Visiting With Family and Friends

The holiday season is a very special time of year and I always like to try to get together with as many family and friends as possible - especially when Briana has two weeks off from school. December and the beginning of January were pretty much a marathon of get-togethers.

As you know, we spent the first weekend of December at Bri's friend Mary's birthday party...

The second weekend we spent with the M family in Chattanooga...

I had a wonderful mid-week Christmas lunch with two of my closest friends Amy and Valerie...

The third weekend in December, Doug, Bri and I took Gramma and Papa out to a fancy Christmas dinner.

A couple of photos in front of my tree...

Aspens Steakhouse. So warm and inviting...

A couple of photos before dinner...

Then the food started coming out...

Everything was SO delicious. I look at these pictures now and want to go right back there!!

There was a pretty tree sitting right by the door...

Finally, Bri's Christmas break started on December 21.

A few days before Christmas, it was time for our annual cooking baking with the cousins (and Gramma and Aunt Amy)...

Briana hard at work...

I have cookie cutters available, but Briana said she wanted to do everything this time free hand. She is quite the little artist...

The cousins' cookies...

 Briana icing her cookies...

Gramma made a cookie for Papa...

A few of Bri's creations...

Cousin N1 showing off his cookie...

Gramma made Doug an "Apple Watch" (on the left)...

It kind of expanded in the oven (LOL!), but Doug still loved it and thought it was delicious...

The 4th weekend in December, we got together with Uncle Jimmie. We ate delicious Italian food...

We saw Gramma and Papa, my sister and BIL and the cousins on Christmas Day (a post will come soon on that).

Two days after Christmas, we visited with my aunt, uncle, my cousin Jennifer and her husband Andy and Jennifer's three boys at my sister's house...

The Friday after Christmas, Bri spent the afternoon with her friend Meredith. After their play date, we met Meredith and her family for some delicious Japanese food...

The fifth weekend in December (can you believe there were 5 weekends in December?), we met Mary Lin and her family for some pizza...

On NY Eve, Doug, Bri and I, along with the M family, went to our friends' house - the S family - for a NY Eve celebration (a separate post will be written about that)...

 And finally in January, as a last hurrah before school started back up, we met Bri's friend and soccer teammate Kaelan (and her mom and brother) at our local entertainment center for some fun and lunch...

I am very happy that I was able to spend time with all the people I did in December and early January, but there are still a few people that I wasn't able to get together with that I really hoped to see. Time just ran out unfortunately! Hopefully, I will be able to touch base with all of them in the next few months.

I'm tired now from writing this post. LOL! A big thank you to everyone made some time in their schedules to spend with us. Mwah!!!