HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE MCKIBBINS

We hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas and an AMAZING New Year!!!

Love,

Rick, Candice, and Lilly McKibbin

"The Crew" Holiday Party

Rick's crew of guy friends from high school has a holiday party every year, which is so fun, and amazing for a group of guys to keep up. They rotate who host the party every year and this year Rick and I volunteered. WE HAD A BLAST! It is so much fun to see all these guys together, it's like they are teenagers again. Lilly was NOT so excited for the party, she looked to Beth for protection, but this did not last long.

As you can see Matthew & James are pumped for the National Championship, as they practice for Glendale, AZ.

This is my FAV pic of the night, notice Clark Griswold in the background?

Matthew loved the eggnog.

Here are all the girls.

And the guys, James HATES taking pics as you can see in the back.

The party was great fun, with great friends, and something I look forward to all year. I just adore the wonderful group of friends I married into, I am a very lucky girl. LOTS TO BE THANKFUL FOR THIS YEAR!!!!

SEC CHAMPIONS! WAR EAGLE!

Rick decided Friday about 7pm that we should go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game the next day. So I jumped online, and booked a room. We didn't have tickets, but felt sure we would be able to find some once we got there. We rode over with one of Rick's friends from Auburn, Healthy, about 8am. Checked into the Melia Hotel (which was 1 mile from the Georgia Dome, and a great deal from Hotels.com $93), and headed to "tailgate." We met up with James (Rick, Healthy, and James were frat brothers),and Abnous, had some lunch and met up with a huge crew of guys from their frat @ Taco Mac. Fun times! Lots of guys Rick hadn't seen in years.

Our friends Burton and Jennifer came to meet us later, and ended up having 1 extra ticket for us. So we looked for 1 more ticket, and found NONE! Didn't see a single person selling tix anywhere!! So I decided to make the ultimate sacrifice for my sweet husband, and told him to go without me. There wasn't much argument, and I am pretty sure I did not get enough credit for this deed. So, I went to a nearby sports bar, STATS and met up with my friend Kelly and her husband, and watch the game there. We had a blast! The sports bar was AMAZING!
After the game, the crew came back to STATS pretty excited that Aub was heading to the National Championship. Obviously proud they were #1!

Here's the crew.

FABULOUS weekend! Next stop Glendale, AZ! (Rick & James are going!)

Our 1st official McKibbin Thanksgiving

This was our first married Thanksgiving, and I was pretty excited. Neither of us really care for the holiday food, so we don't get very excited about this holiday. BUT this year I was so excited! We went to Rick's brother (Scott) & Sister in law's (Katie) house here in Homewood, and had a FABULOUS DAY! Rick's dad was there, and his aunt, uncle, and cousin from Charleston, SC, along with Katie's mom & aunt. This really was one of the best Thanksgivings EVER (other than not being with my family)! Thank you McKibbins for making me so welcome, I am SO THANKFUL to be a part of such a wonderful family!!!!!
As you can see Lilly made herself at home. What you can't see is Rick made her wear her Auburn jersey, because his Uncle Bill is a huge Bama fan (they really came for the Ironbowl).

After lunch nap for Uncle Rick.

Our niece Claire came down with this Barbie, and said this was her "Candice" Barbie. I LOVED IT! Katie says she calls it Candice every time she plays with that particular Barbie.

ALWAYS McKibbin wrestling time. All the McKib guys were wrestlers in school.

As most of you know, my all time FAVORITE team, the New Orleans SAINTS, played on Thanksgiving day. Well, Andrew (nephew) played his first year of football

and his team won the championship! So now he is into NFL football. I took this opportunity to influence him on what team should be his #1. I have officially created a SAINTS FAN!!! I am so proud of myself. I taught he and the other kids the Who Dat cheer, and just exactly what tone to use when saying it (they were saying it a little too sweet). I went outside with the rest of the adults, and could hear lots of Who Dating coming from inside, and all I could feel was JOY! I SERIOUSLY LOVED THIS!! Maybe this is why I loved this Thanksgiving so much??? Needless to say, guess what Andrew will be getting for Christmas??? SAINTS GEAR!Here are the McKibbin men that were there this year. What a crew.

LOTS TO BE THANKFUL FOR THIS YEAR!!!