Ladies Devotional Annual Christmas Party

 

At the Hickory Ridge Church of Christ it has been a long standing tradition for the women of the congregation to have monthly devotionals.  I have been so blessed over the last few years by meeting with this special group of women. When I came home from college I began attending and I have learned so much from the short time spent among this circle of ladies.

My mom tells stories of times in her life as a young wife and mother when the guidance and advice of the wiser women in this group, many of whom have already left this world, helped her deal with problems and struggles she faced.  While the number of ladies that are attending the monthly meetings are down, those that are still participating should know that they are an encouragement to others whether they think so, or not.  The devotionals and prayers are no doubt uplifting, but sometimes just the friendly conversation and general concern for each other makes the most difference when you're having a bad day or need a little cheering up.

We also have secret "Prayer Sisters", which is another long time tradition. I think they said last night that they have  been doing it for almost 30 years! Throughout the year each lady has a  "sister" in the congregation they pray for and remember on special occasions. At the Christmas party we try to guess who our prayer sister is and exchange gifts.

The highlight of the annual Christmas Party is  the "Dirty Santa" ornament exchange . For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, you're in the minority. Email me about it and I'll explain it to you! These sweet Christian women you see pictured can get a little aggressive when it comes down to someone taking their ornament away! We had such a good time, as always. Teasing and aggravating, laughing and giggling like a bunch of little girls. We finally wrapped the party up around 9pm.

Since I have moved to Jonesboro, I will not be participating in the prayer sister program this year. But, I hope to occasionally drop in on their monthly devotionals.  I will miss the prayer sister program and getting presents for special occasions, but I will miss even more the special ladies that I have come to know so well and love so dearly!!

Whew! What a weekend!

Every year we, or Armor Beans I should say, hosts a meeting in Branson, Missouri for our MAP (Maximizing Agronomic Profits )advisory board participants (farmers) and some Cullum employee's to get together and discuss the events of the past year and concerns for the upcoming year. There were about 35 participants  that were able to attend this year's meeting.

I start planning the event, along with help from our meeting moderator and soybean agronomist, Dr. Lanny Ashlock, around late September-early October. It's something I look forward to working on every year. It's a fun event to plan. The location is awesome and the people I work with at the Chateau are all so nice and helpful, it makes my job very easy!

The meeting went well and it seemed like everyone had a good time. There were no major problems like the pipes freezing and leaving us without water, like last year!

As the event planner, I usually get my room upgraded a little, but this year they put us in a beautiful suite, and it was so nice!!

We had a great view of the Lake from the balcony in the bedroom and the window in the living room.

 

A sweet treat from the hotel saying "Thanks". Chocolate chip biscotti and homemade candy. . .Yum-O!

 

The meeting started at 2pm on Thursday.  I usually stay around for registration and to make sure everything is set up right and there are no problems, but I don't attend the actual meetings.

Since my Dad has been a long time participant in the MAP Program, he and my mom get to go.  So my mom and I get to go shopping while the boys go to the meeting!

After the afternoon meeting Dad, Mom, Jarrod and I went to Red Lobster for supper and drove around for a little while.

Then on Friday morning, while the guys went to the meeting from 8-12, mom and I went shopping at the outlet mall!

When the guys got out of the meeting we had lunch at AppleBee's and then continued on shopping. My mom followed Jarrod around all day trying to peek his interest in things that she could buy him for Christmas. . .

mom: "Hey, Jarrod, what about a  ___(insert noun here)____?? Do you think you'd like to have one of these??"

Jarrod: "Nah." or "I don't see any need for that" or "No, I don't think I need one of those"

This continued on for several hours, at one point my mom threatened to beat him with a hanger (not a wire hanger, mind you she's not quite as bad as Mommy Dearest). The banter back and forth between them was pretty funny!

We shopped so much that Mom wore her shoe out.  . literally! Ha! She did get a new pair of shoes for those of you worried that she walked around all day like that!

 

After we had finished shopping at the outlet mall we went to Branson Landing for some more shopping. Jarrod and I had  stayed at the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing this summer and really enjoyed it.

 

The whole place looked very different at Christmas!

We had dinner at Piztros, a pizza bistro at Branson Landing. It had a really cool, contemporary atmosphere and great pizza!

That night we went to Clay Cooper's Country Music Express , it's a smaller production show that is one of Jarrod's favorites. It's a really good family orientated performance. There is lots of variety in the show, with music and dancers and a hilarious comedian and even Clay Cooper's 4 year old son has some parts.  The music was good but the comedy is the best. My favorite part is when they imitated famous country music stars.  Their Brooks & Dunn act was by far the funniest! 

Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel at 11am and went to the Grand Village to browse the boutiques there. It was so busy and crowded that we didn't stay long. But I did find a few things in the Kringle's Christmas Store. We headed for home after lunch and of course a trip to the Coldstone Creamery!! We'd be in trouble if there was a Coldstone in Jonesboro!

Overall it was a nice trip, but were were glad to get home!

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving is always a long day and this year was no exception! We left home at 11:30 had lunch with my Mom's family at lunch.  We left there at around 4pm to stop by my Aunt Kay & Uncle Doug's house to visit for awhile. Then it was off to Searcy to see Jarrod's family. We got back home around 11ish. So we were tired!! I wonder how in the world we are going to do that journey with kids!

Friday my mom and dad came to Jonesboro. Mom and I shopped while my dad and Jarrod stayed at our house and watched the Arkansas/LSU game. I'm not sure who was more worn out at the end of the day, us girls who'd been shopping all day or the boys who'd been sitting on the edge of their seats through 3 overtimes!!

It wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be, there were plenty of people out and about but it wasn't bad at all. I actually got a lot of my Christmas shopping finished! I hope to get the rest done this weekend at Branson.

I have a work conference at the Chateau on the Lake in Branson on Thursday-Saturday, so we will definitely be doing some holiday bargain shopping at the outlet mall at some point.

 I love the Chateau, it is something I look forward to all year!! It's so pretty at Christmas time!!

The Graham Girls Visit

Monday November 12th, I had house guests! Kristen & Kate stopped by to visit us on their way to Branson for Thanksgiving . She was traveling with her Mom & Dad and had dropped them off at her grandma's in Lepanto, before coming to Jonesboro to spend some time with us.  Kate was asleep when they got here, it was about 8 o'clock, but she woke up and was in a great mood. Kristen sat Kate down in the living room to floor to play with Jarrod while I gave her the house tour. When we returned to the living room we found Kate in  Jarrod's lap with her arm around him. . . it was too cute.

These are the only two picture I got of Kate. It was late when they arrived and Tuesday morning we stayed in our jammies until time to go to lunch. So we weren't really in a picture taking mood.

Kristen and I stayed up until after 1am catching up!! That is the latest I have been up in a while!! We got up around 7am and had breakfast and coffee and played with Kate and watched some TV. We just hung out until time to meet Kristen's parents for lunch. After lunch at McAllister's they got back on the road.

It was a really special visit, too short, of course, but we had fun catching up and getting to spend time with Kate was great too! Kate is not only beautiful, but she's such a fun and happy baby, I know Kristen and Brett are so proud.

Another room is done!

Last night after supper and a little "Dancing with the Stars", Jarrod and I worked on hanging the remaining pictures throughout the house.

The thing that took the longest was the office. Jarrod couldn't decide where he wanted to put his deer. He figured it out and we are finally done! Yay!

It kind of creeps me out, when you walk in it's staring right at you! I'm going to have to put some sunglasses on him or something.

We have big plans for this room. We want to eventually put a futon and TV in so that's it's more of a den. A place where Jarrod can look around at the things he's killed on the walls and really reflect on life. . . . or watch football, whatever works.

The Staggs Inn, now open for business. . .

I am supposed to be having company next Monday. . . . my best friend Kristen and her 11 mo. old baby, Kate are going to be stopping by for the night! I am so excited to have them come visit. It's not very often we get to see each other since they live in D.C.!

So, this weekend I worked on cleaning, organizing and re-arranging our "guest room". Like most guest rooms it had become sort of a dumping ground for stuff we didn't know what to do with. Now, however, it is clean and tidy and free of cat hair. Since Kristen is allergic to cats, we are keeping the door shut. This bed happens to be one of Taki's favorite napping spots!

 

O'Charley's Prime Rib Pasta. . .

Sunday Jarrod & I had lunch at O'Charley's and I got one of their new steak dishes. It was so good! You've got to try it! We also got the "Three Cheese Shrimp Dip" for the first time and it was excellent as well ! YUM-O!!

 

Here's the description from the menu. . .if this doesn't get your mouth watering, I don't know what will!

Prime Rib Pasta: Tender slices of Prime Rib tossed with penne pasta, bacon, fresh asparagus, mushrooms, and our signature Sun-Dried Tomato Alfredo sauce. Then for an extra little kick, we finish it with a zesty Cajun Horseradish sauce.