Sweet Caroline

Day 21: a picture of yourself. Hold up? What? As if you haven't seen enough, right!?! I feel like this thing has already made me put up one...so you don't wanna see a few more pictures of me and my loves? Too bad. Okay, okay...I guess I'll post some more..... Don't worry, another Christmas recap will be next=) I know you are dying waiting....

So, I think I am having a little end of season depression. Ha! I know that sounds silly...but I HATE Jan and Feb and most of March. I just think those months are SO boring, normally cold, dreary, nothing to do...etc. I kinda need a teeny break from the constant go of our lives, but after a weekend or so...I will be roaring to go! I LOVE how busy we are during the holidays, it can be exhausting...but I thrive off of it! I love all the parties to attend, spending extra time with friends and family...it is just so fun. We are heading to the mountains this weekend with a big group, so that will be fun....but then it's just kinda like....blah. *actually, no it isn't...i keep forgetting we are going to Mexico in January...for some reason I am having a hard time getting excited about this trip. Call me crazy...Mikey is a Chamber of Commerce rep. for his bank, and we are going for free with a bunch of other people...I know we will have a good time, but I'm just not "t...

Whew...I am sooo sad the long holiday weekend is over. It just never lasts long enough! I thoroughly enjoyed my time off hanging out with family, this was a very good Christmas. I feel like I need a million recap posts to catch up, been a little slack lately! Who has time during the holidays? I had two very fun Christmas parties earlier this month. Those are really the only Christmas parties I attended this year, besides a work happy hour type event. The first was our SEVENTH annual Girls' Christmas Party. It was super fun as usual. We missed a few girls this year...between mommy duties and traveling they just couldn't make it! We still had a wonderful time though...I really hope we continue this tradition always. The older we get and farther apart we live, this night becomes more and more important. So special to me. Love these girls so much! My pics. are backward, this was some of us out after! Our traditional group picture! Me and K-boo! The second was our Second ...

I have a BIG BIG weekend ahead. But, how can it not be exciting when it is CHRISTMAS time!!! Tonight is one of my all time favorite nights of the year...it will be our SEVENTH annual GIRLS Christmas Party!!! (see below for a stroll down memory lane). We started our senior year of college, and haven't looked back. We rotate houses and do a white elephant type gift exchange...it is SO fun. Drinks, dancing, Christmas cheer, gift snatching...hanging out with my best girl friends, how could it be better!?! Saturday we head to NC to visit with Mikey's mom's family...almost a 4 hour drive. We don't get to see them very often though, so I am looking forward to the trip. This will begin "family" Christmas Celebration 1. Sunday we come back to Columbia for family Christmas celebration number 2, my dad's side of the family is getting together at my cousins' house. This is the side of the family where there are 8 KIDS 8 and under...so so fun. Kids reall...

Day 20: Nicknames. CARO. That's the main one....that's what pretty much everyone calls me if they shorten my name. I don't know why, but I really love it when Mikey calls me Caro, normally he is being sweet if he calls me that. My best friend in high school started calling me Caro for "karo" syrup...who knows!?! My dad and brother were always the type to call people weird/silly nicknames. My brother had a million different things he called me, mainly to annoy me when I was little, duh . My dad always called me little Bohicket, there is Bohicket marina near Charleston, SC...that's where it comes from. Tootles!

The holidays are always filled with traditions, and though many of ours have changed over the years as our families get bigger, there are some that haven't and hopefully never will. We didn't have many traditions that we stuck to year after year, but the ones we did I cherish greatly. I hope to start many new traditions once we start having a family, I think they are a very important part of the holidays. One of my favorite traditions began before I was even born and still continues on to this day. My dad's side of the family....what started as his parents, the three kids and their kids (which was only 4 of us grandchildren for 25 years) have always had someone read the Christmas story out of the Bible before we begin to open presents. My nannie started this and I hope to continue it forever. I think it is such an important experience for the children....you actually take a few minutes before the madness to truly think about the reason for the season. I was the one w...