Snow!! 12-30-13

We got a nice little surprise with snow flurries on December 30th!

At 11 a.m., the flurries were coming down pretty good.

The flakes were HUGE and just beautiful!

Unfortunately, the snow didn't last long at all, and there was no accumulation,

but for the short time it was falling, it was beautiful - so calming yet exciting!

Zac Brown Band Concert - 12-27-13 at the Forum

As part of my Christmas, Charles gave me tickets to see the Zac Brown Band at the FedEx Forum!

The concert was on December 27th.  I put on my boots...

and I was ready to go!

We enjoyed dinner at the Flying Fish...

Then made our way to the Forum and found our seats...

They were great!!

The A.J. Ghent Band opened...

and did a great job of energizing the crowd.

The cover of Prince's Purple Rain was great!

The Wood Brothers took the stage next...

I enjoyed their set - especially Honey Jar and The Muse.

After a break...

The Zac Brown Band finally took the stage!

They were AMAZING!!

After opening with As She's Walking Away...

They played The Wind, Day That I Die, Natural Disaster...

Toes...

Can't You See...

and Goodbye in Her Eyes.

Zac Brown came out in the crowd and really did a great job of getting the whole crowd involved!

They then played an acoustic set which was great and included 

Steve Young's Seven Bridges Road, Lynard Skynyrd's The Ballad of Curtis Lowe, 

Billy Joel's Piano Man, and James Taylor's The Frozen Man...

They amped the energy up with Keep Me in Mind...

The Muse and Sweet Annie.

AJ Ghent came back out to play on Who Knows.

After Knee Deep and Colder Weather, 

they rocked Metallica's Enter Sandman!

They played Jump Right In and then 

ended with Chicken Fried.

We were able to salute the servicemen who were brought onstage for the last verse - 

a highlight of the evening!

They put on such a great concert!

We enjoyed an encore of Uncaged...

Led Zepplin's Kashmir

and the evening ended with the energy filled

The Charlie Daniels Band's The Devil Went Down to Georgia!

A great and fun concert!!

Christmas 2013

I was up bright and early - 

although I let Charles sleep in a little bit before waking him up to open Christmas presents!

We let Toula...

open her present first...

It took her a little while to explore the goodies she got.

Charles then handed out his presents...

and my presents...

I opened my presents first and got a little help from Toula!

Charles opened his presents next...

I think he liked his book on 100 years of Wrigley Field...

I couldn't wait for him to open this present...

I think I stumped him...

with the watercolor of Toula...

and I think he really liked it...

Carolyn Watson did a marvelous job!

Charles always does a great job of picking out my presents...

I was happy with our sheets and the Arthur Court ornament from Santa too!

Charles liked his presents too...

Charles fixed us a delicious Christmas breakfast...

which we enjoyed while watching A Christmas Story marathon!

We went to Mama and Jerry's for lunch.

Lunch was delicious - chicken and dressing, ham and turkey, creamed potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash casserole, beans, corn, pink salad, deviled eggs and rolls, with a red velvet cake for dessert...

After lunch I opened my gifts...

while A Christmas Story marathon CONTINUED to play!!

Mama always does a good job with presents too!

I was surprised with a huge jar of homemade hot chocolate mix!!

After they watched me open my presents...

Mama opened her presents from us...

Then it was Jerry's turn...

and then Charles opened his presents...

In addition...

to his...

usual gift...

money...

He thought Mama was joking...

when she told him she got him a gift certificate for a mani-pedi too...

The gift certificate turned out to be for 

a massage to work out the kinks from baseball practices.

I just love all my gifts from Mama and Jerry...

especially the hot chocolate mix...

it is SO good!

My favorite gift though was this charm with Daddy's writing on it!

It is so special and has Mama's writing on the back.

We had a wonderful Christmas Day!!