Snow

The snow waited until the day after Christmas, but we awoke to a thin dusting of snow on the ground!

It had stopped snowing earlier this morning but picked back up again. It was really coming down for a bit - small flakes whirling around so it looked like a snow globe...

I love the way our house looks in the snow...

Because of all of the rain yesterday, we won't be able to build a snowman, and I doubt we'll even be able to manage snowballs for a snowball fight. So I just had to go out and at least catch a snowflake or two!!!

Christmas 2012

Since Charles was feeling a little under the weather, even though I woke up early, I stayed super quiet and let Charles sleep in (an extra Christmas present for him!). He finally woke up a little before 7:30, and then we opened presents.

Toula got to open her present first...

She took a while to check it all out, so Charles played Santa and handed out our presents...

Toula had to check out all of our presents too...

I opened my presents first.  Toula was curious about what was happening...

and loved being helpful...

by chewing up my discarded wrapping paper!

I must say that Charles did a great job again this year.  (I love the Parisian print he picked out for me as well as the Peter's pottery vase, Grizzlies tickets and, of course, the t-shirt from the Packers game to remember our big Christmas present).

As did Toula - having a pet is a great way to sneak an extra present under the tree :). I just love the Carlisle Street Kate Spade from Toula!

Charles opened his presents last, and we both got a good chuckle when he opened his gift of Grizzlies tickets -- great minds think a like!

In addition to the Grizzlies tickets and t-shirt from the Green Bay trip, Charles got his usual Vineyard Vines boxers and Toula and I gave him a polo...

I think that Toula's favorite part of her gift was the bow...

and she loved running...

underneath the wrapping paper...

After opening our gifts, we tuned into A Christmas Story until it was time to go to Mama and Jerry's.

We enjoyed Christmas lunch with them of turkey and dressing, cranberry sauce, turkey, ham, Ma's sweet potatoes, creamed potatoes, corn, green beans, butter beans, rolls and fruit salad. 

After lunch, we opened our presents.  I opened my presents first, and Charles let me open our joint presents too...

Mama opened her presents...

Then Jerry opened his...

and I think was most excited by his usual peanut butter cookies...

Charles then opened his present...

After all that gift opening, our lunch had settled a bit, and we enjoyed dessert of caramel cake - it was so good!!

We both got exactly what we wanted. I couldn't wait to put the case on my iPad and check it out!  Charles, of course, got just what he wanted - money. We also got a Christopher Radko ornament which Mama said she had to give us because of Mississippi State's "we believe" season, a special Etta B pottery nativity platter and gift certificates for both of us to Guadalajara - there will be A LOT of fajita dinners in our future!!

Charles and I returned home and later braved the cold and wind to go see This is 40. We ended the day with an IHOP dinner...

We had.a wonderful Christmas!

GO PACK GO!!!

Charles and I and our friend Thomas Pipkin traveled to Green Bay (via Chicago) to watch the Green Bay Packers take on the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football on Sunday, December 9th.  We had a great time and our trip to the Frozen Tundra was perfected by the cold temperatures and SNOW!

We drove into Green Bay and caught our first glimpse of Lambeau Field through the snow...

We took a couple of pictures from the car... 

and then stopped for gas across the street where we could take some good pictures of the stadium!

We were all ready excited to finally make it to Lambeau!

We ate lunch at Kroll's...

 which is right across the street from Lambeau... 

We had to try the fried cheese curds...

We ordered both the white and the yellow to try, but the white were my favorites!

We all ordered the butter burger...

It was buttery and delicious!

 And really messy!! 

Inside Kroll's was great... 

All of the waitresses, Steph included, were decked out in Packer gear.

 

We left Kroll's to drive to the hotel...

and passed the Packer practice facility on the way...

We also saw all sorts of ways that the fans support their team! 

We made it to the hotel and discovered that we were in Green Bay right when Winter Storm Caesar was hitting...

We didn't let that deter us!  We walked to the bus stop to take the shuttle to Lambeau for the game...

We were all excited, and I wanted a picture of Charles, Pipkin and me in front of Lambeau - with the words Lambeau Field in the background... 

It took us several...

 tries...

While we were taking picture after picture, a very nice group passed us and the lady stopped to take the picture for us!

The Christmas tree outside the atrium was so pretty!

We saw the statues of Curly Lambeau...

 and Vince Lombardi...

as we entered the atrium, along with flags depicting the Packer spirit...

We entered the atrium and couldn't wait for it to be time to pass through these gates to the stadium!

We walked around the atrium, taking everything in...

 and getting my picture taken with Aaron Rodgers...

 Charles had to discount double check!!

There was also a replica of Rodgers' locker...

as well as banners of past Packer greats...

and everything was decorated for Christmas.

We went to the pro-shop...

 and bought a few souvenirs, including this cute little Green Bay Packer snowman!

Of course, Gs were on everything!

While we didn't get to tour the Hall of Fame, we did get to see a display of memorabilia donated by Packer fans... 

The atrium was huge...

 It was cool to look down on it from the second floor...

We then sat in the atrium until it was time to enter the stadium...

The atrium filled up...

 and right before the gates opened, the Tundra Line got the crowd pumped...

There was a steady stream of green and yellow entering the stadium!

We entered the stadium... 

 and walked around the concourse...

 to find our seats...

 I really liked this sign, and we definitely did what we were instructed to do and left it all in the stands!!

We made it to our section and got our first look at the field... 

Snow was covering our seats...

but Charles took care of cleaning them off for us!

It was a good thing that the field was tarped.  We watched them roll up the tarp for a bit...

and took pictures...

 from our seats...

It was really cool visiting the Frozen Tundra in the snow, but I would not have liked being the Sunday Night Football cameramen in all the snow...

We then made our way back to the concourse to have dinner of brats and burgers...

and bundled up before returning to our seats...

 to watch the pre game warmups...

The snow continued to fall - the snow was a wet snow with HUGE flakes!!

We watched as the Packers took the field...

 and pumped each other up...

and then huddled up...

before breaking off for warmups...

Our seats were on the 4th row...

 so we had a great view...

of the players on the field...

 We were able to easily read the names on the back of the jerseys...

I love this shot of Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings...

The whole team...

then huddled and broke...

 for more warm-ups...

We even spotted Megatron (Calvin Johnson)... 

The forecast of the game was spot on - cold and snowy!!

Aaron Rodgers...

 took some pre-game pictures...

He seems like such a great guy!

Crosby then practiced kicking...

 then the team left the field...

to return to start the game...

We were all cheering...

 as the team ran...

 onto the field...

 from the tunnel...

and cheered...

 even louder...

 as the starters were announced and took the field.

After the...

National Anthem...

A short video was shown of Packer greats...

 and Lambeau leaps...

which pumped us up even more.

It was then finally time for kick-off...

and we got loud!

The snow was really coming down during the game...

 our seats were right on the end zone line and luckily a lot of the action was on our end of the field...

The Tundra Line...

 continued to pump up the crowd during breaks in the action...

Although  the Lions started out strong, Green Bay finally scored a touchdown...

 right in front of us!

We had a great view of the Lambeau leaps!  (Aaron Rodgers' touchdown was right in front of us too!)

Charles, Pipkin and I joined in the GO PACK GO chant!!

While I was at the Frozen Tundra, I had to catch a snowflake!

Will Ferrell...

 was the guest for Roll Out the Barrell...

 the Beer Polka...

Crosby finally made a kick too... 

 Looking up from our seats, there was green and yellow galore...

It was hard, looking through all the snow, to see just how big Lambeau is.

The game ended...

 with a Packer victory!

We watched the teams meet on the field...

 and as the players left through the tunnel...

We had such a great time - fun yet cold - at Lambeau!!

We stayed in our seats for the post game interviews...

and then headed out of the stadium.

Charles took this picture for me.  Since we don't get too much snow - and especially don't really go out in the snow - I thought it was interesting to see how they deal with it...

We planned to take the shuttle back to the hotel, but the line was loooong.

So, we played around a bit while we waited.

I had to taste Lambeau snow...

Then I made a snow football...

and attempted a pass...

 my attempt was spot on, so Charles and Pipkin told me to strike the Heisman pose...

Ummm, I didn't quite manage that!!!

Charles and Pipkin then played around with the football...

 and then Charles and I got set and Charles hut, hut, hutted!

The line for the shuttle didn't seem to have thinned any, so we decided to walk back to the hotel.  A little over 2 miles in the snow - not too bad...

A South Panola coach coached M D Jennings at Calhoun City and told us to call him to meet up after the game.

We missed meeting up with M D Jennings after the game, but he was gracious enough to meet with us the next day.  He went out of his way to meet us bright and early and even came to our hotel to meet us!

He is such a great guy!!

He even indulged my request for one picture in the snow!

Meeting him was the icing on the cake!  

We had such a great time in Green Bay!  

GO PACK GO!!