Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas & Blogging Break…

With lots of love from our family to yours! :D
I hope each of you have a wonderful Christmas that is full of family, love, and blessings!

Also, I’m going to be taking a blogging break until the New Year, so I’ll see ya’ll in 2012!!  Much love, everyone!  Thank you for everything that you’ve done for my family this past year.  You all are truly a blessing and I’m so thankful for each of you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, friends!

Only 4 days until Christmas.......

Can you believe it’s only 4 days away?  Time flies by so quickly…We’ve been busy around here these past weeks and I’m really glad that Christmas is almost here…Our Christmas tree is so pretty this year!  We are so blessed to have so many gifts under the tree.  It breaks my heart that so many people won’t have anything to give their families this Christmas.  I wish I could do something for them…

      

These next few days are going to be busy for us…We’re finishing the wrapping today, we baked cookies for the neighbors yesterday, we have family coming in tomorrow for the day, and Friday and Saturday are pretty busy with cooking to do and last minute things to check off of the “to do” list.   Between all the craziness these next few days, let us remember the true reason of the season.  Let us never forget that Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas.  It’s not supposed to be all about the gifts, Santa Clause, and how many parties you attend. We need to keep Christ in Christmas...

Well, I’m off to go finish the wrapping and then work on baking some more cookies for my Daddy.  He’s been asking for some peanut butter cookies lately and since it’s a dreary rainy afternoon, it’s the perfect time to do some baking.  :)

Are you baking something this afternoon?  What are your plans for Christmas this year?

Christmas Tea Party!

     This past weekend was really fun, but super busy.  We went to my grandpa’s house on Saturday to celebrate Christmas, and Sunday we went to church in the morning.  On Sunday afternoon, Katie and I went to a Christmas Tea that one of our friend’s (Mrs. Kathi) always hosts in December.  We've been going to the tea parties ever since she started and I think I was about eight years old.  I might have been a little older, but I can’t remember.  Anyway, we always have a really fun time and it’s great to fellowship with other ladies.

              

Mrs. Kathi always makes the tables look so festive!

                                   

She also makes the most amazing food.  It is absolutely delicious, and I always eat WAY too much.  Haha!

    Sweet treats...

    

Lots of fun, food, delicious tea, and good fellowship…A perfect way to celebrate Christmas together with friends.  (Below picture- left to right: Mrs. Melanie, Sarah-Anne, and Kaley)

                                  

Mother and daughter… aren’t they so gorgeous?  I love those ladies. :)Me and my beautiful sister, Katie! Love her bunches too. :)More lovely ladies… (Above picture- Mrs. Tammy, and Mikeala.  Below-left to right- Mrs. Paula, Margaret Katharine (one of the beautiful Anderson ladies, and Sarah-Anne.)

   

            

A great time was had by all that afternoon!

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You know how I was saying it was a really busy weekend?  Well, that’s not all I did Sunday afternoon.  Haha!  After I left their house, I went to my Word of Life group for our Christmas party!  It was so much fun.  We went caroling, ate pizza, and had a gift exchange.  It was awesome.  So thankful for everyone in my life this year and during Christmas. 

We’re trying to stay busy and enjoy the holiday season as best as we can under the circumstances this year.  It's not the same without Mom here, though.  We're all trying have as much fun as possible, but it doesn’t truly feel like Christmas.  We're also trying to keep all our family Christmas traditions alive like Mom would have wanted.  She might not be here to celebrate with us, but you know what?  I have the sweetest picture in my mind right now…Mom is going to celebrate our Savior's birth in Heaven...and I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be the best Christmas party EVER… :)

Questions from Another Blogger…

Abigail from Down From the Door Where It Began, randomly asked me a few weeks ago if I would like to do a little interview with her. We both sent each other 10 questions and were supposed to post them on our blogs, just for fun.  You can read her answers to my questions here.  Ready for my random interview?

1) If you had a pet grandpa spider, and you saw him about to stick one of his feet in a light socket, would you let him and why?  Haha…Hmmm…First off, I would NEVER have any type of pet spider because I am terrified of spiders and if I saw my “grandpa spider” put his feet in a light socket…Ummm…yeah.  I don’t think I would stop him.  That sounds terrible, I know. 

2)  Were you affected by Flynn Ryder's smolder? Bahaha!  Ohhh, Flynn…  I wouldn’t exactly say that I was “affected” by his smolder, but he always makes me laugh when I watch Tangled.  He is awesome. 

3)  If you somehow knew that you would never get married, and also knew that at some point in life you'd have to support yourself financially, what profession(s) might you now pursue?  That is a really good question.  I’ve always wanted to be a wedding photographer, but I’m not sure if that would be the best business to go into if I had to be the main provider financially.  I’m thinking about possibly going into:  photo journalism, physical therapy, or being a secretary for a doctor’s office…Not sure what I really want to do, yet.

4)  Have you ever wanted to throw a rotten vegetable at someone?  Have you ever done it?  Ummm…no?

5)  If you came upon President Obama's personal bus parked on a quiet street and there was no security around, would you prank it?  If so, what might you do?  *puts thinking cap on* I can picture it now… lots of shaving cream on the windows, empty cans, etc…  Haha!  Yeah…I can picture it, but I don’t think I would ever do it. 

6)  If you were shipwrecked onto a tropical island where nothing but pineapples grew, how would you arrange to be rescued?  Hmmm…lots of prayers and emails sent to family to tell them where I was located? (Yes, I would be on my laptop.  And yes, it would be in my suitcase that got thrown off the ship with me.  Haha!  Of course, I could always just make a huge pile of pineapples, make a bonfire, and hope that someone would see the flames… I don’t know.

7)  Would you marry a man who loathed the color pink?  Oh, girl.  If he doesn’t like pink, I am sooooo not interested.  Haha!  No, I’m kidding.  If the guy that I marry one day (Lord willing) doesn’t like the color pink at all, but he meets all the other requirements…Well, I guess he’ll have to do. :)

8)  If someone began singing "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina!" under your window at 2am on a Saturday morning, how might you respond?  “Stop singing!  Go away!  *throws lots of pillows out the window*”

9)  What do you think is REALLY over the rainbow?  Pretty flowers, white fluffy clouds, and streets of gold… :)

10)   "How Does She Know?"  Does she really and truly know what she is talking about?? It’s the question everyone wants to know.

Well, that was fun!  Thanks for sending me the questions, friend!  Sorry it took so long to answer all of them…

'Twas The Night Before Jesus Came

I thought you all might like to read this…

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'Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying, not one in the house,
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care
In hopes that Jesus would not come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed,
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.

When out of the East there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray,
I knew in a moment this must be THE DAY!

The light of His face made me cover my head,
It was Jesus! Returning just like He had said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth,
I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.

In the Book of Life which He held in His hand,
Was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word as He searched for my name;
When He said, "It's not here," my head hung in shame.

The people whose names had been written with love,
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without a sound,
While all the rest were left standing around.

I fell to my knees, but it was too late;
I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight,
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.

In the words of this poem the meaning is clear;
The coming of Jesus is drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call,
We'll find that the Bible was true after all!

Author: Dianne Frances Donenfeld – 1988

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We need to be ready at all times because only God knows the day, what time, and year that He is coming back. Will you be ready when He comes?

Wordless Wednesday: Gingerbread House Party!

   

               

Cold Hands Warm Hearts Swap!

I was so excited to find out that there would be another Cold Hands, Warm Hearts swap this year!  Last year, I wasn’t able to participate because the sign up sheet filled up so fast, but I quickly signed up this year after Ilene posted about it.

My swap partner this year was the lovely, Liz from Here’s to Handy Andy. 

Liz is super super sweet and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know her over the past few weeks. ;)

 

She sent me a box full of awesomeness!  (and I basically squealed with delight after opening each of the individually wrapped items)...

  She sent me a really sweet card with my package. :)

My package included:

Two sets of beautiful note cards...
Pretty yellow hair clips...A cute little Christmas ornament...

Adorable gray and pink mittens (love them!)...

    
     ..and a few other fun goodies...

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Liz!  I really enjoyed being your swap partner this year!

 

Also, huge thanks to Ilene & Sandy for hosting the “Cold Hands, Warm Hearts Swap” again this year!  It was so much fun and I’m very glad I decided to participate!

Hello Monday {17}

{Hello Monday}

{hello Christmas break!}

{hello sleeping in late and no schoolwork}

{hello catching up on blog reading}

{hello Christmas shopping with Katie and Andrew}

{hello Zaxby’s for lunch}

{hello more shopping}

{hello texting with friends}

{hello supper at a friend’s house}

{hello short visit with my grandma before heading home with Katie}

{hello getting home and showing Daddy what Christmas presents we bought}

{hello watching Terra Nova /checking emails/ getting ready for bed}

{hello sleepy time}

This post was inspired by my sweet friends, Sarah-Anne and Lisa Leonard. If you want to participate in {Hello Monday} too, then please give credit to Lisa in your post. She is the first one to start this weekly blog series.

Christmas Break!!!

Dear Christmas break,

You have NO idea how thankful I am for you. Soooo excited to not have any school assignments to complete until the first of January!  Also, I'm super excited that I finally get to spend time enjoying the holiday season and celebrating our Savior's birth.  Let the fun begin!

...I made it through my first semester as a senior AND completed my first college class...it feels good. :)

P.S.  I have a lot of blogging post ideas in my head now that it's not full of school assignment deadlines, so keep checking back for new posts this week on Practically Pink!

Happy Sunday, readers!! 

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Senior Photoshoot!

A few weeks ago, my awesome (and very talented) friend, Lindsay from Linden Tree Photography took my senior pictures.  We had such a fun afternoon and I’m so glad I asked her to take them.  I’m sure that she will probably post all of the pictures on her own blog soon, but I wanted to share a few of my favorites with ya’ll. 

      All the pictures above were taken by Linden Tree Photography.  Thank you again, Lindsay!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend: Saturday

I’m sorry about the lack of posts lately; I’ve been super busy with school and haven’t had much time to sit down and edit pictures.  This is my last full week of school before Christmas break, so I should have more time to blog in the next week or so… I would really appreciate your prayers throughout this week as I wrap up my first college course and prepare for my final next week.  I don’t think it will be too bad, but I’m just ready to have it over with, so I can enjoy Christmas.  Thank you all for your prayers last week. :)

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The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we loaded up in the van (early in the morning) and picked up my grandma (my dad’s mom) at her house, and then we all headed to my Uncle Bobby’s house who lives near Raleigh, North Carolina.  …but, before we left town, we got some breakfast at Mickey-Dee’s.  Hotcakes, sausage, and delicious coffee?  Yes, please! :) We got to their house a little before 11:00 and almost as soon as we got there, Caroline (my cousin) and I headed over to the library to find a book she needed for a school project.  Fun times, ya’ll.  We looked everywhere for that book, but couldn’t find it.  Someone must have put it in the wrong place because it said it was there when we looked on their computer… Oh, well.  She did end up finding another book that would help her, so it ended up being okay. :)When we got back to their house, we found everyone else doing random things around the house.  Aunt Kim, my grandma, Daddy, and Uncle Bobby were mixing up the sausage balls that we were going to make later on that afternoon (it’s always been a Christmas family tradition for us), and the rest of the family (Katie, Christopher, and Andrew) had gone to the store to get something for supper that they had forgotten the day before. 

Caroline and I were quickly put to work on making lunch because we were all getting pretty hungry at this point…     After lunch and clean up in the kitchen, we all gathered around the kitchen table and got ready to make all of our sausage balls for Christmas.  We always get together and make a huge batch and freeze them.  We usually have enough to take to parties, give some to neighbors, and then still have enough for each family to eat during the holiday season. 

Although, this year, we went really big.  Like…really, really, big.
We ended up making at least 800 sausage balls when we were finished rolling them that afternoon.  I’m not kidding.  It might have been more than that!  We made three recipes these year because we ran out really fast last year after we all took some to Christmas parties, etc.

Can anyone say breakfast AND snack for the the rest of the winter?  :) There is nothing like sitting around the kitchen table with your cousins and grandma talking and laughing about some of the funniest/ craziest things and rolling little sausage balls together… sweet memories. :)  We finished the sausage balls and then Caroline played some pretty music for us……then we (the cousins) decided that it would be fun to go have a little photoshoot down the street in their neighborhood, so we grabbed the tripod and camera, loaded up in the car, and set out to find the perfect place to take pictures.
We had such a fun time taking these pictures together! 

Caroline…“Look, let’s get behind this tree and take a picture, Andrew!” *insert nervous laugh here as a random guy walks past us with his dog* :)
Have I mentioned before how much I love this girl?  She is so beautiful.  I count myself blessed to have such an amazing cousin who laughs with me, prays for me, texts me randomly to ask me how my day is going and how I’m doing, and encourages me…she is also almost always around when I have a “Crazy Em” moment and need someone to laugh at my weird jokes or give me a hug when I’m having a bad day and need a good cry…

I love you Caroline.  (aka. Carolina/ Carebear)

We also did some shopping that day and had some delicious food for supper.  It’s always nice to spend a day with family and I’m thankful that my dad’s family is close by, so we can see them more often.  :)

Thanks again for having us up there, guys!  We love you bunches and can’t wait to see you in a few weeks!

xoxo,

Emily