The end of 2008

Let me try to sum up the last 2 months of 2008. We started off November with a wonderful vacation to Tennessee in the Gatlinburrg/Pigeon Forge area. This is a great time to go! Not too crowded because it is in between the fall and winter seasons. The colors are wonderful, just slighly past peak. The weather was perfect! It made me never want to leave. Check out the video I made of our vacation.

I've been working all the holidays for some extra pay, but it hasn't really affected my time to spend with my family. I worked Thanksgiving day then we went to Danny's parent's house for dinner. Then on Black Friday we had our family dinner at Kristi's house. I made my yummy pumpkin ice cream pies!

I also got to help Jacquelyn and Nicole write their letters to Santa! So cute!

Danny and I moved in with Rachel in early December. We are still trying to get things organized and some stuff unpacked....it's so hard having a houseful of stuff and having to decide what can stay in a box indefinitely and what few things can go in our one room. I've pretty overwhelmed and feeling like a fish out of water this month trying to get used to the transition. I have never handled change well. In the middle of all this I have had to find time to finish a cross stitch of Nicole that I was making for Kristi for Christmas and also find time to study for my CMT test. I took the test on Dec 22 and I passed! So I now carry the CMT credentials behind my name (which means that I am a certified medical transcriptionist....only about 3000 in the country!)

I went with Rachel to a Christmas party downtown at the Mills House that the Spine doctors throw every year. It was pretty nice....at least we got to dress up!

Mack loved to nap underneath the Christmas Tree on my homemade tree skirt. Our Christmas was pretty normal. We went to my aunts house on Christmas Eve Eve for the reading of the christmas story and singing carols by candlelight. We also watched videos of different family members' vacations.

Christmas Eve was spent at mom and dad's. Dad made chili for dinner then we opened stockings and gifts. Here is a picture of Kristi holding the shadow box and cross stitch of Nicole that I made for her .

I worked on Christmas Day, but then Danny and I went to his parent's house for dinner and presents and to hang out. They got a Wii, so we had a ball playing on that.



We rang in the new year at our friends Kim and Josh's house. I've never really been to a New Year's party with friends....usually just hang out at home or with family....so that was fun. I wasn't in the best of moods but I tried to make the best of it and I did have a good time. We played cornhole and warmed up by the fire pit, we watched Josh set the lawn on fire with faulty fireworks, and we all toasted strawberry wine at the stroke of midnight. It was a great little party!