Party!

Today was the Maguires' annual New Years' Eve party, which was a TON of fun!  But, that morning Jonathan and I visited Hartwell, Georgia, and he showed me where he had grown up and around his old haunts.  We also visited a shop that used to hand-dip candles, although unfortunately they were going out of business.  We did get some candles there, before grabbing lunch and heading back toward Anderson.  We stopped by BiLo and said hi to Stephen who was working and picked up some napkins and flowers for the meeting of the parents at dinner tomorrow.

Then home to my house to hang out with the family and have dinner before leaving for the party, which was a blast.  Highlights of the evening included singing with some excellent musicians, playing couples air hockey with Nina and Joey (we won!), keeping up with score updates from the Clemson/LSU, and an amazing massage from Gretta!

Sweet Sunday

We went to UBC this morning for the beginning of service, and were surprised when Dan began service by asking if anyone had an announcement, then singling out Jonathan.  So, although it was not the plan, exactly, we announced our engagement to the whole congregation.  Then we slipped out of service early to make it to CCC in time for church.  That was a fun service with lots of my favorite songs in the worship set, and a read-through of the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke and brief sharing time.

Lunch at the Rollins, then a nice long afternoon nap on the couch before we headed back to UBC for evening service.  The other Rollins actually went to Oakwood, but we went to UBC so that we could spend a little more time with people there.  Afterwards, Jonathan and I met Stephen in Anderson at Chipotle for dinner.  YUM!  Then Starbucks because it was cold, but we ended up drinking it outside which kind of defeated the warming purpose.  Oh well, it was still fun!

Fun and Frenzy

Today was a lot of fun, but also a little frenzied near the end.  I gave Mrs. Rollins a pedicure that morning, and then Jonathan and I went to Greenville to find a frame for my desk at work.  We found one, and then had to wait for it to be engraved.  While we waited we stopped by Men's Warehouse to look at tuxedo options for the wedding.  Afterwards we skeddadled home quickly, stopping to pick up supplies for supper which was going to be homemade pizza!  Jonathan and I made dinner and we enjoyed some great food and company to round out the evening.

Photo Shoot #2

This time it was a "real" photo shoot--Alli took our engagement pictures!  We went all over Pendleton and she took many, many shots.  Jonathan and she have started editing through them but I know there are still lots to finish.  I can't wait to get the combined results, but here are a few that I already have.

Breather day

No major plans today.  My family left for Faithwalkers in the afternoon, so Jonathan and I spent the morning hanging out and helping with laundry, etc before they headed out, then went back to the Rollins' to spend the afternoon and evening.  One highlight was watching Snowball Express with the Rollins' family--one of my all-time favorite old movies and one we all seemed to enjoy!

The day after

So, today was a day for a few errands and a lot of emotions.  SOOOOO thankful for an amazing, understanding fiance who allowed me to be emotional and was supportive the whole time.

The rest of the Custer clan traveled back to SC today, and I'm very thankful we weren't a part of that caravan that had to deal with the wintery ick on the roads.  However, they did get to see the lovely sight of VA in the snow which I could only enjoy through the picture Grace sent.  Isn't it lovely?

Lots of Christmas!

Had a lovely Christmas breakfast in Virginia with all of my siblings and parents before Jonathan and I headed out to get back to South Carolina in time for Christmas dinner with his family.  Yes, we may have been a little  crazy thinking it was a good idea to try to do Christmas with not one but two families in two different states on the same day, but it sure did make travel easy with almost no traffic!  We made great time to South Carolina and were able to unload all of my stuff at my house and let me change clothes before heading to the Rollins' for a delicious dinner with turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, biscuits and rolls, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce...the list goes on, but it was all fantastic!  Ashley, Stephen's girlfriend, and Grandaddy Rollins (or, according to Stephen, Grandiddy) joined us and it was a wonderful time!

Then, we opened gifts and stockings, and Jonathan and his dad assembled the firepit that was Mr. Rollins' gift from Mrs. Rollins.  We had a fire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  Then after the excitement had died down and we were all really tired, Ashley, Mrs. Rollins, and I headed over to the Custer house for a girls' sleepover while the boys crashed at home.