First off - random pic I swiped from Jenny's blog (http://mowrerfamily.blogspot.com/; look into it - when I figure out how to add that to my blog roll I'll do it):
matt mowrer and i go together after i invited him to the sadie hawkins dance
Then, Thanksgiving! Whee! We go to Winchester, Tenn. to visit with my in-laws! Note to self: never try to drive anywhere of consequence on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving after work. Check, got it...
By the time we got done making all the yummy food on Thursday we were starving and Papa Tom had to defend the turkey's honor while he carved.
BACK OFF
Tom tickled me pink by calling my sweet potato pie (my fall/winter go-to; I am an old hand at SPPs) "award-winning." I didn't know why this pie was so extra special good until I remembered I didn't skimp on the butter like I usually do, and used full-fat half and half instead of fat free. Go figure.
i make fat taste good, ya'll
then we crash. at three o'clock are my sister-in-law, lexie's feet; maw-in-law suzy at 11, a very relaxed papa tom at noon, mr. smith's feet at four, mine at five.
Next! Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I know I've had Christmas on the brain for a month now (*cough*santa claus collection*cough*) but now we can really start celebrating Christmas! We made it home in time to go see the tree lighting in downtown Knoxville! Hooray!!
mrs. heather lee cross jordan is in town for the holiday and smiles pretty for the camera. miss caroline irene jordan.... notsomuch.
heather, jack and ben jordan are excited to be at the tree lighting too!
Rowdy Mowrer was front and center but had a cold. Jenny forbade us to hold him so we wouldn't catch his germs.
heather sneaks and cuddles row mow
then tommy does while jenny looks on in stoic acceptance
i give mr. rowdy a hug during my celebrity siting; wate morning anchor, ms. tearsa smith!
And now my cough is worse. It's my own fault! No, wait! It's Rowdy's for being so stinkin' cuddly and adorable!!
here is mr. smith anxiously awaiting the tree to be lit
here is the tree post-lighting! there were fireworks and confetti involved. it's absolutely like the city of knoxville knows me by name.
seriously. look how pretty!
Next, family hour! My folks had a small post-Thanksgiving celebration Saturday night. In true Venable family tradition, we broke up into two groups:
girls club. the ladies sup in the dining room.
boys club. the men eat their suppers off trays while watching the football game.
Doting auntie alert! Doting auntie alert!
um.... those CHEEKS. seriously, don't you want to smooch them off?
In other Doting Auntie News, guess what happens when you share cutie-pie nephew vignettes with a columnist father? You get written up, that's what!! Check out my shout-out here.
Sunday, Mr. Smith and I decide to go get our Christmas tree! I had seen signs for a "cut your own" tree lot near our house, so voicing all sorts of disclaimers, I asked we go there to purchase our fir.
I'm so glad we did. I have never gone to a lot before to cut your own tree! I've cut scrub cedars out of farm lots before (I'll tell you about the time I insisted on cutting our own cedar out of Booter Rachel's Dad's farm and it was too small to fit in the stand and instead of trying to come to a consensus with Mr. Smith on how to best remedy the situation I secretly and without telling him wedged it in the stand with a paint brush handle and had a stressful day and couldn't sleep and took a sleeping pill and groggily woke up about 2 AM the next morning to Tommy vacuuming up broken glass balls and mopping up tree water from the rug and furious as all get-out when he found the paint brush which turned out wasn't such a good thing to use when wedging in a too-small tree trunk into a tree stand. I'll tell you all about it one of these days) but I've never gone looking in a real TREE lot where there are TREES growing and there are men in four wheelers who come and blow out all the bird's nests and funk out of the TREE, then cut it and drive it out to your car and tie it on top! Well. Then you write them a check, but STILL!!! How fun is that????
mr. smith heads up to examine the copse
trees in training
here is the tree i picked. this photo is to scale, btw...
here is the one we picked! she's upstairs right now, fully decorated!
We were waiting for our tree to be cut and run down the hill and decided to peruse The Christmas Barn. It was very odd.
In addition to the usual wares, (tree stands, ornaments, stockings, etc.) there were...
chickens behind a sliding glass door and a power ranger!!
it was decorated with a beavis and butt-head poster. i commented on it and it could have been mine for $20. i gracefully declined.
tommy proudly looks on our catch
You know how everyone always says, "Be careful when picking out a Christmas tree! It'll grow two feet when you get it in the house!" Well, I've never known that to be true in reality. UNTIL NOW, THAT IS....
our tree was too tall! it got sap all over the ceiling! we had to take it back out and saw some more off!
Lastly, I give you some more Santas:
"blocky" claus! daddy bought me this one for $3 from the museum of appalachia during a homecoming a few years ago.
"clear" claus! i got him for a quarter at the goodwill beside fellini kroger.
"throwing stars" claus! he'll put your eye out, but in such a festive way!
"salt and pepa's here!" clauses! and they're in effect.
This Friday, I'm going to the Knoxville Christmas Parade. Yes. It's true. I am. THEN, I'm going to the Nutcracker with some girlfriends Saturday. I'm going to have an epic Knoxville holiday weekend. I. Can't. Wait!
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