merry & happy.

Hello 2012!

I've been so distracted by all of the festivities of the past few weeks that I've neglected to document our pleasant little holiday. Dang sugarplums.

Christmas 2011 was arguably the most pleasant, non-fuss holiday that either of us can remember. Typically, eleventh hour shopping combined with conflicting family schedules sprinkled with nonsensical family drama is a recipe for a memorable but exasperating 25th. This year, however, was enchantingly different. We were able to revel in the true holiday spirit of warm hugs and smiles, tasty sweets and treats, and twinkly-eyed little people bursting with excitment.

Our festivities began with Christmas Eve lunch with my family ...

   the Callahan/Graham's 

  

and ended with Christmas Eve dinner with his family ...

the Overby/Palao's

Some notable holiday highlights included gift wrapping with my best lady frand ...



the family(s) tradition of whimsical, eclectic Christmas trees ...

MawMaw's reaction to her shiny, new 40" flat screen ...

a very sweet surprise from my Mr. Overby ...

he summoned alligator tears with that little romantic note.

a very sweet surprise TO my Mr. Overby ...

Dad completed his fish tank hood! (the top part)

AND the fact that Justin and I are going to be together for pretty much forEVER now.

After filling Christmas day with alittle praise, alittle gospel, and alot of thankfulness for our Savior's birth, we scurried back to our little home in Crest-tucky. Because Justin had to work the week between Christmas and New Years, we were slightly bummed that our New Years was going to be spent alone without family or friends. But much to our excitement, the best lady frand and her Mr. Morrison were able to come spend New Years weekend with us in Florida!!! Woot!

yep. THAT excited.

And speaking of excitement ... our weekend was filled to.the.brim with shopping/baking/gaming/ dancing/goofing/more shopping, so much so that we forgot to snap any pics!

Evidence of said dancing/goofing...

         

                                                           

The only other moment captured was right before our New Year's Eve steak dinner. And of course, since I'm snapping the pic, I'm MIA.

delicious is an understatement. 

Oh, how I love those three peoples. Truly. :-)

And now, in no particular order, the infamous and often neglected New Years resolutions.    *ahem* 

1. lose the fluff.

2. say 'no' to stretchy pants.

3. pray. and pray some more.

3. stop pinning and start doing.

4. tell my Mr. Overby he's the best. alot.

5. start my career. and be happy about it.

6. smile. when I'm happy. when I'm mad.

7. complete Operation Decoration

8. text/call family & friends more often.

9. ginger biscuit hair. grow the nuggets.

10. find a piano and play, play, play.

Call me crazy but I think 2012 is gonna be a great one ... maybe the best one yet. :-)

CHRISTmas is the time.

Christmas is the time when we should get together,
To share the happiness and joy,
To see the smiling faces of the little girls and boys.

Christmas is the time when we should all give thanks,
To the Lord up above,
For watching over us and sending down His precious love.

There are so many things to be thankful for,
Our health, our strength, our peace of mind.
But we must not forget those less fortunate than us,
We must give our love all of the time.

Christmas is the time to pray with one another,
Give thanks to God above.
Christmas is the time for us to share our love,
Just as God shares His from above.

Christmas is the time...    

"For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior,
which is Christ the LORD."

Luke 2:11

*lyrics by L. Rawls, pic found here

gnome for the holidays.

Tabitha C. Overby RN, BSN.

On Thursday, December 8th 2011, I proudly accepted, in my right hand to be exact, a diploma that proclaims to everyone in this big beautiful world that I, Tabitha C. Overby, have successfully earned a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. My grin was cheesy, that cap was squeezy, and the gown, quite breezy. But walking across that stage with my eye on the prize? Oh, so easy. :-) Thank you sweet Jesus for carrying me through these past 3.5 years! AND for blessing me with family and friends who have supported me a billion percent through my fears and tears.

        

                      Nursing School banner                                                                                                 Ready to get this show on the road!

the anticipation ...

the pinning ...

the sprint! ...

success!!!

My sweet family and best lady frand came to cheer me on...

       

After the ceremony, my parents hosted a banging BBQ graduation celebration, and the combo of pulled pork, baked beans, potato salad, and buttercream cake was scrumdilliumptious! Thank you to everyone who showed up to hug my neck and watch me oogle at my pretty, new diploma! I feel so loved and blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family. :-)

And because I'm still grinning about them, I must introduce my new, shiny Cracker Barrel rocking chairs!!! Thanks Ma and Pa!

Picture this... relaxing in one of these sa-weet rockers on a cool, breezy afternoon wrapped in a cozy sweater, cup of cocoa in hand, hubby at my side, puppies at my feet, and absolutely NO TEXTBOOKS IN SIGHT. Halle-stinking-lujah!

And one more thing!

All of these pics were taken on my brand new Canon EOS Rebel T3i! Much thanks to my Mr. Overby. Now I just need to use my free time learning how to use it!

gettin' our hollyday on.

The tree is trimmed! The halls are decked! The presents are wrapped! well, only just a few.
This weekend, Justin and I decided to pull out our petite collection of Christmas decorations and sprinkle some holiday cheer on our humble abode. Because we chose to forego the Christmas hooplah last year due to our state of miserable separation boo maryland, this is our first Christmas to decorate as married peoples. How fun!  So Justin pulled out the boxes, I cranked up the Christmas tunes, and we got to work. Little did we know, however, that our decorating binge was headed for a quick derailment.
The culprit: the tree.
The tree that worked so well for 3522 Peachtree Drive looked somewhat ... wonky ... in our new home. It's not that it doesn't have character in its own quirky way. It's simply a smidge ... sparse/crooked/vertically challenged. After struggling a bit to get it in place, we looked at the tree, looked at each other, looked back at the tree, and nodded. It was time for a new tree! We did some research online for the best prices, made a trip to the Home Depot, and bought our first Christmas tree together. Silly me forgot to take a picture of the quirky tree for comparison, but here is our twinkly new beaut all gussied up.

  

Christmas in charming color. Love that!

We're hoping to accrue a sweet little collection of ornaments of the random variety for next year so that it's not so matchy-matchy, but until that happens, this works for us!

After trimming the tree, I threw some ornaments and pine cones in a bowl for the coffee table ...

 tossed a Black Friday steal Christmas-y pillow on the couch ...

only 5 bucks for this cute thang!

tied some festive ribbon on the lamps...

and decked the foyer with what decor we had left!

Now, I must give kudos where kudos are due. It's about time that everyone on this planet Earth knows a little secret about my Mr. Overby.

Justin is the best gift wrapper ever! Believe it or not! So much so that I , with all my particular tendencies, happily sit back, chin in hands, and simply watch as he works his elf-like magic.

See that box on the left? It looks just as snazzy as the boxes on the right, and those are pre-wrapped! Man, he's got some skillz. Not only is he precise, but he's also Mr. Speedy Gonzales too. Maybe I'm just a freak with my two left thumbs who winds up with crooked seams, gaping paper, and more tape on my fingers than on the package itself. Be that as it may, I find it to be such a fascinating skill and am envious of those who master it!

Now that our home is all twinkly and festive, we can sit back, sip some hot chocolate, and revel in all the warm fuzzies of Christmastime ... family and friends, laughter and love, and most of all, the birth of our wonderful Savior! Merry Christmas y'all!