On December 17th after much anticipation, I headed home for Christmas holidays. In November I was not even sure if I'd be able to go home so this was such a joy to be able to go. In the next few photos you'll see some special moments captured from Christmas. Unfortunately, the first few days were filled with some sad times as we had to put our yellow lab down after he lost all ability to walk. We will also cherish the memories we had with sweet Cooper & we hope he know how much we loved him ! I was happy to at least have gotten to hug him one more time.
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| our little tree in Hamburg |
The day I got in I was exhausted. I cuddled with sweet Cooper for a while and hit the sack then on Sunday we had "Thanksgiving" at my house. My mom postponed our annual Thanksgiving celebration by three weeks so I could see the whole family and enjoy my favorite holiday. She's so thoughtful like that. We also celebrated my sister's graduation with her Masters in Professional Accounting from Georgia State. You go girl!
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| thanksgiving feast at our house! |
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| as nick says... aint a reynolds party without a cookie cake! |
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| spending some fun times with my grandpa |
For the next few days after that I worked from home and did a few things with my family and saw some friends {namely George & Danielle}. Mackie & I then took my momma to see the Nutcracker at the Fox on Friday. It was so fun!
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| amazing views at nutcracker |
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| the light is too bright!!! :( |
On Saturday it was Christmas Eve and I headed up to Nick's for our annual celebration with his parents. We had an amazing meal complete with Boston butt! and then we headed to church and back to do presents. Such a special tradition I love doing. It was fun to have the four of us together again after a year.
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| our 2016 christmas card |
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| beautiful tree at nick's church |
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| with my man |
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| mother-in-law, nick & me! |
On Christmas day (Sunday), we did our annual brunch at my parents house with my parents & Mackie and Kail. So yummy!! We all contributed and made some things. Then Mackie and Kail headed off to his parents house and Nick & I did our trip up to Rome to see both sets of grandparents with my parents. It was so fun to see my grandparents and spend some quality time with them. This has been going on for the last few years now and a tradition I truly look forward to.
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| the crew on Christmas morning! |
Then it was time to go to Knoxville to see our nieces and Nick's sister Emily & her husband Jon. Nick helped the girls open their presents. They are really growing up and I hate missing so much of it but I love making the most out of the time we do have when we are there. We had a fantastic meal with just Emily & Jon later that night and then spent all day playing hide n seek and "house" with the girls. They are just SO cute! They both have such distinct and their own personalities. Amelia smiles just like Nick did when he was a kid....adorable :)
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| our nieces opening their presents |
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| nick being a super helpful uncle! |
Once we got back to Marietta, I rushed to a baby shower for my friend Jenna. She's due in just a few weeks. It was so much fun to shower her with love & joy and I cannot wait to meet little Ryland and hang out with him. Jenna's actually on bed rest right now at the hospital so let's send her some serious positive vibes please <3
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| radiant Jenna & me |
On Thursday, I headed to lunch with my best pals {Bridget, Leigh Anne & Lauran} from home. We grabbed some yummy tex mex and caught up. Lauran is due in March and I'm sooooo pumped for baby Ansley to get here and let me be her pseudo aunt. She is already so incredibly loved. My time is always so short with these girls but we always pick up like it was just yesterday that we saw each other. They will never know how important they are in my life.
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| lunchin with my besties! |
Then we headed to Two Birds Taphouse to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday! It was two weeks early (so thank you everyone for letting us celebrate early). It was SOOOOO much fun! We presented him with his surprise gift which was 60 letters from 60 people who wanted to share a nice thought, funny story, or the way he had deeply impacted their lives. It was such a meaningful gift & we had so much fun collecting the letters and seeing his face light up. I'll never forget this night & we hope my Dad won't either.
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| happy birthday daddy |
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| everyone at my dad's birthday party |
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| dad's birthday present! |
And with that we were off... on Friday December 30th we headed back to Germany. As always the trip was just too short :( . My mom made an amazing New Years meal on that day we left and Kail and Mackie came back up. I meant to take a picture of all the amazing food but ate it all too fast as always.
Thank you to my family & friends who always make my trips home so memorable. I love you each of you with everything I have!
