A Tender Tennessee Christmas

My first Christmas album (and only Christmas album) was Amy Grant's first Christmas CD when it came out in 1993.

On that CD, track # 1 is the song Tennessee Christmas. I would listen to that song over and over again and see that picture of the album cover and dream that one day I could experience something similar to "a tender Tennessee Christmas".

Here I am 17 years later and experiencing my 2nd Tennessee Christmas in a cabin out in the Smokey Mountains. Isn't it funny how God puts dreams in your heart so early and then years later are realized? Amazing.

This Christmas Jason's family will be joining us at a cabin in Coker Creek, Tennessee out in the Smokey Mountains for 5 glorious days! And with the way our winter's been going so far, we might even have a chance to see some snow!

Back in early August, we booked a beautiful cabin called the Phoenix in Newport, Tennessee.

Two months later on November 18th we got a phone call from the owner of the Phoenix that their cabin had burned down!! The ironic thing is, the cabin was named the Phoenix because it had been built on the foundation of another cabin that had burned down years earlier. Coincidence? Hmm....

So that left us in a huge rush to find another cabin to accommodate all 7 of us, was available over Christmas with the late notice, needed to be pet friendly and yet not be overly expensive in their rates.

Then we stumbled across Windy Ridge in Coker Creek, Tennessee. A beautiful 3 bedroom, 3 bath cabin with a cozy living area, gorgeous kitchen, a hot tub and wood burning fireplace. I AM PUMPED. I envision a lot of puzzle making, book reading, lazy mornings with hot biscuits and jam, hot apple crisp baking in the oven and watching fun holiday movies while sipping hot peppermint cocoa cuddled up with loved ones.

10 days and counting!

House for Sale....no not mine!

LeeAnn Rimes is selling her house in Franklin, TN if anyone's interested.

Walnut plank hardwood floors.

Private dance studio

Guest House

Home Theatre

Infinity Pool

Only listed for a measly $6,250,000.

13,310 square feet, 7 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and situated on 5 acres.

Wowzas. Any takers?

Do you Advent?

I think there is just something so fun about an Advent Calendar. I grew up with the candy ones that had the little molded chocolates inside and thought they were so fun to open through out the month of December.

Jason and I have a cute little painted wood one that I picked up from Old Time Pottery and I like to fill it with peppermint & chocolate candy. But lately, I've seen some Advent Calendars that I am just drooling over and would love to make myself for my own family someday.

How fun are these?!! This one is homemade by Scrapbook Dimensions.

And I love these two from Pottery Barn:
And there's even a whole group on Flickr with some seriously cute homemade Advent Calendars that you should check out here.

Ode to Christmas Shopping...

I'm a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas shopping. Quite frankly, I hate it.

First of all, there's the crowds. Lord have mercy its enough to send me into a full blown anxiety attack weaving through the pushy & grabby shoppers.

Secondly, the plethora of options. For example. I've been looking for a few different things on my sister's Christmas lists and even though they're somewhat specific I can't seem to make up my mind for the life of me on what to purchase. So then when I finally buy something, I then proceed to question what I bought, then end up hating what I bought, then return what I bought and then stress all over about what I should buy instead.

Are you with me so far?

Exhibit A. Kris asks for a scarf for Christmas. I proceed to visit 4 stores looking for the perfect scarf. And yet, they're all crap as far as I can tell and I even have to ask Jason to pose as my model so I can get a better idea of how one might look on. He's quite the sport isn't he?

(Sweetie, I only promised not to post this picture to Facebook, I said nothing about the blog. Love you, mean it.)

Don't get me wrong, I do love Christmas. LOVE IT. It's just the shopping that stresses me out.... well and I'm not a fan of Christmas music...or grabby little children. Ho ho ho.

Ok so this isn't the blog post of warm fuzzy Christmas cheer. I'm almost done with my shopping, so I'm getting there, be patient.

Excuse Me.

Alright, so I've been getting quite a few complaints lately that I haven't posted to the blog in a while. And my excuse is that its not that fun doing posts without pictures and my camera went kaput on me and therefore, I have lost all inspiration to blog for the time being.

But if you're really dying to know what's going on in my world, here's the dilemma of the day (rather weeks I should say).

I am so full of air its out of control.

See, now aren't you excited that you get to know this about me? On average, I'm belching between 25-30 times a day, I kid you not. The pressure in my back from all this air, builds up the point where I'm in ridiculous pain and the only way to relieve it is by either leaning against my stress ball or having Jason burp me.

I even mentioned it during my yearly physical yesterday with my doctor. He said that sometimes anxious people involuntarily swallow air and it builds up. Otherwise he's not sure what's causing it and didn't see it as cause for concern.

Even I think its getting disgusting and I feel for my poor cube neighbor, Angela who laughs every time I have to let one out.

Now how's that for a blog post?