The Adventures of Mel & Craiggers: a december to remember

This December Craig and I celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple. (I quickly realized that spending a holiday like this as a married couple actually means traveling between Georgia, Florida and Tennessee for most of our vacation and spending 4 hours stuck in the Memphis airport on Christmas night, but it was still totally worth it!)

We were fortunate enough to be able to take almost a week off of work so that we could spend Christmas with both of our families and actually see each one on Christmas Day. Even with all of the traveling, it was so wonderful to get to spend that very special time of the year celebrating with our parents, brothers, sister, and other friends and family.

In Florida, we soaked up some sun at our pool in mid-70's weather, made margaritas from locally grown strawberries, had a delicious fondue dinner with my parents and Andrew, and got to visit with two of my favorite girls and their families. Craig even got a tattoo! (No worries, it matched my friend Amanda's 4-year-old son's tattoo...) We had a fabulous family dinner on Christmas Eve and enjoyed opening gifts with everyone and just spending time together before we flew to Nashville on Christmas morning.

In Nashville, we made it just in time to give Craig's younger brother and sister their Christmas gift. They were dying to have a Wii and their reaction when opening the box was priceless. Needless to say, much of our time the rest of the weekend was spent in tennis, bowling, and MarioKart tournaments. :) We also enjoyed sampling Craig's mom's yummy new sangria recipe!

Sure, the presents were fun (they're always fun!), but being able to see so many of the people who are dear to us over the holidays was a gift in itself. We're so thankful to have amazing families, great friends, and welcoming homes to gather in with so many of the people we love. The Lord continues to be so very great to us - we are blessed beyond measure and ever so thankful.

I'll always treasure this first Christmas we've had together as husband and wife!

finally at home in arcadia!

matching tattoos for craig and jonathan! he insisted.

my three favorite boys

family dinner at the melting pot. yum!

hanging out by the pool on christmas eve... such a hard life

caleb and brady, nicole's little boys, came over to see us on christmas eve

gabi, andrew, me, craig, and alex. gabi is going to college in the fall (hopefully auburn!) and alex is a freshman at marshall. i can't believe how old they are!

the new and improved sims family

dad surprised us all with our own kindles - they're awesome!

mom wrapped up these cereal bowls that we had when we were younger and gave them to us to take back home. one of the funniest and most favorite gifts i got!