in a nutshell...

so the au/bama game was fun...but the people i saw made it a lot funner...

and then Thanksgiving happened. i know i said i would write a top ten list of the things i'm thankful for...but the people in these pictures sum it all up....family, laughter, silly faces, reasons to eat tons of good food, and the tradition of singing together after the fish fry shows so much. you see jared and uncle butch playing guitar for us here. we sang silly songs from the 80s, country music, the classic "grandma's featherbed", and the incredibly unforgetable "saint and the grizzly bear", written by my uncle about his parents (my great aunt and uncle). every year we sing it, every year half the crowd cries. the "saint" and the "grizzly bear" are both gone now, but the strength they instilled in our family grows stronger...man i love my family. it was a good time to say the least!

and this week my own little family got a christmas tree....

me and jared were talking last night about how we focus on the day of christmas mistakenly, instead of the entire season. funny right? we prepare for this single day as if it is all that really matters. but in reality we should celebrate the whole season...make it a time of focusing on all that the one day actually means, what the birth of christ has done and continues to do! its like the analogy from premarital counseling..."dont focus on the wedding day but on the lifelong marriage". i'm encouraged to chew on the lifelong change that this day has brought, instead of the short 24 hours that we typically celebrate.