Come, ye thankful people, come.

hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! it was a quick trip to Tennessee, but as always, we crammed a lot into our three days back home. We cruised in and hung out with mom & the boys for the first night. & of course got to see this big kid that we hardly recognized! She was up to all kinds of new tricks...crawling, for one! and waving, smiling and laughing, and pulling herself up on the couch. what a little overachiever at 6 months old. She actually will give the camera a little smile after she sees the flash go off. so cute.

let's get her signed up for culinary school.

We spent the morning hanging out around the house (Mom and Emma slaving away in the kitchen...) before heading over to the big spread at my great-grandparents house.

& here's another little one thats growing up too fast as well!

We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal at Mama and Papas and spent some time visiting with family. I can't even begin to recount the tables of food that had been made...it's so impressive. and so delicious. I think my mouth was watering the entire 600 mile drive thinking about Mama Bowman's dressing.

There's always a crowd...i think about 30 people this year. with great-grandparents you know there are plenty of branches to the family tree. It's the tradition (for any holiday) that's been in my mom's side of the family for, well, longer than I've even been around. It's so special, which needless to say, will be a hard gathering to miss this year, for my first Christmas Day away from Tennessee. But, I have a lot to look forward to with the Chaloner family and making our own new traditions!

a growing family. [the picture above. not below, ehm.]

A holiday out in Holladay, TN is always wrapped up at Grandma's house down the street with a bunch of games & cards. We have a record of 14 one year. still not sure how we ever did that... I'm not sure we slept.

The next day we headed over for Thanksgiving with my Dad, or "pop-pop", as he's soon to be called. With this photo, he could be a hip city blogger or maybe even cool enough to work at starbucks.

cutest little Mommy.

Emma showing us how she can crawl. and look tough. Dad had little aprons made up for all of us. We spent the day taking turns in the kitchen, playing games, and decorating the tree. Because I can't possibly bring myself to delete a photo with Emma's precious face, you can find more photos here.

I think I even snapped the photo before every dish made it on the table. a real good meal.

Oh, and I hadn't mentioned that we were sick [and not from overeating]. For the whole trip I felt like I was in a fog. That part kinda sucked. I think from a sinus infection. I managed to pass it along to Aaron and other loved ones. Sorry for sharing guys.

We spent the next day watching the Bedlam game, going bowling with the family, and watching Four Christmases. [pass on that one. stick to your ABC Family's 25-days-of-Christmas instead. What, you mean you don't have Christmas movies recording on your TiVo every hour of the day?...I can thank Aaron for that, Mr. Christmas himself.]

well guys, I can forsee a bit of an absence here in the blog-o-sphere... It stinks, because I've really enjoyed this page, and I enjoy following others. but, the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season is upon us, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed! Blogging is something I tend to do when everything else is done...after dinner when Aaron's sitting in his big comfy leather chair studying away in the evenings. A good low-key evening is a frequent necessity in this household. But, at least for now, the evenings are becoming quite full with shopping, cooking, wrapping, decorating, good tidings, comfort, joy. you get the idea. [not to mention, we also met tonight for the first time to organize our plan of attack to study for the genetic counseling boards. ahh!] ...So this week we have some lovely family coming through town, birthday's to celebrate, and a swanky holiday party coming up at the historic farmer's market on Friday evening. put on your dancin' shoes! All in delightful fun, but sorry, buddies, you get the back seat this time. I'll peek in when I can!

Take care & enjoy the lovely season.