Christmas Eve...

Ever since my parents have been married, Christmas Eve has always been spent with my dad's side of the family. Whenever we all get together, you never know what will be said, who will say it, or what will end up on someone's head. It's always a loud...very loud...night of lame presents, good ole food on paper plates, and gut busting laughter. And so we continue the tradition...

Three generations of Robert Linwood Hewitts

Dad and Hailey

Heather and Julie
Me and Jessica

Mamom and Papa...this is their 50th Christmas together!
Me, Kristen and Heather..we were all born within three months of eachother
David and Jess laughing at who knows what... :)
Mom...haha!
Uncle Dave! With a ski mask on his head!

We got Hailey a High School Musical backpack. Yeah, I'd be excited too.
Love it

Singles' Christmas Banquet

Once again, the Singles' Christmas Banquet was a blast! It was a fun night of good food, great friends, sweet decorations, and many laughs! Enjoy the pics!

The Girls

Me and Mags! Rachael, Meliss and Jackie
Mr. Johns was serving, but jumped in for a picture with us!
Notice the panels in the background... This crazy chandelier thing made the night. Yes, those are hangers! Jonathan made it out of over 500 hangers. It was so cool.He also painted these incense-inspired paintings
Me and Heathie

Thanksgiving Day

On Thursday morning, we packed up the car and drove to Richmond to spend Thanksgiving day with my mom's sister and her family. It was a blast!! My Aunt Teresa and Uncle Hank have four kids...three girls (Ellie May, Chicken Helen, and Snorty Lastic) and then Harry-Boy, who's eight. My uncle fried up some turkeys and my aunt made the best stuffing ever, along with a ton of other food. We played Sorry, Apples to Appples, and Speed Scrabble all night. It was a loud and crazy time and so fun to see them and hang out. We watched Elf that night, which is always a classic. We left Friday afternoon, but not before sleeping in, wrestling and "torturing" Harry :), eating leftovers, playing Sorry and watching funny videos on YouTube.

Sisters!

On the First Day of Thanksgiving...

Our Thanksgiving actually started on Tuesday night! Bobby and Bekah came in town around 6 for a some "mini" pre-Thanksgiving action. They were spending Thanksgiving in the mountains with the Davis family, so it was Bobby's idea (of course) to have a "mini" Thanksgiving dinner at our house Tuesday night. But, um, who's ever heard of a "mini" Thanksgiving? My mom went all out and cooked all day and there was a ton of food! It was the best night just laughing and catching up and being crazy together. I had missed them so much! They stayed the night at our house too! It was the best to wake up in the morning and see Bobby. We lounged in our jams most of the day Wednesday and played some more Guitar Hero and Speed Scrabble. Bek spelled "ziltch"...haha and Bobby spelled "ribjoint"...

After they left, it was just too nice outside to stay inside...so me, Jess, and my mom and dad, went to Sea Shore State Park to walk on the trails! Bub was sick :( though so he didn't come. It was absolutely gorgeous out there. That's probably my favorite thing to do...just walk around down there. My dad is so funny and we had a blast just goofing off and enjoying the foliage and such. It was so relaxing to be outside and spend time with my family. Sometimes those times get overlooked and swallowed in the craziness of school, teaching, basketball, classes, and work.

You can so tell we are in a drought...look how high the water used to be! It was completely dry out there where it used to be a swamp!

Gone Fishin'

Last night, Bobby and Bekah came over for some steak! My dad picked up the meanest looking hunks of red meat you've ever seen and threw those bad boys on the grill. Add sauteed onions and some A-1 and mmmmmm boy! It was so great to hang out with them. We laughed at my dad's unique sense of humor, teased each other, joked about broccoli, I spilled the pitcher of tea...good times.

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The best part was after dinner; we were trying to decide what game to play...Bobby still won't break down and play Pretty Pretty Princess...Then Bobby said those magical words, "Hey, let's go fishing!" So that's what we did...at 9 at night, we packed up all the rods and tackle boxes, a thermos of hot chocolate, blankets and chairs. Thirty minutes, and a search for bait at the grocery store (complete with trying on cheap Halloween masks) later, we set up down at our familiar spot under Lesner Bridge. (Two or three spring/summers ago, we all fished close to once or twice a week) Bobby is the best older brother. He got all our rods ready...oh, but first we had to get fishing names...so once we decided who was Betsy, Bonnie, and Bumpkin, then we could cast off. We all caught a fish! ...well, all of us except for Leroy :)

Anyways, it was a perfect night and one I will never forget. It's not like we did anything out of the ordinary, we were just all together...all five of us. When Bobby and Bekah got married and moved to Richmond, I was sad that the old days of them being here all the time were over. It ushered in a new life for all of us. But, I am excited about all the new memories we are going to have, and last night was a perfect way to start it off.

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but Bek might post a few that she took...

Buddy Dog's 17th

My grandparents hardly ever miss a birthday! I love you both so much!















Happy birthday, Bubba! You are the best little bro and I love you so much! You have brought so much laughter and good times to our family over these last 17 years. Every memory I have growing up involves you and Bobby doing something hysterical! Ever since I can remember, you were doing crazy things to make us laugh. Between pine core, sha-sha, Angus Burger signs, Holiday Lights at the Beach, rootin', getting strawberry limeades with extra straws (just in case), and especially our Confused News and videos, your crazy fun personality puts a different spin to every day and I love it!
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You are an amazing young man, Jon. You are so sensitive to sin and are excited about pursuing the things of the Lord. It's such a delight to hear you playing the guitar and worshipping in your room or busting out a song by ear on the piano. You are very talented musically and it has been exciting to see this gift develop over the last few months. It brings me so much joy seeing you playing in the 316 worship band! You are such a smart, witty kid and a natural speaker and writer! God has instilled these gifts in you and I can't wait to see how He will use them to bring himself glory. I love you, Bud and I am excited about these coming years and this new season of life! One thing is for sure though, we really missed you tonight, Bobby and Bekah!