Christmas planning is underway!

Hello dear readers!

I hope that each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  As for us, we spent 4 days enjoying family, friends, food and good times.  I've been battling a sinus infection (yuck), but let me tell you, that didn't stop me from having a great time with loved ones this past week.  Since just this past Wednesday, my husband and I have enjoyed: a date night at Empire State South (read about sister restaurant 5 and 10 in one of my Athens-centered posts, here), a performance by Yacht Rock Revue - y'all recall how we love this band! - at classic Atlanta haunt Smith's Old Bar, two days of family get-togethers, and a smashing wedding reception for one of my oldest friends and his lovely bride (they married about a month ago on a mountain-top in the northeast - how romantic is that?)  Oh, and lest I forget, we also enjoyed watching another delicious win (4 in a row, to be exact) for our beloved Georgia Bulldogs over in-state rival Georgia Tech.  It was a great weekend for the Forlines!
 

Our Bunco Group Sends Some Love to our Military this Holiday Season!

Each year our bunco group comes together for some sort of charity around the holiday season. Last year, we supported our troops through a group called Operation Homefront where we sponsored a few military families and purchased Christmas gifts for their children. (Read that post here.) This year, we kept with the same military theme only changed it up to send care packages to the troops who are currently overseas. Some of us met up at Target and purchased items such as candy, beef jerky, cans of Chef Boyardee, Hostess Cakes (long live the Twinkie!) and even some playing cards. These things were compiled with some of our own baked goods, magazines, letters of gratitude, and artwork from our children to make up several packages. One of the girls in our group then sorted and shipped these goodies to the various places around the world where some of our military men and women are currently serving. I believe she said one of the packages went to someone stationed on a ship off the coast of Libya. Considering the recent events in this country, it's unnerving when you think about the danger this young man or woman could be in while stationed near such a hostile environment. Our prayers for protection go with each package that was sent over.

Halloween 'Hood Party

Yes, Halloween 2012 is now in the past, but I want to share some highlights from a party a few of us on my street organized in honor of the holiday. The majority of the effort was lead by, the King and Queen of Halloween themselves – The Sokolowskis, who, I might add, were responsible for the very idea of this spooky soiree! Everyone gathered in their front yard so the house you see in my pictures below actually belongs to them. Needless to say, the SPOOKolowskis go all out with their decorations, they even purchased a projector so we could all watch a Halloween movie displayed on the side of their house once the sun went down. And another neighbor took the time to decorate a trailer he hitched to the back of his truck with orange lights. He created seating with hay stacks where the kids proudly sat as they rode up and down the streets parading their costumes for all those whom we passed by. We were suppose to have a jack-o-lantern contest too, but never got around to that... we must have lost track of time due to all the fun we were having!

It goes without saying that I feel very blessed to be surrounded by such awesome families. I love getting together with my neighbors and hope we can make this an annual celebration!

 

Our fabulous hayride!