Christmas: Part 1

Christmas began in the Decker household last weekend.  We baked a few  a lot of sugar cookies, took a road trip to Chattanooga to see my Mimi, Aunt Vicki and Uncle Dan, Bret and Jessica and really did a whole lot of nothing.  We had lots of 'family bonding time'!

Katherine was such a big helper with the sugar cookies!

A vision in pink

Doing the Mickey Mouse ClubHouse "Hot Diggity Dog Song"...we seriously laughed for hours!  I think she has a future career as a River Dancer!

Christmas in Chattanooga





Celebrating with Friends

Last week, I had my 2nd annual Christmas party at my house.  Great food, good cheer, and wonderful friends...what more could a girl wish for at Christmas?! 

I have celebrated MANY holidays with this great group of friends....gotta love friends from home!

Some of my wonderful college friends...and yes, there were guys there, but they were hiding from my camera!  :)

I am taking a holiday hiatus and spending some quality time with the fam in A'ville.  This week, I lucked out and got to hear the famous "Champagne Carolers" from Rotary Club.  My dad was one of its founding members and has sung with them for over 20 years.  Rotary Club has an annual auction to raise money for various charities and their performances are auctioned off to the highest bidders!  The singers visit homes, restaurants and businesses all over Marshall County spreading Christmas joy and cheers.  They are known for their rousing rendition of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" and this year, they finished with "Burning Ring of Fire".....it was priceless.  Most of these men, I have known my whole life.  It was a treat for me to hear them this year.

Singing "Jingle Bells" in front of our house!

The "Champagne Carolers"

 Here's hoping Santa finds each one of you this year....Ho Ho Ho!

Festivities

The Christmas season is in full swing!  Festivities began on Monday night with our Recipe Club's Christmas party.  We had an Italian theme this month and all the recipes came from Giada's cookbook.  All the recipes can be found on the blog and they were all super yummy!  I made a zucchini dish and Sister made some amazing brussell sprouts...yes, I know what you're all thinking...brussell sprouts?  When you throw in some pancetta, garlic, and butter with the veggie, it totally kicks them up a notch!  If you're an Italian fan, definitely check the recipes out...almost all of them were super easy too!

Zucchini (with lots of great cheeses mixed in!)

Sister's Brussell Sprouts

Sister turned 31 this past week and we celebrated with a big family dinner Friday night at Satterfield's.  We totally branched out on our restaurant choice...no one in the fam had ever eaten there, but it had been highly recommended by lots of friends.  It did not disappoint!  We had an amazing meal with a fantastic bottle of wine.  Thanks, Blake, for sharing your magnum with us! 

First 'Cheers' of the night!  Happy Birthday, Sister!

Where does the best birthday cake in the world come from? A'ville Home Bakery! 

The Crowes

Second 'Cheers' of the night!  The Chimney Rock Cabernet was delish!

We didn't finish the entire bottle...but we sure tried! (This picture was taken at the beginning of dinner...there was a lot less left than this by the end!)

Sister and me 

My 2nd annual Christmas Party is this Thursday and I couldn't be more excited!  My house is decorated and all that is missing now are some great friends.  Happy Holidays everyone!

A Week in Pictures

Here is my last week in pictures....Enjoy!

I went and bought my Christmas tree

This tree was the winner! It took me 30 seconds to pick her out!

Look who came to eat lunch with me at school on Friday....Sister and the DB!

She LOVED "big school" and wanted to spend all her time in the hallway looking at the big boys and girls!

Where was the 2nd best place to be for an AU fan on Saturday? Auburn, AL!!

Caroline and I went down for the day to watch the game...when we pulled into town the best park ever was waiting on us...it was a sign of good things to come for the day!

I took a before pic of Toomer's and prayed it wouldn't jinx us! (Of course, it didn't!!!)

After some retail therapy, we had a yummy lunch at Hamilton's

We watched the SEC Championship game here....with hundreds of screaming AU fans!!!

They dimmed the lights and lowered the screens in the arena. During the commercials we all stood and screamed AU cheers!

Caroline and me at the arena

Toomer's was AUsome! It was great to celebrate the victory with the AU family.

I was so excited to throw some toilet paper!

We literally would scream with excitement and then tear up...Christmas came early for all the AU fans!!

I bought this $20 flag on the way out of the arena....definitely an impulse buy. I'm thinking of taking it to AZ with me and asking the cab driver to put it on his taxi!!! WDE!!!

Sunday afternoon, I started a new tradition with Katherine...making a ginger bread house!

She was a great decorator!

Our finished product!

Expect several more posts this week...Recipe Club was last night and we are celebrating Sister's b'day this weekend. Today is Sister's 31st Birthday....Happy Birthday AKDC, I love you!