Lobsters and Crabbies!

In SC and in MD...the seafood was awesome during our holiday celebrations!

On Christmas Eve in SC we all went to the Children's Christmas Service at church.  It was a great candlelight service and then we headed to downtown Charleston for dinner.  We went to PEARLZ, the best raw oyster bar in town.

 We had a huge sampler of oysters for an appetizer...they were absolutely the best I've ever tasted!

On New Year's Eve we brought in the New Year with Lobsters!!  We bought them at the Piggly Wiggly and they steamed them for us.  Sounds funny buying lobsters from a Pig!

Nick and Girlie weren't too excited about the lobster so we fed them shrimp!  

The shrimp were sweet and delicious.

 Girlie contributed some chocolate gold coins for dessert to bring us good luck!

We made plans the next day to have a southern tradition, Black Eyed Peas and Rice, to bring in the New Year with health and prosperity. They were Nick's favorite...actually, we all loved them!

We also enjoyed another holiday tradition, we made Chex Mix that was so good it only lasted two days!!!  In MD, the Corsaut's made the mother load of Chex Mix!  Mimi said John kinda made enough for an army!  YAY!  It's a holiday tradition and we all love it!

Deb, Nick, Girlie and I joined our MD family in Pasadena for a holiday celebration.  Along with son, John, daughter-in-law, Katie, and grandchildren Chris, Mimi and Brad, and friends Ali & Jaime, we had a huge "crabbie" party. As is always our tradition when I come to visit we feasted on Maryland Blue's

 

Can you smell the Old Bay Seasoning?

We wrapped the tables in butcher paper, dumped the pile of crabs on the table and no body talked for a few minutes!!!  We were too busy eating the crabbies and pumpernickle bread.  We also had mussels, shrimp and wings.  

Having two of my three children on the east coast we were so blessed to be able to spend time together with family.  Robert, my west coast son, couldn't join us this year and we really missed him even though he was there in spirit.  Next year for sure...we're all getting together to share the holidays.

Family is the most important thing.

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APPLE anyone?

Getting together in MD is always an excuse to play games.
This year was no exception, well maybe a little diversion first,
time for an APPLE break!!! John, Nana and Chris just couldn't resist!

After a quick check on our MAC'S to catch up
on emails we were ready.

JB, Katie, Nana, Chris and Brad
had some fun playing "Apples to Apples" on December 28th...

Somebody's cheating!

Somebody's winning!

I think I have too many cards...aren't we supposed to get seven?

Somebody's got a new hairdo!

Somebody had a lot of fun and laughs !

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Decorating the Tree

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We watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (it's tradition) the night we picked out our Christmas tree. We put the tree in a big bucket of water while we waited for the branches to drop so we could put it in the stand. The very next day we were ready!

The "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" movie was on and we drank egg nog. And we waited.....

Our tree is the most perfect tree you have ever seen! We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year was playing and we watched as daddy finally put the lights on the tree! Girlie and Nick could hardly wait to start decorating from the two big boxes of ornaments. It's fun to reminisce about ornaments and everyone had a comment or favorite memory about each ornament and what year they got it and how special it was to each one of them.

(Double click on the play button to watch the video!)

"Let me tell you a little story about Frosty the Snowman." Girlie and Nick love listening to Burl Ives tell that story and we all sang as we decorated our tree. Now we're waiting for the big man to arrive to fill our stockings and bring us that special gift that we asked for.

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From our Halloween Journal

These are the pumpkins of Girlie and Nick!
We had fun making them scary this year.

My eyes! Not my eyes!

Now I'm just an empty head with no eyes and no way to see the night!
If only I had a candle!

Oh, no! Not my other eye, too!
I'm spilling my guts...please, not my eye!

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