Christmas Fun with my favorite teachers

I love the people I work with! I am so blessed to work with a group of 7 wonderful ladies in 3rd grade. We have wonderful friendships that go outside of our school building. We spent lots of time together these past few weeks of December.

First, we found out Amy was having a boy so we designed a shirt and wore them on the same day. We were so cute. Of course, our favorite phrase, Oh Snap, had to be included on the shirt. We also had our annual Secret Santa and our reveal dinner at JPeters! A few of us also went to paint at Sips and Strokes, too. We painted a snowman. It was definitely one of the cutest ones that I've done. I'm so thankful for each of these special ladies!

Christmas Traditions

I love the holiday season! I am so sad that it is over and I can't wait until next December. Thanksgiving until Chritmas is definitely my favorite time of the year. We have so many traditions and activities we do during the month of December.

First, I love being a 3rd grade teacher during December! My kids love the holiday season and we have so much fun! Jack the elf visits us each morning from the North Pole and we do lots of crafts. We made ornaments and reindeer food. We also enjoy a Holiday sing-a-long and had a great party. I got some wonderful gifts from my class, too!

During this month, went to see the Nutcracker in Greenville with Lindsay and Josh. We had a wonderful dinner at Trio and enjoyed the Nutcracker at the Peace Center. It was my first time seeing the ballet. I enjoyed getting all dressed up too!

We had the Iveys spend the night and had lots of fun. We went to see Christmas lights and made Christmas cookies! We enjoyed watching Christmas movies too!

We've had a wonderful month making lots of memories!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day is always a busy day for Brent and me. We got up really early and exchanged presents with each other. Brent spoils me so much and always buys me the best presents! I got 3 cute new shirts, a new pocketbook, cookbook, perfume, and 2 new Pandora charms. I also got a new book that I finished in 2 days! I got him some good stuff, too. He got new books, a watch, 2 sweaters, a vest, and Clemson stuff.

After getting ready we headed to my parents for our gifts from Santa. We got lots of goodies! Then, we went to Brent's house to exchange gifts. We racked up there, too. We got new frames, clothes, and lots of giftcards at both of our houses.

We ate lunch at my house, headed to Brent's aunt's house and then to Greenville with Brent's family. We ate a great dinner and then played White Elephant. Thankfully, we gave our gifts away before they could come back home with us. :) We even had a visit from Santa. We had a very blessed Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We actually had a very relaxing Christmas Eve this year. Usually I am running around like crazy and still wrapping papers. This year I got all my shopping and presents wrapped early. I got to sleep in and then spent the morning cooking and baking. I made pizza dip, hershey pretzels and cake pops. The Iveys got us a cake pop machine for Christmas so I thought I would try them out. Candice came over to exchange gifts and then we headed to my parents' house around 5. We gave my parents their presents and they really liked them. My mom was surprised about the computer my dad gave her!

Later, we headed to my Nana and Papa's and had a wonderful dinner of appetizers and finger foods. After dinner we planned Dirty Santa and opened our gifts. This year I brought my Taboo game for us to play. It ended up being a lot of  fun! We had a great Christmas Eve together! By the time we got home I was ready to put on my PJs from Brent and wait for Santa. :)

Yum!

Abby!

Cousins!

My 2 favorite boys!

Nana, Papa, and the Grandkids

Riley's Graduation

Last Thursday, December 22nd, we celebrated my brother's graduation from Clemson. He graduated in 3 1/2 years with a major in Management and minor in Psychology. We are so proud of him! Both Riley and I graduated in December! So we've had 2 busy Decembers in the past few years. We enjoyed a rainy day in Clemson and then lunch at Sullivan's in Anderson with our family and friends! Way to go Riley!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Jacksons! We wish you a day full of joy and happiness!

Luke 2:4-7 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Christmas Party

One of my favorite Christmas traditions each year is our annual Christmas Party with our friends! I love being the hostess and having all our friends over to our house. This past Tuesday, we had 12 of our closest friends over. I love baking and cooking all day to get ready. We had all kinds of yummy food, desserts, and a chocolate fountain. After eating, we played Taboo. We've watched Four Christmases so much, I asked for Taboo for Christmas. We have a lot of competetive friends so playing games is always fun! The girls ended up beating the boys! After the game, we played Dirty Santa. There were some great gifts, but we ended up with a gift that we brought. We spent the rest of the night taking pictures and hanging out together. I am so thankful for my wonderful friends! We are truly blessed!

Yummy food!

Hot Chocolate Bar

Grayson and Tigger

All of us

All the girls!

Christmas Decorations

Christmas is my favorite time of year! I've found so many new ideas on Pinterest this year, so I was really busy making new things for the house. It took a little longer getting the house ready because of school, but since it's done I love it! Take a look at my Christmas decorations.

ACC Championship

The Clemson Tigers went to the ACC Championship in Charlotte, NC against Virginia Tech. Brent, Andrew and I went up for the day. We ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was amazing! We need to go there more often. The game was so much fun even though our seats were really high up. Since the Tigers won, we are headed to the Orange Bowl. Go Tigers!

The Perfect Christmas Tree

After many long months, Brent and I finally bought a new computer this past weekend! I also got a new camera for Christmas! I'm so excited to actually be able to blog from my own computer and use pictures off of my camera. Sorry for the long delay....I have so much to catch up on.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Brent and I always ride up to the mountains to pick out our Christmas tree. We go to Cashiers, NC to Tom Sawyer's Christmas Tree Farm. It's a really neat place where you can pick out your own tree. After a long decision, Brent and I picked out a tree for this year. They also have an Elf Village you can visit while you are there. I can't wait to take our children there one day.

We spent the rest of our Thanksgiving Break, spending time with family and shopping on Black Friday. I'm lucky that Brent will get up and shop with me. We had fun! Unfortunately the Tigers lost to the Gamecocks this year, but it was still a good break.

Christmas Card Pictures

I've been working hard to get a good Christmas picture this year. Last year, my computer broke so I wasn't really happy with the picture I ended up using. I'm lucky that Brent puts up with all my photo trials. Here's a look at all our pictures we tried. We'll see which one I actually use. At least it puts me in the Christmas spirit!