayle & Uncle Gene's house for the Morgan Thanksgiving dinner. Afterwards, we went back to get the dogs and drove to Debbie/Jeff's house to stay the night. On Thanksgiving Day all of us watched the parade and dog show then engaged in a delicious Thanksgiving lunch with Chris' parents, sister, Grandmommy and Pop Pop. Shortly after feast #1, we set out on another journey to the lake house for my family's Thanksgiving dinner (taking separate cars). YUM!

Our little family :)

Just us

Us with Grandmommy & Pop Pop

Us, Katie, and Stella

Debbie & Jeff

 On Friday morning, Chris left very early to drive back to G'ville for a round of golf with Pop Pop, Jeff, and his cousin, Blake. I, on the other hand, as tradition goes, took off to Highlands, NC for a day of shopping with my mom, Grandmama, Shirley Ann, and my uncle, Brent. We got back around dinnertime and it was time for me to revisit freshman year of college. You read correctly--my sister let me stay in Clemson with her! Yes, this DOES mean that I stayed in Manning, met SA's hallmates, used the communal bathroom, wore shower shoes, had plenty of girl talk, and got ready for game day on campus. It was really pretty awesome. How many 26 year olds get to relive freshman year?

As far as game day is concerned, well, there's not a lot of good to report about the outcome. However, tailgating was fun, as it always is! After the game, we made it through the flood of Tiger and Gamecock fans back to the lake house. Chris went back with his parents to G'ville so it was just me, mom and dad up at the lake for the night--what a rarity! Sunday, I drove back to G'ville to get Chris and our pups only to discover that both Chris' and Jeff's golf clubs had been stolen at some point that weekend. After the Clemson loss AND golf club hijacking let's just say Chris was not a happy camper. :( We did stop by my mom and dad's for one last helping of turkey leftovers before making the trek back up to the Valley.

Wheewwww! It tires me out just typing all of that. All in all, though, I really must say that we abundantly blessed and extremely thankful. We took part in SIX different Thanksgiving meals between our new church community and families back home. God has really taken care of us and guided us through this whole life change. We have a roof over our heads, we eat [well] daily, have two awesome families by our sides, two sweet pups, two wonderful jobs, and each other. To that I have to just say, "Hallelujah!"

Love,

A Travelin' Fool