merry christmas, ya filthy animal.

Hello, everyone! 

I hope you all had a super rad time with your families over the Christmas holidays.  My time was just wonderful.  I'm pretty fond of my fam.

The mister and I....looking all happy and stuff.

 We started by celebrating at home together with Miss Matti.  She loved all of her gifts, but really loved her Ho Ho from littlebitfunky.  She's already named it "Brownie."  If you haven't seen them, you should definitely check them out.

Matti loved her HoHo from littlebitfunky!  Check them out...they're awesome!

Jax enjoying his Christmas bone.

 Christmas Eve kicked off at my uncle Mike's with our annual breakfast.  I'm not sure why, but this is my favorite family tradition.  The mister even wore his black Santa hat.  (I sometimes refer to him as Johnny Cash for his monochromatic fashion choices).  Because of this hat, we lovingly dubbed him as "Bad Santa."

Granny with Bad Santa.

 After breakfast, we stayed to shoot guns with my uncle and cousins.  Highlight of the day.  So much fun...even if I was the only girl.

Bad Santa doing some work with my Glock.

Bang. Bang.

 Afterwards, we headed to my mom's house for a much needed nap.  Breakfast & guns will take it out of ya!  That evening, we all met up again at Granny's for our Christmas festivies.

My mom, stepdad & 4-legged baby sister - Izzy.

 The mister and spent the night at Mom's that night.  It felt so warm and cozy to be back home with the light from the Christmas tree glowing through the living room.  There's really no place like home. 

I will always love this view -- Christmas at Mom's.

 We woke up Christmas morning to happy times, good breakfast and lots of presents.  

Merry Christmas to the mister. :)

My neice, Lexy, KNOWS how to make some hot cocoa.

I love this shot of Bad Santa.

 I said all of this to say -- this was one amazing Christmas.  I so enjoyed my time with my family and really enjoyed my time off from work with the mister.  I'm one happy girl!

 So, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the Henry fam.  Hope your holidays were grand and that you ring in the New Year with awesomeness!

 

five senses friday #9.

Merry Christmas, blog friends!  This will be my last post until after Christmas.  Our festivities will start tomorrow and will be going strong until Wednesday night.  I hope you all have a wonderful time with your families.  Thanks so much for checking in!  Now, my Five Senses Friday...
Five Senses Friday is were I reflect on the last week or so through the senses.  Here is my week in review.  Enjoy!

Tasting::

My famous Oreo Truffles that I have started making every year for Christmas.  I've done good and have only eaten one.  I can't say the same for everyone else.  This tin is emptying quickly here at work.
Definitely looking forward to all the tasting I will be doing starting this weekend!  Wooo!  Bring on the fat pants & the Christmas awesomeness!

Feeling::

Seriously excited to start our Christmas festivities tomorrow!  This is my favorite time of year.  I love spending time with my family.

Seeing::

This cute little face looking up at me every morning...begging for breakfast.  I'm pretty sure that's one of his favorite words.  I love my Jackson.

Hearing::

Christmas music.  Christmas music.  And MORE Christmas music.  Thankfully I love it...but only during the month of December.  One exception is Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time."  The synthesizers in that song make me want to continually stab my ears with broken ornaments.

Smelling::

Peppermint.  Smelly Jax.  More peppermint.  I love the smells of Christmas.  I'll honestly be sad when the holidays are over.  They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.


What were some of your experiences this week?  Feel free to play along in the comments, find me online or post your own blog!

ho ho ho.

On Saturday, I participated in my third 5K - The First Annual Ho Ho Ho Run in Tyler.  My good friend, K, tagged along with me.  Well...she drove.  Either way, downtown Tyler was filled with more Santas than I had ever seen! 

We picked up our suits at 7:30am and went to McDonald's to change.  First realization?  The suits were super cheap.  My hand went through the crotch before I even got it on my body.  Luckily, I was prepared with other articles of clothing...or it could have gotten pretty interesting (and even colder).  K experienced the same problem and even gained another hole from the seat belt on the ride downtown.  Once more Santas arrived, you could see that we weren't the only lucky ones to experience wardrobe malfunctions.  Nice...
You also gotta love the whole adult one-size-fits all plan.  Yeah, that always work out well.  I'm on my journey to being that "one-size"...that's why I'm at this 5K!  Sheesh!  Thankfully, it fit.  Of course, I was a rebel and chose to be Batman Santa.  It was necessary.  The people needed a hero!

After plenty of photo opportunities, we were lining up.  K was bright enough to bring gloves.  I, however, did not.  I'm not really sure that I actually even own gloves.  I'm a Texan for goodness sake!  One man made it a point to share force his hand warmers into my frozen paws.  He was very adamant about this...to the point that K and I took a nice, little stroll to put some distance in between us.  Ok, sir!  I'll take them!   
Aside from our poorly constructed Santa suits, we had a blast.  5K number 3 is in the books.  My 35 Before 35 goal (#12) is coming along nicely! The wind and rain could not stop Batman Santa!  Or maybe it was "Batmanta"....

thanksgiving recap.

Greetings from the month of December, folks!  Can you believe it's here?  

Tis the season to throat punch someone be jolly!  Am I right!?

I'm finally rested from the awesome Thanksgiving festivities of last week.  This is how my holiday went down: 

• The mister and I drove an hour and a half to my mom's house on Wednesday night for the annual Pre-Thanksgiving Friendsgiving.  Just a bunch of good food (can someone say jalapeno burgers?) and good ol' boys. 
• Thursday morning consisted of pj's all day, cuddles with the mister during our annual James Bond-a-thon, and cooking with mom.
• Thursday afternoon, we left to go to my grandparents house to meet up with the whole fam.  Did that include skeet shooting?  Yes.  Yes, it did.  Was I good blogger who took awesome pics?  No.  No, I was not.  If I was, you would have sweet shots of yours truly crushing all 3 of my skeets.  Oh yeah!  But alas, I failed.
• I drove my grandfather's golf cart out to shoot...but it died.  I may of had to walk back and just leave it out in the woods.  Yep.  I'm awesome.
• Food, food, food and photo ops with the fam!  Enjoy....

I seriously love my nephew.  He is beyond amazing!

The mister & I with some of my favorite cousins, Nathan & Carleigh.

Couldn't miss getting a shot with my favorite lady.  Love my momma!

Go ahead & tell me how awesome my little nephew is.  This is golden.

I was not a trooper this year.  I did not get up early and shop.  No sir, no ma'am.  The mister and I slept in like the lazy brilliant people we are.  That afternoon, we braved Wal-Mart, but only the Lawn & Garden center for some Christmas decor.  Since this is our first Christmas together, we had to buy everything!  FUN!  Luckily, we were out in a flash and home to decorate.  The tree is up, folks!  I'm pretty proud.

Notice the pickle?  Oh yeah.  Necessity.

And look who celebrated his first Thanksgiving.  Don'tcha just love that little mug?

 

 

Did you and your family do anything extra exciting?  Let me know by leaving a comment.


Happy Thanksgiving to you guys.  Hope your holiday was as rad as mine.  Now on to the Christmas festivities!

thankful.

I know that many people have taken to Facebook to participate in the 30 Days of Thankfulness, but I didn't.  I never have.  I am, however, incredibly thankful...everyday.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would discuss the things for which I am truly thankful.

1.  The Amazing Mister.

I've never loved anyone more...

Soon I will share the story of the mister with you.  Soon.  Until then, just know that this man is seriously amazing.  I'm thankful for every day that I get to spend by his side.  He is my most favorite thing ever in the history of favorite things.  I could go on and on about how much I love him...but I'll spare you.

2.   Miss Mattison.
 

Unintentional matchy-matchy.

Thanks to the mister, I am also the "bonus mom" to Miss Mattison Dawn.  This kiddo is awesome.  I'm such a proud mommy & super fan.  You've just got to love a kid that will back you up with the "Oh, oh, ohs" while you're in the car singing Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" at the top of your lungs.  Yes, she's that awesome.

3.  The Parents.

1.  Step-dad, RD    2. Mom    3.  Dad & Laura

I have the blessing of four parents in my life.  All different in their own way, but all amazingly supportive & loving.  I have turned out to be (IMHO) a well-adjusted adult, thanks to them.  I don't know what I would have become had it not been for each of them being a part of my life & loving me.

4.  The Siblings.

My siblings: (clockwise) Chad & Shannon, Cody & Leann, Matt, James & Laci, Shawn & Amanda)

My in-laws:  Ronny & Debbie and Ben & Gina.

Having a slew of brothers and sisters is pretty great.  Especially if you have mine!  You might not, but I count my in-laws as true siblings.  Maybe yours are lame, but mine are awesome.  With that being said, I have 7 brothers (Cody, Chad & Matt and in-laws Shawn, James, Ronny & Ben)  and 6 sisters (Laci & Amanda and in-laws Leann, Shannon, Gina and Debbie)...and I'm thankful for each one of them.    

5.  Being the Awesome Aunt.

The whole crew (l to r): Lucus, Caden, Taytem, Bralyn, Jake, Jazmine, Jonah, Colton, Aaron, Kathryn, Lexy, Gianna, Keith, Hadlee, Kristen, Amanda, Paul, Blake and Tuff.

I absolutely LOVE being an aunt.  I first became an aunt to Aaron at 13.  Now, 20 years later, I am the aunt to 18 (11 nephews & 7 neices).  Aaron, Kathryn, Keith, Kristen, Lexy, Tuff, Jake, Caden, Luke, Colton, Bralyn, Jonah, Tatym, Jazmine, Gianna, Amanda, Paul, & Blake...with one on the way!  AND, I'm a great aunt to little Miss Hadlee!

6.  The Rest of the Gene Pool.

Just a few of my faves:  Granny & Papaw, cousin Angie, Uncle Mike & Carlie, Cousins - Andrew, Nathan, Carleigh & Micah, and Mamaw.

I absolutely love my family.  Every single, crazy one of them.  I'm so thankful that we're such a loving group.  I'm fortunate that I actually look forward to my time with them.  

7.  Super Awesome Friends. 
I've said it before, I'll say it again.  I honestly have some of best friends in the universe.  Of course, I've already filled you all in about that when I wrote about Friendships for Thirty-somethings.  I just couldn't leave them out.  They make my life so much better.
 
8.  Coffee. 

This may seem silly to you, but you just don't understand.  Coffee makes me a better person.  YOU should be thankful for coffee.  It makes me human in the mornings.  Most people are alive today because I had my coffee.

9.  My handy, dandy iPhone.

Again.  Completely valid.  I've been an iPhone user since the 3G first came out.  I'm invested, people.  If you know me, you know that my iPhone is attached to me. Love me, love my iPhone.

10. Music.

Studio work in Tulsa for Rita Fulmer's album.

My outlet.  I'm thankful that my Mom has encouraged my love for music.  She may have resisted the drums for several years, but thankfully she finally gave in when I was 15.  I love music.







What are you thankful for this year?  Let me know in the comments & most of all, have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

christmas sweater awesomeness.

Ugly Christmas sweaters make me so happy.

I was so excited yesterday to find out that my place of business is having an Ugly Christmas Sweater Day next month!  In a world where I have to be all business-like, I will get to display my geek for all to see on this one day!  

Because said sweater selection is so exciting and highly important, I am asking for your opinions.  Below are my top 6 favorites.  Help me pick the sweater that will rule them all.

1.  Meow-y Christmas

2.  Ya Filthy Animal   

3.  Christmas Unicorns

4.  Parachuting Sharks 

5.  Happy Holla Days 

6.  Santa Saurus Rex

Aren't these AWESOME!?  Help me decide which one will grace the halls of my workplace.  Leave me a comment and I'll reveal which one was chosen in my Ugly Christmas Sweater Day post next month...complete with awesome pics!