The Highlander Family: December 2008

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! What a great start to the holidays. Josh and I were excited to host our first Thanksgiving for both of our families this year. Despite the lack of furniture we were able to make do and everything turned out perfect. Josh's parents and my parents were there along with Caitlin and her boyfriend Mike. Our good friends Rich and Judy Parker also joined us and brought along some delicious food! I have to admit though, I got out of a lot of the work this year. In addition to the roasted turkey I only had to make two other dishes - gravy and corn pudding. I will take some credit for the table setting though, I pulled it together with a little help from my Martha Stewart Living magazine (that really makes me feel old!!). I've got plenty of photos below. If you haven't seen Josh in a while you'll notice the large animal on his face, I mean beard :-) He was growing it out for the "winter" but he recently shaved it off. He wants Darby to know what he really looks like when we finally bring him home.

Speaking of Darby, only 2 more weeks until we go pick him up! We can hardly wait. So far we've collected a few things like collar and leash and plenty of stuffed play toys from his new family and friends. He's going to be one lucky dog, being the first grandpup and all. (Our breeder created a web site so we could watch him grow - http://www.robertradcliff.com/darby/index.html)

Quick recap on the month that's passed - Josh has been hard at work (along with both of our dads) on the fence. So far the old fence is down and come January he'll be putting up the new one. It's no easy task, that's for sure. I recently took a trip to St. Simon's Island, Georgia with a few of my girlfriends. We had such an amazing time (photos below) and it was so incredibly relaxing. If you've never been to the Georgia coast this is definitely a place you should visit. The people are friendly, the scenery is beautiful and it just has this wonderful feeling of calmness (of course the southern hospitality is wonderful too). While the girls were off on our trip the guys decided to do a little camping and fishing. Let's just say the weather dipped below freezing and the fish were NOT biting. I'm sure it was great bonding time, but us girls were glad to be warm and cozy by the fire in St. Simon's.

Up next - Let the holiday parties begin! This year we have 9 parties to attend. Well, I do at least. Josh will go to most (even if he's kicking and screaming). We'll spend Christmas Eve in Gainesville with our parents and Caitlin and then Christmas Day we're heading up to Crestview to see the Highlander family - Darby in tow. After a few days back at the office we'll be packing up again. This time it's off to Toccoa, Georgia for a night with Grandma and Grandpa Wills. We're stopping through on our way to Asheville, North Carolina. We've rented this great little pet-friendly cottage in the mountains and we have our tickets to the Biltmore already. It's our Christmas gift to each other this year, the first time we've ever not done gifts. I have to admit, not having to shop for Josh will be a welcome relief. He's always such a tough one to buy for.

Well, I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season! We really do miss our friends and family that we don't see very often, even more so at this time of year.

Love,

Josh and Jenny