We had a FUN office Christmas party this year. One of our Dr.'s- Dr. Hempel planned the whole thing. For those that wanted to meet early to do some Christmas shopping--he had us meet at a cute shop in Brookhaven called "Davonshire Home & Garden"...then gave everyone a gift card for a nearby shop. I got $50 for Pottery Barn! YAY!!!
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some of my coworkers--
Andy(Tiffany's husband), Tiffany, Tina, Dr. Hempel, Bri,
Cheryl, Sherrie, & Hilary
***Neat Christmas Idea*** Dr. Hempel and his neighbors all go together to the local Waffle House on Christmas morning and fill the whole restaurant-- then, each family leaves at least a $20 tip--so, the staff ends up with a big pocket of cash by the end!!! Makes having to work on Christmas Day not seem so bad!
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Sherrie, Me, and Elizabeth
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The Powell Family--- the sweet family that takes care of Milla on Tuesdays when I am at work.... Dan, Kara, Lindsey, & Lauren
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After shopping, Dr. Hempel and his family hosted the party at their house. They had it catered by Maggiano's..yum...one of my favorite things was the Rigatoni D!!!! Delicious!
(Tiffany-Dixie-Me-Ashley)
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Look how HAPPY Milla looks in her Dad's arms as we waited in line for our 2nd annual trip to "Bass Pro Shops" for our free picture with Santa!!!
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Didn't feel quite as comfortable in Santa's arms as she did in her Dad's!! This picture is a little hard to see---but she SCREAMED and SCREAMED!!! She was in his lap for a total of 5 seconds!
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after the traumatic experience of sitting on Santa's lap-- Milla wanted to take a look at the awesome fish tank they have at Bass Pro. She is doing her "fish face"!
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Got to go to our small group Christmas Dinner at Chase & Tiffany's house...
here are the guys....back: Brad, Duran, Brandon, Austin front: Jake, Chase, Ben & Asher
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The girls....Jessica, Anna, Lindsey, Audrey, Me, Elizabeth, and Tiffany. Tiffany made a wonderful ham....she said it was from Trader Joe's...it was already seasoned and cooked--you just warm and serve...and was 1/2 the price of Honey Baked Ham. I am going to try that next year!
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The Benich's hosted a great Christmas party!!! It was definitely the fanciest that we got to attend...with valet parking and a wait staff!!! FUN!! Beau was a hit when he made his Santa appearance! (Mandy,Kriya, Santa, Me, Becky,& Liz)
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One of Milla's many EXCITED faces as she opened her Christmas gifts!!! The hits were...we lucked out and 2 different people that I work with passed down really neat play houses....(one is an outdoor one that looks like a log cabin-and the other is for inside--a "Rose Petal Cottage") and she got a Radio Flyer Wagon that she LOVES to ride in. My mom got her a big stuffed Hippopotamus...from the song..."I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas--only a Hippopotamus will do!"
***Sometimes it Pays to Wait***One week before Christmas we STILL did not have our tree!! We went to Lowe's to just get a little tree--but, when we got there we saw a sign that said "CLEARANCE, all trees $10"... awesome!! We got a 9 ft tree that normally was $70!!! and, a wreath for $2.50!!!! What a deal!!!
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Due to all of the Christmas activities we didn't get any time to play in the snow on Christmas day--so, we were ready by Sunday to get out there! We drove up a little north to just outside Helen, Ga. Here is Brandon pulling Milla on the sled.
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Sweet little Milla in the snow
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Got to spend New Year's Eve Eve with my High School girlfriends!! It was wonderful! We met at a delicious Italian restaurant in Alpharetta called Luciano's. We were going to eat dinner and then go to a movie---but we were at the restaurant for over 3 hours and ran out of time to catch a movie!!! (Allison, Brittany, Blakeley, Becky---we missed Carrie in Nashville!)
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We enjoyed fondue at Tiffany and Andy's house on New Year's Eve. Since we both have kids--we did an "early party" and got back home in time to get everyone in bed by their bedtimes...including me!!!...This year was the first year that I can remember that we were asleep at midnight! I was kind of sad about it--but then woke up fully rested and ready to start 2011 the next day!!! One of my many new year's resolutions for this year is to not procrastinate... hopefully I will be able to put that into action and start to blog more frequently. Here's to a FABULOUS 2011! Happy New Year!