Kennemer Family Christmas Day

Christmas Eve, we spent the night over at Ben's parents house so that we would already be there first thing in the morning to start the festivities.  Considering how I was feeling when we arrived that night, I went straight to bed.  I awoke Christmas morning bright eyed & bushy tailed (obviously I hadn't had any stomach virus & it was just migraine related) & knew that Santa had arrived. :)

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After Will & Amy arrived we ate a big family Christmas breakfast.  Then Ben's grandparents came over & it was officially time for the present-fest to begin! In contrast to how things are at my family house, present opening at the Kennemer house is pretty much a free-for-all!  Everyone opens all at once & I feel like I move so slow because I'm constantly trying to watch & see what everyone else got!  It's so funny.  Before we knew it, Ben's dad was opening a gift and saying "what's this for?"  Ben & I realized he was opening gift #1 (a light bulb) in his 3 part gift from us.... everything stopped, and behold the best Christmas gift in the world:

The Leg Lamp from the movie A Christmas Story... we had to put it together and plug her in!  As Ben said "it's the gift that keeps on giving" and everyone thought it was HILARIOUS! 

Another big hit was these paintings of our dogs that Ben's parents gave all 3 boys.  Amy & I had been working with a local artist to get her pictures of the dogs so that she could paint them. 

Adam (Beezley- Boykin Spaniel), Ben (Harper- Black Lab), Will (Lily- Springer Spaniel)

Harper turned out looking amazing & I can't wait to hang this in our house!

After all the chaos calmed down, we decided what should we do but prepare another big meal!  Luckily most of it was catered & we just had to throw it in the oven.  We had turkey & ham, macaroni & cheese, spinach madeline, potato casserole, green beans, rolls, (probably some other things I'm forgetting), & about 6 different desserts!!!  After visiting all afternoon & into the evening and eventually loading up the car (to the point of not being able to see out the back window!) we finally made it back to our humble abode!

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Kennemer Family Christmas Day was such a blessing as well to have everyone in the family under one roof, and with Amy on the brink of giving birth she was feeling good and the baby held out & decided not to be a Christmas baby.  I think the main reason Christmas felt so much more relaxed this year was because we weren't trying to fit 2 families into 1 day.  We felt fully devoted to each family & are so glad that we have them both in the same city & can spend the Holidays with everyone! :)

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I hope all of you had a MERRY CHRISTMAS as well! 

Setzler Family Christmas Eve

Finally, the Christmas posts are coming!  Christmas actually felt long & relaxing this year.  Once Thursday morning came, we packed up the car (including all of the almost identically wrapped presents for all of our family, as shown below) & traveled to Mobile where we would stay through Christmas Eve, all of Christmas Day, & not have to travel anywhere else the entire Holiday!

Christmas Eve Day we arrived at my parents house early in order to spend the whole day there (everyone was lucky to be off work for the day, too).  We started by letting Bennett open his presents before it was his nap time.  2 of his presents were too big to wrap, so Ben would hold him & tell him to cover his eyes while someone brought the gift in the room to surprise him...

Rachel, Hollis, Ben & I all went in together to give him this castle/rockwall/fort/slide.  I think it was a hit!  It even has a steering wheel on the top & Bennett kept turning it saying "Bennett Roe's BOAT!" 

After Bennett went down for his afternoon nap, we all came together to get the finishing touches of lunch ready.  I think it was one of the BEST Holiday meals we had cooked in a while.  We enjoyed (clockwise from L) Spinach Madeline, Corn salad, Butter Beans, Beef Wellington, & Potato Casserole.  (We held off on desserts until later in the afternoon... and they were a chocolate chip pound cake & coconut sheet cake)... (a few recipes to come). 

With full Holiday bellies, we headed back into the living room for the rest of the family's present exchange.  As Natalie mentioned in her blog post (if you haven't already, you should read it here), our family goes around the room 1 by 1 and watch each other open presents.  Everyone was so sweet & giving & creative... LOOK at this amazing blanket that Natalie MADE for me (& one just like it w/ different colors for Rachel too).  I've snuggled up in it every single day since Christmas!  I still can't believe she made it herself. 

Harper even got a bone to keep him entertained:

After opening presents, it felt like back in the day when we were kids, and we all went outside in the driveway to play with our "toys."  While we watched Bennett ride around on his new tricycle (from Mimi & Doc), Ben tried out his basketball skills w/ the new ball I gave him (he asked for). 

Then it was time to head to church.  To be honest, the rest of the night is kinda blahhh for me because: I had a migraine before church, took my migraine medicine, sat at Christmas church w/ Ben's family but felt miserable, got sick on the drive back to my parents house after church, got in my PJs when we arrived there, got sick again, laid on the couch most of the rest of the night, tried to get up & be Christmas-like when my aunt came over for homemade gumbo dinner, got sick when I stood up again, laid back down & took a nap until it was time for us to head to Ben's parents house to spend the night.  We wavered between wondering if I had the stomach-virus (which both of my sisters & my brother-in-law had earlier in the week) or had a bad reaction to my migraine & taking my nausea-inducing migraine medicine soon after drinking a glass of wine.  Either way it wasn't the way I hoped to spend the rest of my Christmas Eve. 

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Our Setzler Family Christmas Eve was a wonderful success & it was a blessing to all be together, happy, healthy, & celebrating Jesus' birth!  

Christmas Partying

This time of year, I feel like we jump from one Christmas party to the next.  It can be stressful but it can also be alot of fun.  I just know that now that it's all over I feel tired and kinda glad life is going back to normal! :)

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First we had Ben's office Christmas party on Wednesday night.  It was held at Oysterella's seafood restaurant on the causeway and it was a really great evening.  His office is so small, so it was a sit down dinner and we all just sat around and told stories & had some delicious seafood (fish tacos for me!).

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Then Friday night, I drove straight home from Rachel's graduation, and made it back just in time to meet up with Ben & our friends for the annual Santa Claus Society (SCS) Ball.  Ben was "inducted" into this society last year and all the guys dress up like Santa Claus.  We had such a fun time dancing the night away. We actually shut the party down to when they ran out of drinks & the band quit playing!

Austin, Ben, & Jody

Katie, me, & Stephanie

The next night, we got together with Katie, Jody, Austin, & Stephanie again to have a little Christmas dinner party. We were going to play dirty Santa gift exchange, but decided not to at the last minute. Instead Katie brought out the fine china & we had Shrimp & Grits, Salad, bread, brownies for dessert, & from pomegranate champagne drinks! Every time we come to Mobile and hang out with friends like this, we end up spending the night (thank goodness we have places to stay)!

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The last Christmas party of the year, was Mobile's annual Turtleneck Christmas. I have actually never been, but Ben went this year with our friend Matt. It fell the night of Dec. 23rd & I was at home baking 2 cakes, making spinach madeline, finishing wrapping Christmas presents, and packing for our Christmas eve trip to Mobile. All the guys are required to wear turtlenecks & everyone just dresses really tacky. It has become a HUGE party & maybe one year & will finally experience the craziness that it is! :)

the last graduate!

My younger sister, Rachel, graduated Magna cum laude from Auburn University on Friday December 18th with a degree in Interior Design.  The whole family (minus the husbands who were working) headed up to Auburn for lunch & to watch Rachel walk during the graduation ceremony.  We are so proud of her & all she has accomplished through her college years & since (she landed an amazing internship in Nashville, TN last summer at a well-known Design firm).  She has such a creative eye and great taste.  We love you Rachel & know you will do amazing things in your career! Congratulations!!
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raining going into the Coliseum

Bennett woke up from napping in MiMi's arms in time to see Rachel graduate

me, Bennett, Natalie, momma, daddy, Rachel, Hollis, & Charles (Hollis' dad)

sisters w/ Bennett

Peace, Joy, & Love

From our family to yours... We wish you a Merry CHRISTmas!!!

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I present to you our first ever (mailed out) Christmas card/postcard:

Yes, I made a Christmas card last year but never printed it out b/c I was running way behind & I don't think I ever showed it to anyone either... here it is just for fun:

I'll be back soon with tons of pictures and updates on all our exciting Christmas parties, get togethers, fun recipes, & goings on!

Been a bit busy...

I just didn't want to title this "catching up" again b/c I'm sure I have several posts titled that already... I just get busy, then have a chance to make a bunch of posts at one time!  So you can just scroll down to read, but I just wanted to let you know there are 4 new posts below and I backdated them so they would be under the appropriate date to be archived.

-SEC Championship

-Paint Party

-Baby Shower

-Thanksgiving

Hoping it won't be Christmas before I get to post again!  This year I have actually gotten my Christmas shopping done earlier than EVER!!!!  Now I just need to decorate my naked Christmas tree...

SEC Championship

This has definitely been Ben's team's year in football, so I have had fun supporting him.  We headed up to Atlanta on Friday for the SEC Championship game of Alabama vs. Florida.  We got there Friday night and headed  to dinner with our friends John Wade & Mandy at a sports bar named STATS.  Then Saturday was game day!  We had lunch at the CNN Center & got to watch a bunch of football games before it was time for our game at 4pm.

We had awesome seats in the Georgia Dome & the game was intense!!! 

In the end, I think the game ended better than Ben or any of us expected!

Saban giving a thumbs up... SEC Champs and they are going to Pasadena for the BCS National Championship game! (Yes, friends, I'm still an Auburn fan, and always will be, but as long as they aren't playing AU I can pull for my husband's team, too)

and we celebrated the night away :)

Sunday, Ben & I went shopping at the Lennox mall ALL day b/c we stayed in Atlanta through Monday for Ben to meet up with a customer for work. Because of this, Ben & I got to enjoy a nice romantic dinner at an aweomse restaurant called PRIME Sunday night too. Sushi for me, and Steak for him! It was a great long weekend, but we were certainly glad to be home Monday night after the long trip!

Paint Party

I helped start a BUNKO group over a year ago & have kept it going with a growing group of girls from high school & friends we have all made from Mobile.  We enjoy getting together once a month to play our mindless dice game, have some dinner, & enjoy some wine! :)  I have met alot of new friends through our growing list of invitees and really enjoy the one night a month of girls getting together (while our hubbies usually go get wings and drink beer together)! 

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This past Thursday night, we met together at Paint & Pals studios and had a Paint Party benefiting America's Junior Miss Program instead of playing our usual Bunko.  My anxiety rose as I sat down in front of my blank canvas and thoughts of high school art came back.  I have always been pretty creative and artistic but at some point I just realized that I was better suited taking a different path as far as a career was concerned, and my sisters continued on their design/artistic majors in college.  I am a perfectionist/type-A and sometimes painting doesn't pair very well with my mentality.

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In the end, I had a great time with it, and was very happy with how my finished product turned out.  I took a tiny but of artistic license with my cross, in order to find a home for it in my home.  Ben was impressed when I brought it home, so he wants me to paint a few more things for our house now... we shall see :)

me, Whitney, Katie

Andrea, Stephanie, Emily Ann

Amy's Baby Showers

Amy & Will's Baby Girl is getting closer & closer to her arrival date & we can't wait to meet her!  This will be Ben & my 1st niece & the first grandchild for Ben's parents!  Amy's freinds & coworkers Celeste & Morgan threw her an all girls shower on a Sunday afternoon which was so nice & she got some really great things.

Then this past Wednesday night, Ben & I helped throw a couples baby shower at a great little Italian restaurant called La Pizzeria for friends of both Will & Amy to get together and celebrate the upcoming arrival of their new bundle of joy. 

We had cocktails, pizza, & petit fors for dessert, chatted with everyone, & the hosts got them their Pack & Play which Will looks overjoyed about! :) 

We had a great time together & can't wait to see when she will arrive.  Will she be a Christmas baby, New Years?  She may surprise us all! :)