Merry Christmas Pelham! (and more Helena)

Time for another Christmas tradition or two...

On Friday night (12/17) the Morrises loaded up in the Expedition for a Christmas expedition of sorts: to see Santa on a rooftop.  Uncle Jason, Aunt Kristy and cousin Josh joined the kiddos and us for a drive.  This is a long-standing tradition in a cozy Pelham, AL neighborhood.  This family truly has love in their hearts for the magical season.  On one advertised night, they manage to have Santa on their rooftop.  Over the years this tradition has grown so popular that now the Pelham Police are present to direct traffic.  The entire neighborhood features light displays and each neighbor has luminaria in his/her yard at the curbside.  It is something not to be missed.  I took the following photos and videos using my iPhone, so you will have to use your imagination to compensate for the grainy quality.  However, with no further Ado, please enjoy!

Now, how did Santa get to this house?  He was pulled by his reindeer!  Duh!  Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, and pals were still at the North Pole resting up for the big night coming up.  So the other reindeer were here. I can't remember their names, but their barn says one's name is Henry.

I know there is a lot of talk about Santa, but this family did include elements to remind us of the real reason for the season.  Even better gifts include the gift of freedom Americans enjoy -- there was an inflatable Santa dressed in camoflauge with a sign reminding us to pray for our troops.  Speaking of prayer, the ultimate gift was God's gift of his Son and there were a couple of different Nativity scenes present.

Moving on from here, we went all over Pelham and Helena, AL looking at light displays.  There were many noteworthy yards, but only one other yard made the cut to be featured here on this blog.  Look, let it be noted I bleed Crimson.  Roll Tide Roll, people!  (Click on that linked phrase to see just how I like to live!)  But this yard is just as passionate about their team.  Rightly so, because the Auburn Tigers have a shot at the National Championship and I will be cheering for them! 

This house is in Long Leaf Lakes, a new neighborhood on South Shades Crest Road.  If you want directions, email me or leave a message at the end of this post.

Merry Christmas, y'all!  Remember to remember to celebrate CHRISTmas!

Merry Christmas Helena!

This past weekend was the Helena (AL) Christmas parade and the kiddos and I joined my mother, Kristy, and Josh to enjoy the festivities.  It wasn't as cold as it looks in the pictures.  But it was overcast and wintry.  Guess that's good "Christmas" weather. 

This was Caroline's first Christmas parade.  Since we didn't do any parades last year, this could very well be the first Christmas parade Rob remembers.  Both children loved their time.

When I uploaded this picture onto my computer, I had Caroline in my lap.  She immediately started making the "Ahhhhh" noise that she was making during the shot.  She's such a camera ham!

 Rob took this picture himself.  Can'tcha tell?

This is how Rob wanted to enjoy the parade.  And rock on, Mom!  It takes some strength and bone density to be able to oblige!  I helped her out by lending my shoulders too.

See?  Of course, he was quite heavy, so it's apparent I did not know I was being photographed.  I guess I'm only sharing this picture so you'll believe I didn't leave him on my mom's shoulders the whole time.  You're welcome.

Here are a couple of quick videos of the day.  By the way, I took these using my iPhone and I keep forgetting I'm supposed to turn the phone sideways to better film something.  So please forgive the black sidebars.

Please remember to keep Christ in Christmas!  Merry Christmas from the Morris family.  There'll be more merry to come.

LS-WHO? Well, we found out the HARD way...

So, the entire crew traveled west to Baton Rouge, LA full of Crimson Pride and Optimisim.  We came home with the pride, but the optimism must have gotten lost somewhere.  Ahem...moving on!

The weekend started with a stay in Houma, LA.  I just love that deep in the heart of Tiger country and "Tiger Bait" my dearest friend Lorie proudly sends her daughter to pre-school dressed like this:

 

No trip to or from Houma should be considered complete without some fresh seafood and there is only one place for top quality...Bayou Side.  Shameless plug here for a family business, but with a family like the Whitneys, you can count on quality!  So we did what any tourists would do -- take pictures!  Notice how we were dressed for the 1 hr ride into Baton Rouge.

Once we got into Baton Rouge, we had so many great plans for revelrie...we were so happy to be in town (remember the mention of optimism?) and we wanted everyone to know we were there (remember the Crimson Pride?)

We stopped by the hotel bar for Happy Hour before going to a lovely Italian dinner at Gino's.  We were pretty sure we were in the presence of celebrities.  There was a toss up--is this guy Will Ferrell or George W Bush?  You be the judge.  Nevertheless, here's the photo montage of our evening:

Now, it had been a loooooooong day and a loooooooong evening.  Happy Hour was very HAPPY!  So the following video should not be viewed by the faint of heart.  We were safe in our hotel and had only to stumble towards our beds.  Therefore, we thoroughly enjoyed our Crimson Pride and Optimism in liquid form.  The only reason I am sharing this with you is because the "Where's Waldo" version of Lorie's cameo near the end of the shot makes me giggle every. single. time...here goes nothing:

It may be hard to believe, but we were up bright and early the next day.  You know what they say, right?  Get back on that horse! Giddyup!  Ugh, get me to some strong coffee STAT!

What were we thinking posing with these LSU balls?  That may have been the beginning of the end for us.  That washed away the mojo.

 This is love...Fun times!

Somebody call PETA!  Those dogs have been shaved to read "Tigers" and "LSU".  Poor creatures.

Okay, you will notice that I have no pictures of inside the stadium.  I don't really want to remember that part of the trip.  I don't want to hear about how well we played and blah, blah, blah.  Just get me out of there. 

I'm not sure who this guy is, but for some reason it occured to us to pose for a picture with him.  So we did.  Twice.

It's easy to be a graceful loser when you know the Cadillac Cafe has reserved a table for you.  It's also easy to keep your Crimson Smile upturned when you are drowning your sorrows.  Geez. 

My mom went to high school with the Cadillac Cafe's owner, Anthony Gallo.  He lives in Baton Rouge now, but still has love in his heart for the Tide.  He gave us the star treatment and welcomed us to his club.  We were the minority there and the victorious home-team-crowd could have/should have been a little rowdy toward us but we didn't care.  The Gallos wrapped their southen hospitality around us and made sure we enjoyed ourselves. A little Aspirin the next morning and some dark sunglasses will help finish that sentiment.

That's a wrap for this weekend.   I have been in Baton Rouge when Bama won and I have been in Baton Rouge when Bama lost.  I think I can honestly say I have seen it all.  Trust me when I say you are thanking me for not sharing ~all~ my stories of this weekend with y'all.  There were some crazy happenings.

As always and no matter what, Roll Tide people!

Happy Halloween!

We had a blast this weekend.  Since Halloween actually fell on Sunday, the local municipalities got to decide whether they wanted trick-or-treaters hitting the streets on Saturday or Sunday.  What is a Morris to do?  Go both nights!  Woo-Hoo!! ('cause, you know, we need THAT MUCH candy in this house...)

Our neighborhood does not get a whole lot of foot traffic.  Perhaps it's because we live on a cul-de-sac and not the main thoroughfare; perhaps the neighborhood is populated by other "Morrises" who leave and go trick-or-treat other places.  Nevertheless, our house was dark all weekend.  Helena observed on Saturday night, and we went to Aunt Kristy and Uncle Jason's house.  Aunt Kristy was so excited about the company.  Mee-Maw and Granddaddy came over, as did Nona.  We had a big ol' pot of taco soup and I brought the dessert:

Most people refer to this as "dirt cake" and serve it in terra cotta pots with fake flowers and/or gummy worms sticking out.  In the spirit of the spooky night, ours was a graveyard!  Super easy.  Oh, and zoom in on that headstone at the bottom left...hahaha Roll Tide Roll!

Josh went as one member of the Blue Man Group.  That was fun watching his transformation!

Rob was Toy Story's Woody and Caroline was an angel.  Well, isn't she always, but she actually looked the part!

Jason and Kristy's neighborhood is flat -- a great place for street-roaming!  There is a police officer in residence and each year leads a parade.  Anyone who wishes can walk from the front to the back waving at neighbors who are sitting in their driveways watching the revelry.  I think Rob started out a little overwhelmed.  Anyway, he quickly got into the spirit and was loading up on sugary rewards!

Rob was just getting the hang of it when we crossed by Jason and Kristy's house.  There was a large crowd trick-or-treating at their house, but they all seemed intrigued by something.  See if you spot what caught their attention:

Look closely.  Need a hint?  Okay.  That's Bobby passing out candy and there is Uncle Jason standing off to the side of the porch.  How about a closeup of Jason:

Not a prop, peeps.  That's a living, breathing, devil's pet.  It's a 12' python and Jason greets trick-or-treaters with it every year.  Don't worry; he sleeps in a pad-locked cage or I would never visit!  Apparently he's a hit with the neighborhood.  People would walk up to their house and you could hear them saying "Where's the snake?"  "Will the snake be out this year?"

Smart Rob wishes Uncle Jason would turn that thing into a nice handbag, STAT!  Yet Caroline is content.  Mee-Maw won't let anything happen to me.

After the snake-sighting, the kids were winding down.  So onto the next night! 

Rob was still Woody.  But a girl can not be photographed in the same outfit twice!  Guffaw!  So tonight, Caroline was a beautiful butterfly.  We went to McCalla to trick or treat with Miles and Stephanie. 
I didn't take nearly as many pictures.  In part because it was dark by the time we set out and also because my loyal subjects would not sit still enough.  But here are the highlights:

Happy Halloween, everybody!