Thanksgiving time! Christmas time! I absolutely can't believe my favorite time of the year is here! Lots of joy and lots of cheer! Sorry, couldn't help myself because it is very true!
So as you may know or not, Cody and I very happily hosted our very first Thanksgiving! It took place in our apartment and it was extra special because we were able to show our place to family members who had never seen it before! We had also one day before, just finished putting up all of the wedding pictures and made our place 100% perfect (to our standards). We had different family members bring their ''famous'' dishes and Cody took care of the ham, turkey, and gravy. It was the best of both worlds. We basically custom made our own Thanksgiving with our favorite Thanksgiving food! Every single person helped pitch in and we are so grateful for that!
The week leading up to Thanksgiving we cleaned our apartment top to bottom, even the bathrooms! ;) but seriously! We were so proud of ourselves, we changed burned-out light bulbs, scrubbed the toilets, mopped the floors, washed the washcloths, made the bed for the second time in 6 months, and vacuumed the floors! And that's only the beginning! We decked out our place with Thanksgiving paraphernalia, thanks to mom, and welcomed everyone in Thanksgiving morning! The day started off a little rough with family threatening to cancel their plans (for no reason whatsoever) left and right, which i'm going to be honest brought a few internal tears from my side because we had worked so hard and were so excited, plus had food to feed 20+ and only a few showed up, but it all worked out, everyone eventually showed up and we welcomed them with open arms. It was especially frustrating because the day before we were promised 25 people total and in that morning and into the celebration, we only had 5 INCLUDING Cody and I and that was going to be it. Anyways, like I said, it all worked out and our celebration lasted from 12:45pm to 8:45pm! Just what I envisioned it being for years! Cody and I have always dreamed of having family over like this for over two years! It was so incredibly fun! Everyone came in two waves, the first wave ate food food with us and had 11 people, and the second wave had 10 people and ate dessert with us. We won't be doing this again but were so glad we decided this, we may reconsider when we get our first house!!:)
12:00pm waiting for what we thought were going to be a crowd of 20 family members.
The night before! We were good to go! I love the turkey holding the flowers!!
I felt so proud of our little collection :)
From Cody's mom we had the green stuff (yes it is really called that and is amazing), cranberry sauce, and dressing. From my mom, we had the decorations, rolls, green beans, festive paper plates and napkins. Form my Nana we had the sweet tea, sweet potato casserole (my absolute favorite), more cranberry sauce, and dad's recipe mashed potatoes. From Cody's Nana, we had the deviled eggs! Of course, Cody's gravy, turkey and ham, Oh and I made the mac n' cheese! My very first time to make it!
Original Dyar girls!
When people started to trickle in, this was one of the first things we showed them! Our blown-up wedding pictures above the bed! Cody and I love how they turned out! The only thing we worry about is having 13 pound frames fall on our head in our sleep....well Cody's not worried but I am a little. Don't worry, he hung them really well with 50 pound capacity hooks. The picture on the right reminds me of our BlueBird Hill venue in Knoxville on our wedding day! The wood matched the barn and the blanket and bird pillow on the bed just brought it all together. Turquoise was a big theme for our wedding!
Our first wave of visitors, from front to back, left to right....Me, Morgan, aunt Jody, my cousin-in-law Laura, Nana, top row, mom, Cody, cousin Nick, Laura's brother DJ, Edgar, and uncle Wade!
Our second wave of family, from left to right, Tyler my bro-in-law, me, Amy my sis-in-law, Nana, Travis my brother-in-law, Miles my father-in-law, Kaden my Nephew, Jamie my mother-in-law, Cody, and Papa.
It was so much fun talking, laughing, telling stories and carrying on good conversations. We also played some board games with both groups!
Once everyone left we basically collapsed. A special thank you to my mom for helping clean everything up! Cody and I went straight to bed at 9pm and woke late the next morning so so excited! We were going to put up our Christmas tree and decorations! We got up, cleaned up the Thanksgiving decorations and got out the tree and everything! Above is a picture of our Christmas tree handed down from Cody's mom since she got a new tree this year! We are blessed to not have to purchase our first tree! Each ornament we placed on our tree has a special story to us and I love them so much. Each one has a sentimental value and were usually collected at places we went over the 5 years we dated. The first ornament we started to collect for our future apartment and tree, was at our first Christmas. We had only been dating for 8 months at the time and it was a picture of Cody and I holding a football together; perfect for us right 😂 ;)
We also excitedly hung our stockings I designed for us last year on our "fireplace". That was so cool to see my vision last year come to life! (And why yes that is a guitar hero in the background you see 😁it is the only 'musical instrument' I can play)
On our island which is our kitchen table, we put up the tin Christmas tree box that had held my engagement ring for over a year in Cody's room. I didn't know at the time but it became an important box! Also, if you can see closely, next to the box, that is a picture of Cody as a kid at Christmas time when he was probably 4 or 5. He was SO cute dressed up in his little superman costume he got for Christmas holding his little superman action figure (yes I had to refrain from calling it a doll #onlysisterslife). If our kids even look 1/4 as cute as Cody did as a kid...wowza, I can't wait!
So fast forward to this past weekend. Cody and I went to Knoxville for the weekend to help out with a church event at my previous church. What a wonderful way to celebrate our 6 month anniversary! I can't believe we have been married for over half a year now! Time sure does fly. I can honestly say these past 6 months have been the best 6 months of my life
Friday afternoon my sweet mama and I had a mother-daughter day and shopped for Christmas presents for Cody and other family members. The picture above shows the little park with lights we went through. I am so thankful my mama loves to go on walks just as much as I do. I could easily walk 3 or more hours a day, there is just something about it that just calms my mind and body.
We later had a delicious dinner at Gigi's house, played with the dog and went to Nana's house to watch the Farragut game in the state championship! It was the most exciting football game since UT vs. Florida this past season! I lost my voice the entire day after from yelling and screaming with joy at the TV with Nana. And the very best part is that we won! Farragut high school is very important to my family. My late grandfather coached with and was very close with the head coach therefore knowing our entire family, and my mom, dad, and both uncles graduated from there. Also Cody student taught there and helped out with their football team last year if you remember!
So the next morning rolled around and me, Nana, and my mom, made our way to church for the breakfast with Santa for the little kids. We were in charge of running the welcome table. I of course had to wear my cute ugly sweater and my TN Santa hat! The breakfast with Santa was a wonderful success and it was such a joy to see all the little kids so excited to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they have been wanting for Christmas. One little girl cracked me up, when Santa asked her what she wanted, she replied, "Gosh, I've already told you at the mall AND at the fantasy of trees festival!" 😂 Made my day!
Me and my beautiful mama at the breakfast!
Me and gorgeous Nana helping out as Santa's little elves!
In between Nana and I is pastor Ann. She is and has been such an incredible blessing in me and Cody's life and was the one who married us! In this very church! She has the biggest heart and follows her calling of sharing God's word with such grace, knowledge, and passion! She is awesome!!
After the church event, Cody and I went to the UT vs. Georgia Tech basketball game and had an absolute blast! Thank you Nana for letting us borrowing your season seats! We won by 20 points which is much needed for the UT basketball program. I love so much that Cody and I love sports equally. I just love to play and watch most sports! Fun fact: I played basketball for 4 years and loved it, I was just never tall enough.
After the game, Cody and I visited our favorite restaurant which happens to be where our rehearsal dinner took place. We hadn't been back since then so it brought back so many memories. We got lost in conversation throughout the whole dinner. Cody is such an interesting person and I feel like I get to unwrap a little more of him every day. I love hearing his heart!
The next day, Sunday, after church we helped Nana with her Christmas decorations and planning for her Christmas which takes place in Gatlinburg again in less than 2 weeks! We watched criminal minds, made sugar cookies, and played Rummi kub! I won one game!!! Huge surprise!
Nana's Christmas tree was the only thing getting me through rough times last year around January before I started my last semester in college. I was dreading it more than anything and was a little down especially since the holidays were over and it was time to go back to the torture at school. Nana had kept her tree up until mid January and the day before I went back to school and Cody was back at Martin, I stared at it alone in the house for over 2 hours. It brought back my joy and hope. Christmas time means so much to me because it lets me re-live the beautiful and happy memories of the past 22 years worth of Chrismas' in my life. So before we went back home this weekend, I took one last look at this beautiful meticulous tree with the biggest smile, grabbed Cody's hand and made our way to the car back to our apartment in Chattanooga. Life is good y'all, life is good.
Stay tuned for the blog posts to come! I will be elaborating about Nana's Christmas', Gigi's Christmas, Cody's parents Christmas, my parents Christmas, and Cody and I's very first married Christmas together!! Tis the season!
Love,
The Raborns
12-7-16
P.S. Hello to my friends in Texas! I hope all is well and you have a wonderful Christmas!!! Thinking of you!
