My favorite things

A few weeks ago a great friend of mine tagged me in her blog post explaining her favorite things around Christmas time. I meant to follow up and list my own "favorite things" but the holidays have a way of getting away from you ya know?  Maybe I'll just name a few favorites in my next few posts rather than trying to get them all into one. Tammy won't mind. I know her. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

This particular Christmas season we mostly stayed home and it was such a blessing for us. I understand the importance of extended family but I also understand how important it is to rest and relax during our time off from school and work. It sure is difficult to balance those two priorities without anyone getting their feelings hurt.  We've tried to keep it as stress free as possible and we've done pretty darn well! Pete's Mom came up to visit and went to the girls' Christmas program at EBA. Pete even (gasp) took off work early to be there! It was just heartwarming to hear the children sing!  We made a weekend trip to Jesup to celebrate with the Lyles side of the family. Despite the 400 yapping dogs, sleeping in a camper, and having little hot water, it was still good to see everyone. I finally got to meet  Erin, Pete's cousin's fiancee'. She was a sweetheart and asked the girls to be in their summer wedding. We'll plan our beach trip around their Florida nuptials and I'm already looking forward to it!

Pete and I hosted the Louisville Middle School faculty here at our house for our staff Christmas party. We had a great time considering it was sort of a last minute thrown together sort of thing since the weather ran us out of our original destination. It was a great way to start the holidays.

We went caroling in town with the church youth and had a wonderful dinner at a friend's house afterwards. It really set the tone for our Christmas and we hope to be able to do that again next year. It's a great tradition.  On Christmas Eve, Pete's parents came to spend the night with us. We enjoyed having them here to watch the girls open their gifts Christmas morning. Then later that day we went across the road to Nanny and Poppy's, where Santa always leaves the "Cooper Stockings". My brother and his family came Christmas night and we opened gifts and had a great prime rib dinner made by my daddy, who is a great cook!

We are gearing up right now for one of my FAVORITE traditions- New Year's Eve with the Tomlinsons and the Lawsons. The six of us go way back to our time at the University of Georgia. Over the years we've expanded from a party of 6 to a party of 13, but we still manage to get together over New Year's.  No matter what other crazy chaos is going on,  we always seem to figure out a way to get together during this holiday and I always look forward to it. Company starts arriving tomorrow evening!

My two favorite things this week-

1. Burt's Bees - I've always thought bees were cool. My favorite product is the hand salve. My hands are terribly dry and itch in the winter time. Burt's Bees hand salve works wonders. It sounds expensive but it really lasts a long time and once you use it you'll realize it's worth it!

2. Riesling-  Riesling is one of my favorite wines. The riesling grape originated in the Rhine Valley of Germany and despite this fact, I've never had a true German riesling till this past Christmas. Aunt Patti gave me a bottle of Landshut Riesling. Out of this world good.  It's not as super sweet as many rieslings from the US and it's also not very expensive at about 7 bucks a bottle.

Overall we've had a great holiday season. Great wine, good rest, wonderful friends and family, and even a little snow. What more could you want in a holiday?