The 12 Gatherings of Christmas

As you all know, David and I drive all the time....we drive home to see our family, we drive to Atlanta to see our friends, and we travel a lot for fun. During this time of year, we travel a lot. So, to commemorate this festive time of year, I bring to you the Twelve Gatherings of Christmas.

1. The Griffin Family Christmas. This is where it all began. Remember my post?  And when I made the pineapple apple cider too?

2. A dinner with family and friends. This is when I cooked those delicious duchesse potatoes. And had the hot buttered rum.

3. Our third party happened over this past weekend. David and I, along with my family, headed to the Lamar house in Hawkinsville for a festive night of dancing and fun. A few pics from the evening are at the beginning of this post.

4. On Saturday night, we headed to Macon to celebrate an early birthday for Brince and for Amy, Becca, and I to exchange our annual prezzies.

5. The Barron Family Christmas. My great-grandmother Christine Barron Ryals was one of 9 children. Needless to say, my mom has a lot of first and second and third cousins. We all get together as a family at Christmastime and Mother's Day. A few snaps from that Sunday lunch are in this post too.

6. The Coody Farm Christmas. We love getting together out at Datee's for our annual cousin-present swap. Sadly, we didn't take any pictures, but it was a great evening with lots of laughs, football, and finger foods.

7. MNB&GD. We abbreviate the weekly Monday Night Girls Dinner to MNGD, and now we affectionately dub the nights we include the boys as MNB&GD. Most of the time its just us gals with plenty of gossip and wine to pass around. But, when the occasion arises, like the holidays, we let the boys come. This time, we had a MNB&G Christmas Dinner at Basil's in Atlanta. It was delicious and so fun to see everyone before the holidays.

8. The Lanier light show. I will include pics from this on another post, but David and drove through the Lake Lanier Island's Christmas lights last night, and it was wonderful!

You'll have to wait for 9, 10, 11, and 12!

All packed up and ready to go!

They're excited!

Brince and I with our grandfather, our Gongaman

The beautiful table that Becca had for us at Brince's house!

A tradition for over 10 years!

So cute! I was so excited to open my gift from Bec!

Jim Roper! He's a cute little guy, isn't he?

I loved my gifts from Amy too...and I love these girls!

Me and my handsome hubs!

The birthday boy!

They're such hams....

Asa, my baby bro; and the Duggan brothers - Chandler, Hugh and Ivy

My beautiful Mom!

Christmas Company

I had the pleasure of hosting my sweet sis Abbye and her fabulous friends Ally and Stacey for a few nights this week while they're on Christmas break. They supervised my cooking on Monday night, sampled the cheese platter and hot buttered rum, and got ready to welcome the Smithsons when they arrived. Colby and Jamie were in town for the evening too while Colby is on a break from grad school. I was so happy to have some of my very favorite people and friends here for the night to share in a festive dinner to celebrate the holiday season.

The rum drink was absolutely delish!

Bax was super excited to have some extra attention for a few days!

Me and my sweet Colby Jane!

This picture cracks me up and I just had to include it...clearly it was taken before we were "ready"

That's better

And then it was their turn....handsome boys!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

Dear Santa....

...I've been very good this year. I am wishing, and hoping, and praying for these things under the tree...

This new coffee table book for entertaining inspiration



And this book for outfit ideas

This in my mailbox every month

These boots for the winter sludge in North Georgia

A new ski coat

Cuddly sweaters

LAFCO candles....for every room in the house!

a gift card to this fabulous store

And a gift card for when my inspiration strikes

a new chandelier for our bedroom

A wedding weekend in Florida

After a week in snowy Chicago, David and I traded in the freezing temps for a mild 78 degrees in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His first cousin Wesley and fiance Christy were married at the Episcopal church there and the reception was at the Ritz Carlton. David and I were able to spend some time with Wesley and Christy this past summer in New Orleans...remember this post? I flew down to Florida on Friday to meet up with my date for the evening, my fabulous sis-in-law Amanda. David was able to fly in, change, and make it just in time for dinner and dancing on Saturday at the reception. I had so much fun being with David's side of the family this weekend - I never get to spend time with Kimberly and Pamela, and they're so fun! Its always wonderful to be with the Curth side!

My and Amanda's (and later, David's) sweet suite in Ft. Lauderdale

Our patio doors opened to the pool deck....not too bad! It was amazing to see that blue ocean too...and we had incredible weather!

The groom, Wesley; the bride, Christy; the FOG, Al; the MOG, Noel; the sis and bro of the groom, Pamela and Lange - all before the rehearsal dinner.

Me and my date!

Toast time!

After several scheduled cocktail times and a trip to the hotel bar, Amanda, Kimberly and I took it in for the night...and ditched our shoes too.

Woopsie! These are on the wrong feet!

The flowers at the alter

Headed to the pre-reception cocktails...

Yay! David made it just in time for dinner!

The gorgeous ballroom!

time to dance! the band was awesome!

And at the end of the night, everyone gathered at Whiskey Blue next door at the W. Wow. You can tell how late it was!



Wooooohooooo! These Griffins had so much fun!