Med School Memories

Chad Washington and his fiance Megan were in town for the holidays and dropped by to see us!! Scotty and Chad went to medical school together so it was great to hang out and remember old times!! (Well not that old!! They've only been doctors for a year now!!!) Chad is doing his neuro residency in St. Louis and Megan is going to med school in Kansas City. They're getting married this summer in Hawaii and we couldn't be happier for them!! Don't you know they'll have some awesome pictures!! We're so glad we got to hang out with them even if it was just for a quick lunch!!! Hope ya'll have a happy honeymoon!!

I'll Be Home For Christmas

I love Christmas!!! I love the cold weather, the smells, the stockings, and most of all the traditions. And our family has annual tradition of kicking off Christmas Eve. It's called Christmas Eve Gifts. It started when my dad was little and he's carried it on and now we do it!! The first person who wakes up on Christmas Eve morning and shouts out "Christmas Eve Gifts" gets to open a special present on Christmas Eve. I finally beat my sister, which is a big deal considering the fact that nobody's ever beaten her!! But we all got to open a little present!!

This is the first year me and Scotty have traveled for Christmas. Neither one of us has ever lived away from family so this was quite an experience for us. It was a quick trip to say the least!! He was on call the whole weekend before Christmas and had to work the day after so we didn't get to head to Jackson until Christmas Eve and had to drive back Christmas night!! It was such a great trip though - even if it was rushed!!!

After we got settled in, my cousin Judy came to see us since she wasn't gonna be at Granny's for Christmas lunch!! We didn't get to visit very long, but I'm so glad we got to see her!!! Love you!

After Judy left my friend Jamie came over!! She was home from Dallas and we had not seen each other since Judy's wedding!!! I've missed her so much and I always love meeting up with her when we're both home!!!

Mamaw came over a little later and brought our gifts to us. We made her open her present from us while she was there!!! We couldn't take the suspense!!!

Dad was playing the guitar in the Christmas Eve service at church so they had to head up there around 4:30. So when they left me and Scotty got ready to go have Christmas at his Mom's house with her side of the family. When we got there she had it decorated so beautifully and had all the tables set - down to place cards!!! So cute!!!

We hovered over our table because we couldn't wait to eat!!

The 4 Stooges!!

Family Portrait!!



I think my most favorite tradition on Scotty's side of the family is The Candy Tray. Mrs. Betty's dad started this when she was little and now she carries it on. He always made sure to have orange slices, Hersey's kisses, chocolate peanuts, cream drops, and ribbon candy. When cream drops are hard to find, they're substituted for M & M's.



We spent the night at Mom & Dad's and Santa came while we were asleep!! We had tons of neat gifts to open on Christmas morning!! Dad built a fire and had the video camera ready!!

Me & Amanda always sleep in matching pajamas and Dad films us coming downstairs. For some reason Scotty didn't wanna match our pj's!!


All 3 of us had letters from Santa to read before we opened our presents!! It was so much fun!!

Mom & Dad always open their presents together!!

My dad has never spent a Christmas Eve away from his mom so Granny always spends the night with us and gets up to watch us open presents. After we're done, the the grown ups get to open theirs!!



Edie waited patiently in her Christmas sweater until it was her turn to tear into the gifts!!

I decided to start a tradition of my own!! Christmas socks. I buy matching Christmas socks for all the girls in the family, give them out on Christmas Eve in their special sock boxes, and we all wear them on Christmas Day!!

Another Family Portrait!!

We left Granny's and went to MawMaw's house. She had a calf she was raising and it was the big hit!! Everybody had their moment with the calf!!

Bryson & Keely fed the calf its bottle and they did such a great job!!

I even took a turn feeding it!!! You're crazy if you think I would do this all the time, but once in my life isn't bad!!! I think Scotty was quite proud!!


After the calf had been well fed we tied it up and moved on to something else. When no one was looking Bryson untied the calf and it got loose. It was quite an ordeal, but Mr. Robert finally got the situation under control!! When we asked Bryson why he untied the calf he said it was because it looked sad and needed to be set free!! His heart was in the right place!!

Scotty and Brad went 4 wheeler riding for some brotherly bonding time!! Those streamers are such a manly look for Brad!!

By the end of the night Edie was zonked out!! She had such a busy holiday she just couldn't hold her eyes open any longer!!! We decided we might better start getting ready to go. We loaded the car, wished everybody a Merry Christmas and headed back home to Tupelo. Edie slept the whole way!!

Cookie Swap

Today we had our Christmas cookie swap at Scotty's work!!! Everybody had to make 2 dozen homeade cookies and bring the recipe you used!! I made Andes mint cookies and had the cutest little recipe cards I printed off the Internet!!! It was so much fun to hang out with all our friends and we made it home with some GOOD cookies!!! I guess you could say we're set for the holidays!!!

Angel Tree Distribution

The Salvation Army has many community projects, but one of the most well known is the Angel Tree. This is for families who cannot afford to buy Christmas presents for their children. They hafta go through a very thorough background check to make sure they truly don't have the income to provide gifts. We set up a tree in the mall and people come by and adopt angels off of it. These people take the child's information and purchase Christmas presents for them. Once the shopping is finished, gifts are dropped off at our table and taken to our distribution center. And on Distribution Day the parents of the "angels" come to pick up their gifts. We have volunteers from all over Tupelo and I think I speak for all our members when I say this is such a rewarding project to be a part of.





It makes you feel good to know that none of these angels will wake up on Christmas morning without any presents under the tree.

This is our first day with our tree set up at the mall.

Look at all these bikes for our angels!!!

We used the Furniture Market as our Distribution Center and it was jam packed with toys and clothing for all our angels.

Holiday Visitors

Scotty's parents came to visit us this weekend!!! We haven't been home since Thanksgiving so we were so excited when they arrived!!! As soon as Scotty got off of work we went to eat at the Fairpark Grill and then drove by Ashley and Jennifer's house to see their amazing Christmas lights!!! We came back home, got in our most comfy pj's, and watched a movie. When we got up on Saturday we ate orange cinnamon rolls and they were sooooo good!!! That might be my favorite breakfast!! After that we hit the town and did a little Christmas shopping. We were sad when Mr. Robert and Mrs. Betty had to leave, but we were in good spirits from all the fun we'd had!!!

Christmas Decor

Ok blogger fans......if you've been keeping up with our blog, you remember the post where I showed you all of our Fall decorations. And I thought to myself, Val, you've gotta do a sequel to this whole decor deal. So.... I am because I know you're dying to see what I've done!!! And because I'm so obsessed with this time of year it would be stupid not to!! Now, please remember that me and Scotty are poor newlyweds (of a little over a year!!) and have no money to do a lot. I think it will be neat to hafta say, "I remember when we were just starting out and had nothing and had to walk to school barefoot in the snow uphill both ways!!" Blah Blah Blah, you know the spill. I think we've all heard some form of that from our grandparents!! But it's my goal to add to this each year and eventually have amazing Christmas decorations!!!


We call this our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. But we love it and will probably use it for a long time, even if we get a new tree!! There's nothing wrong with having more than one!!

Here is our Christmas table!! There's nothing like eating at a beautifully set table!!

Are you saying you can't believe we have these stockings?? Well believe it cause they're a'hangin on that mantle!!! It's a good thing we have a double fireplace!! And this is Scotty's side!

And this is my side!! I think this mantle is what I'm the most proud of!!! The picture doesn't do it justice.

My Granny painted this Nativity scene for me and I've put it out every year since I can remember. It's gorgeous!!

Yes, that's a 4 foot singing Santa you see there. And he dances. The arch is Scotty's favorite decoration in the house!!

Here's our small collection of Nutcrackers!!!

Last year was our first Christmas as a married couple and we decided that one of our traditions would be to buy a new Christmas book every year and read it either on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. And this book kicked off our tradition!!

You can't really say you're a Christmas fanatic unless you have Christmas tree in your bathroom!!
If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please don't do it on my Santa!!

We love being greeted by Frosty everyday!!

I have the cutest mailbox. Hands down!!

Now, while this segment is on MY Christmas decorations, I just had to share this house with you. It belongs to our friends Ashley and Jennifer Harris. Talk about sharing an obsession for Christmas!! Every time we are around each other we're always gabbing about our holiday decor!!! If this doesn't inspire you to put up a few lights, then you're crazy!!! I love, love, love their lights and I think these are the most beautiful in all of Tupelo!!! What an inspiration!!Merry Christmas!!

Spouse Alliance Christmas Party

Last night we had our Christmas Party at Dr. Allison Hailman's house. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with everybody outside of work and meetings!! We played Dirty Santa and acutally came home with some pretty good loot!! An icecream scoop and nose hair trimmer!!! Try not to be too jealous of our winnings!! If you didn't get what you wanted during your Dirty Santa game, maybe you'll have better luck next year!!!

Look at all these doctors!!! Brad, Scotty, Rob, Chris Fort, & Chris Park (the Chief)

Angie, Me, & Katherine

Singin' Those Campfire Songs

Last night we had a bonfire at Brad's parent's house!! It was sooo much fun!! We ate tons of food - hot dogs, chips, s'mores.....how can you not eat everything in sight when it's all cooked on a campfire?!?! We took Edie with us, of course!! She loves to be outside and she was such a good little girl!!! It was so relaxing just to sit around a warm fire with friends and talking. At one point I felt like we were in a commercial because we really did sing songs around the fire aaannndddd...........some of our pals even busted out a few dance moves!!!! I hate that I didn't get any pictures of these jirations....coulda been some real good blackmail!!!

It was the men's job to gather the firewood!! Good job Scotticus!!!

Bless her little heart, Edie thinks that all animals are her friend. She had to wear her reflective vest just in case she wanted to chase the cows. I tried to explain to her that hanging out with the cows = hanging with the wrong crowd!! But all she wanted to do the whole night was warm herself by the fire!!! Good girl!!!

We Love When Family Visits

Our cousin Jordan is in the band at her school and she's so good that she got to go to a band clinic held here in Tupelo. We are sooo proud of her!!! And we were so excited when her family came to see her performance because they made time to see us too!!! We get so excited when family and friends come visit us. Me and Scotty met them at Harvey's and ate lunch before they had to head back to Madison for Uncle Tim's Christmas Service he was singing in!!

Me, Jordan, Uncle Tim, Aunt Martha, Macy, & Scotty eatin' our hearts out!!

Tupelo Christmas Parade

I've been in the Christmas spirit for a good long while now. Before Thanksgiving to be exact!! But I suppose today officially kicked off the season with the Tupelo Christmas Parade. We went with our friends Ashley and Jennifer and had a blast!! Duh, Edie went too!!

Edie Luuuuzzzz her Jenn - Jenn!!

I thought these kids playing hand bells just made the Christmas atmosphere!!

A parade is NOT a parade until the band comes blastin' through!!

Santa Clause is coming to town!!! O wait, looks like he already made it to Tupelo!!!