The Preface

So I have been a bit slow in posting my many glorious holiday photos and stories but these I have to post as a preface to the Vacation of a Lifetime series that I will be doing until I take the next Vacation of a Lifetime.
Nice preface to the preface, eh?
So since the Chunky Challenge was a HUGE success and we now had to save our pennies for the big Cruise we opted to not give Christmas gifts to each other. Instead we decided that we would draw names and give our person a gift that they would have to wear on the cruise. The results were hilarious and added immensely to the anticipation of the cruise!

Here are the gifts.
First Dave gave Haley a shirt that would not be too tough on Haley but would kill Mitch. It was a Ute shirt that said "It's not ATTITUDE. We are that good!" Next Brandon gave Mitch a bright blue and very warm Snuggie and just so there wouldn't be any mistake Tricia embroidered "Mitch's Snuggie" on it! I had Alli and I gave her a lovely sweater with matching hair bow! Nothing too bad. Oh and I also gave her some really classy black lace gloves to go with them. Mitch had Jenn and she got an old choir dress of Alli's from High School! Blue shimmery Taffeta. Classic. Alli had Andrew and gave a "New Moon" Slim fit t-shirt. It says "I honestly have no idea how to live without you." on the back. She also gave him a dog-eared copy of the book for him to read on the deck of the ship while wearing his lovely t-shirt.
Haley gave Sara a few choices that she borrowed from her mom's amazing wardrobe. Sara could either wear this lovely orange knit turtle-neck dress

or the overalls with the colorful hearts. We picked that Sara got the overalls and my mom got the turtleneck dress.
Jenn gave Brad the smallest gift. He got the coconut bra. We were grateful it didn't come with a matching speedo.
Andrew gave Brandon this lovely western vest and hunter's cap ensemble.
Sara gave Tricia a lovely green skirt, matching glasses and some green flip flops.
Tricia made this beautiful creation for me to wear. It is a lovely bonnet complete with fruit, bows, flowers and a bird in a nest. It will be darling if I can hold it up! It weighs a ton!
Brad gave Dave 3 choices. He could wear a Superman outfit, a Puffy Shirt (from Seinfeld fame), or a pirate. So after a quick vote we decided that Dave should be a pirate since that seemed to fit with the Caribbean cruise the best.
Thanks so Haley we have this rendition so that we might know what exactly to expect!

Wow! That will be great.

So now when I post pictures from the cruise you will understand why Mom matched the over-sized orange vase in the restaurant!