Christmas Card!

Our Christmas card was hilarious this year! I'm sorry if you didn't get one...we're first timers at this so we're easing into it. I wanted to post it here though so everybody could have a good laugh. Trust me...it's that funny.  Derrick told me no one would think it was as funny as I do but I'm pretty sure that's not true.

Here it is. The Marcey Family 2012 Christmas Card! Hope your Holidays were Merry and Bright!

Christmas Partying!

The day after Christmas, Derrick and I headed back to Clemmons to see our friend Michael's new house and hang out with friends. Maybe we're lame, but we hadn't stayed out that late in a while. It was lots of fun...as always :)

Picture Perfect Christmas

Look at the quality of that picture! No more camera phone pics for this blog. Derrick got me a new digital camera for Christmas and I love it! I had wanted a new nice camera to use for blogging, life documenting, and real estate and he surprised me with one of the best! Thanks hubs! I surprised him right back with 5th row, center court basketball tickets to the Oklahoma Thunder vs. Charlotte Bobcats game on March 8. We're going to make a weekend out of it in our matching OKC shirts! Needless to say, we had a great 1st Married Christmas together. We are so blessed.

We started our Christmas travels a day late due to the flu. My parents weren't rushing us home after finding out we were contagious and they greeted us on Sunday with air hugs and Lysol wipes. We were able to spend some QT with my side of the family until Christmas eve afternoon. We went last minute Christmas shopping, wrapped gifts, and watched our traditional "It's a Wonderful Life."  I only made it half way through before falling asleep.

We headed to Winston to be with Derrick's family for Christmas Eve. We went to the 5:00 service at his church with his mom and Grandma and then headed to his Aunt and Uncle's house to spend the night and wait for Santa. His little cousins were up at 6:30 to see what he brought! Derrick and I exchanged our big gifts on Christmas eve night because he wanted me to have mine for Christmas morning....but it didn't come with a memory card so you're stuck with phone pictures again!  I don't have too many either but here's what I have.

Here is Riley Facetiming (that's a verb, right?)  with Leanna and Kevin. They were down in Florida with Kevin's family for their first Christmas together but Leanna was able to be there virtually with the kids. 

Santa definitely came!

After opening gifts with Derrick's family, we headed off to Hickory to do Christmas with my family.  They always wait for us to arrive before even going in to the den to see all the gifts. We also have an annual kids at the top of the stairs picture. Mom has that one, but I'll post it when I get it from her. We swung by Walgreens on our way in to get a memory card for my camera. Crosby was the first test subject...obviously.

 

It's really fun having two Christmases. I'm glad my family chooses to wait for us to get there. We have yearly traditions that we have had to modify since Derrick and I got married, but we're just creating new traditions now. I know it will continue to evolve as Jay and Jack get married and start families, so it's fun to see how each year is a little different. I also enjoy the slow pace of Christmas now that everybody is older. We can all enjoy watching each other open their gifts and  stretch Christmas morning out. 

Here is what the family would look like without me.

We're waiting at the top of the stairs for Dad and Mom to get everything ready downstairs. This happens every year :)

 Santa definitely came!

We hazed Derrick by making him start off as Santa. I rescued him and took over not too far into it though. 

Jay, Derrick, and I got Dad a watercolor of our old house. They just moved into a new house at Thanksgiving and we didn't want him to forget where we started! We left Jack out though...Sorry buddy!

Here is Mom slicing open her new computer!

We were pretty busy before Christmas with everything happening with Grandma and the arrangements that Mom had to make so I volunteered to take care of stockings this year. It was awesome! I loved it. Jay got pick-up sticks in his stocking and thought he didn't want them. Then we got started and it got intense!

And the rest of Christmas day looked like this! Snacks and relaxing. It was perfect :)

Nikki and her Mom stopped by to visit and check out the new house the day after Christmas. I'm so glad that we were in the same place this year for Christmas!!

I hope your Christmas was as great as ours! Mom got Derrick and me that ornament that you saw at the beginning of this post. We had a great first married Christmas and are looking forward to many more!

Family Dirty Santa

We had our annual Marcey family dirty santa gift exchange last weekend. This year the theme was "T' and you could interpret it however you wanted. Most people got gifts that started with the letter T.  The kids don't participate in the dirty santa part so they open their Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles gifts that night.

Here they are ripping into their gifts.

Riley and Cassie are hams in front of the camera.

  

Some of the best dirty santa gifts of the night were: 

A moose Toilet Tattoo! Leanna and Kevin were the lucky recipients of this decorative item. It also came with a target gift card so they could buy matching moose stuff for their bathroom. 

There were 2 Theater ticket gift bags with gift cards and candy.  Derrick and Jen ended up with these and actually traded at the end of the night to get the candy of their choice. 

I got this adorable owl Tea pot and tea bags. I don't like Tea but it was too cute to give away and both of our moms can enjoy it when they come to visit. 

There was also Tide, tissues, a toothbrush, Tervis tumblers, towels, taboo, and other T related gifts. It was a really fun night :)

I'll claim these two:

Christmas Eve Catch-up

I have been MIA on this blog recently. There has been quite a bit going on.  I still want to do a post on Courtney and Jeff's Christmas party we went to a couple weeks ago. Plus, I'm under contract on my first house so more posts to come for sure!

For now though, I'll just share a few pictures and updates on what's been going on.  We flew to Florida last Wednesday night. My Grandma passed away exactly a week ago today around lunch time. She was sleeping and it was extremely peaceful which is exactly what we all wanted. Thank you to everyone for keeping her and my family in your prayers. We celebrated her life last Thursday in Florida and she was buried in a plot right next to my Grandpa. It was a very emotional day but still a great day to remember her life.

Since then, Derrick and I have both come down with the flu!! I got hit hard on Friday afternoon. My BFF Nikki showed up for lunch, took one look at me, and took me to urgent care. She picked up all my prescriptions, and even baked the food I was supposed to take to a Christmas party that night. She really is amazing. We missed the Christmas party that night, but we'll get to see all those friends the day after Christmas.  We're still both recovering, but I think we're almost not contagious anymore :)

Anyways...I still have lots of details to post about later but here are a couple picture from the last couple weeks:

It's hard being Crosby at Christmas Time

Derrick took this hilarious picture of the pups on the way home for Christmas...Crosby must have told a funny joke

This sweet note was on my car when I came out for work one morning...thanks hubs :)

I had my first showings and it ended in an offer!

Nikki and I took the pups to visit Santa. Bear couldn't stand still he was so excited!

Dribble, Dribble, Dribble, Dribble Yeah

It's basketball season!! You will soon be waiting in anticipation for these weekly updates.  This one is a little late due some things going on in my family. You can read about it in my previous post. There is no update as of yet. Grams is a fighter and is still holding on.  We love her for her stubbornness and fight.  She is so strong-willed.

Derrick joined a rec basketball league. You know...the kind that your brother played when you were young and you got dragged along to. They have the old school bleachers and all you can hear are squeaky shoes and ref whistles. You know what I'm talking about.  They are called Dribble Dribble Dribble Dribble Yeah (referred to as Dribble Swish from here on out).

They had their first game of the season last Sunday and played the team that beat the Dribble Swishes in the championship last year. The girls didn't have any subs and the guys only had one. Dribble Swish took the lead early on but then the old guy on the team started shooting and couldn't miss! Derrick played a hard box and one in the second half and contained their main scorer. They ended up winning!!! Undefeated so far!

Tune in Sunday for the next Dribble Swish update. I know you'll be waiting on the edge of your seat.

Here's Derrick making his free throws. He made them both...even with all the paparazzi.

And here is the girl that boxed Derrick out. 

Pray for Peace

I just got back from Hickory a few hours ago. I made a spur of the moment trip on Tuesday afternoon after learning that my Grandma had been admitted into hospice. She has been battling Alzheimer's and breast cancer for several years now and they have finally taken their toll.  This is a moment that my family has been known is coming for a while. We've been watching her health slowly decline. After seeing her yesterday and today, it doesn't matter how prepared we were. It does not make it any easier. I had a great moment with her today when she was alert and smiled when she heard my voice and we were both able to say I Love You. I am so glad that I was able to get home one last time.  Please pray for my family this week. She has not been given a specific amount of time left but it could be any day. Please pray especially for my mom. She has been caring for my Grandma for years and has been making the difficult decisions as her illness has progressed. She has been at hospice 24 hours a day since Grandma was admitted on Sunday. Also, please pray that when the time comes, she goes peacefully.

I love you Grandma and will miss you so much but I pray that when you get to heaven, you find Grandpa and laugh at all us suckers still down here on earth while you hang out with our maker! See you there one day :)

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

We started our Christmas shopping and found our tree and wreath this morning! Tree is up and decorated! We're starting to get into the spirit around here!