great week and some big news

After two weeks of training in Texas, Richard finally came home on Monday! I missed him more than I ever thought I would...while he was gone, I got sick with a pretty bad cold, which made him being gone even harder. Thank goodness for a really sweet pharmacist at the Rite Aid up the street!

I was thrilled to pick him up and excited to have him help finish our little artificial, pre-lit tree. We just didn't think we'd have enough time in our house to enjoy a real tree this year.

my own Clark Griswold, wearing his VV Christmas lounge pants

As we were finishing up some DVR catching up, we looked outside to see SNOW on the ground! So we headed outside at 1 am for a mini-photo shoot. Please keep in mind this is sans make-up...eek!

We hosted our church small group for dinner, and I spent most of Tuesday making some Pioneer Woman toffee. The kitchen was a disaster after I finished and mine didn't look quite like Ree's, but man, is it tasty! I need to package it up to get it out of my house ASAP! We also served pork tenderloin, baked brie, and this fabulous bacon-cheese dip. So yummy...wish I had taken pictures of the table. But this is what our house looked like...we didn't put out everything, as a good bit of our Christmas decor is still in SC.

sofa table with Annalee snow couple and Target green trees

Clemson Christmas tree that Richard gave me 7 years ago- I still love it!

decorated tree and gifts

ornaments in jars, small nativity scene and cinnamon broom

pretty Beth Wiseman pillow

We had wonderful news to report to our small group- I GOT A JOB! It's a HUGE answer to prayer. I've been working at the Lilly Pulitzer store nearby and have absolutely loved it, but I needed something a little higher-paying. I am going to be working on Capitol Hill for a newly-elected South Carolina Congressman, and I could not be more excited. We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas season!