Oh, hi!

That's what my sweet niece, Moriah, says when she sees someone she loves. No matter if you've been gone for five minutes or a week, she looks up with a bright smile and wide eyes to greet you with those two words.

Only, truly, it sounds more like, "Ohhhh, hiiiiii!"

After being on a few extended trips with her and her family, you can't help but adopt the saying yourself. All of us Petrees do it now. And I think, like Moriah, what we're really saying is "I am so happy to see you! You really matter to me and I'm glad you're here."

So. Two months later.

Oh, hi!

It's December, my friends. December! That means Christmas! I love me some Christmas and I feel all bear-huggy about this one. Yup, bear-huggy.

I kicked it off down in Macon where I spent Thanksgiving with Mom and Allie. Jason was supposed to be there too, but God love 'im, he ended up sick and we decided he should just stay put. So, a girls only Thanksgiving it was! I basically stayed in my pj's the entire time and it was GLORIOUS. However, I did make my 2nd Annual Black Friday Jo-Ann Fabrics Trip and came away loaded with all the supplies I need to make this another Crafty Christmas.

Oh, yes, it needs to be capitalized. Crafty. Christmas. Bring it.

Jason surprised me this week with a date night, free dinner at Outback Steakhouse (thanks generous homeowner clients!) and then our annual picking of the Christmas tree. Kickoff to Christmas Date Night? Don't mind if I do! We ran into a handsome fellow at Lowe's...

...then it was on to peruse our options.

{Seriously, how cute is my husband? Totes adorbs. Be still my heart....}

Y'all, no joke, we ended up with the very first tree Jason picked up. It was everything you want in a Christmas tree. Tall, destined to be full but not too full, a perfect gap here and there for those larger ornaments, a nice tall topper for the angel...divine. Climb into the back of the truck, tree! You're coming home with us.

And it did.

I shocked Jason by not decorating the tree that very night, but I just wasn't feeling it. What's this? A break from Christmas decorum? Yes, but I plan to give that tree all sorts of Christmas accessories this weekend so it ends up looking a little something like this...

Don't you worry, darling tree. You're going to be gorgeous and loved and admired by all who enter here. I give you my solemn word as the Queen of Christmas.*

More December Delights were to be found this week in the form of OH MY WORD, I WON FREE CONCERT TICKETS FROM A FACEBOOK CONTEST. There's a new music venue in Chattanooga called Track 29 that is bringing in some of the major artists that cities like Nashville and Atlanta tend to attract. Jars of Clay and Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors are playing their Christmas show there tonight and Track 29 was giving away a pair of tickets every day this week.

Um, hello? Social media competition with minimal entries? Oh, I am ALL over this. So I liked the status, made the poster my profile pic, commented and shared it on my wall. I may or may not have even kept track of all the given entries on a day so that I could figure out what percentage would be mine. But that would be weird, right? Well, weird sometimes pays off because my friend Lexi and I will be singing along at the show tonight!

Live Christmas music + Christmas craftiness + Yuletide decorating = my delightful weekend to come.

And stay tuned! Next week, I'll be hosting a giveaway for a fabulous print created by one of my dearest friends in Texas. Her shop is going to help you with your Christmas shopping list, I promise.

In the meantime, please do remember that the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loudly for all to hear. So go do it. What are you waiting for? It's December!

*I've found that giving yourself a title for holidays increases your seasonal joy tenfold. Won't you make yourself a queen or king or duke or duchess today? You won't regret it.

A little rain doesn't slow this family down.

Beach trip rainy day perfection.

And into the evening, a golfing we will go!

I mean, would you expect any other color choice from us?

A post-golf tradition, Kirk's Ice Cream Shop

"I guess that just means we'll have to go to Myrtle Beach!"

If you were a southern girl in 1989 there's a good chance that you saw the movie "Shag". I did, with one of my best friends, Jenny Norfleet, and we watched it over and over and over again.



I wanted so badly to be Pudge, to be able to dance like that and win the shag contest at The Pavillion. As a through and through Carolina girl, I definitely love to shag dance and as soon as I hear "Buttercup" my feet start moving and the count runs through my head, "One, two, three; one, two, three; back step..."

So it makes my heart oh so happy that we are spending the next week in gorgeous Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with Jason's family. The view from here? It looks a little like this.

We're one day in and it's been all sorts of delightful. So much so, that I woke up this morning smiling. And I'd say that's a pretty fantastic way to start a much needed vacation that is redeeming some mighty big struggles from a couple of years ago. More to come...

" Coming in at #19 on the CMT Top 20 Countdown this week, it's Blake Shelton...

...with 'Kiss My Country A$$.' "

Featuring Jason and Leslie Petree!

Ok, let me back up and give you the whole really fun story.

Last November, Jason's sister, Angela, and her husband, Brian, decided to surprise their kids and fly from their hometown of Lubbock, Texas to Nashville to take them to the Country Music Association {CMA} Award Show. Our niece, Scout, and nephew, Will, are HUGE country music fans and this was an amazing treat for them. Angela called Jason and asked if we could meet them in Nashville the next day to hang out before the show. Without a second thought and within fifteen minutes, I had a sub lined up for my class and a personal leave request signed and submitted. Bright and early the next morning, we were on our way!

We hit West End first and had breakfast at one of the best places in town {and because we lived in Nashville for a few years back in the day, a childhood favorite of mine}.

Oh my word, it was every bit as delicious as I remembered! Totally worth the wait.

Before:

After:

While we waited for Brian, Angela and the kids to get into town we checked out a couple of shops and I swooned over some pretty paper.

Oh, how I love me some pretty paper.

After a while, we headed towards downtown Nashville. Be still my beating heart, I love this city!

As we wandered around, we were stopped by a small video crew who asked us if we'd like to be in Blake Shelton's newest video. Um.....yes, please!!! We signed a waiver {I have no idea what we signed away, but who cares? We were going to be part of country music!} and were told that all we needed to do was sing along to the lyrics of his soon-to-be-released song while they filmed us and move/dance/act up as much as we wanted to.

Oh yeah. We've so got this.

Now, the only issue was that neither Jason nor I had ever heard the song. The crew played the song for us once while we looked over the lyrics and then it was go time! We managed to do a fair amount of moving around but I'll admit, I did a lot of "watermelon, watermelon, watermelon" as I tried to keep up with the unfamiliar lyrics. Still, it was so much fun to be in front of the camera and you better believe I worked it for all it was worth.

I know you're totally shocked by that statement.

When we were through, they offered us wristbands and told us that they would give us entrance to be part of the crowd around the stage when Blake performed at the CMAs that night. What the what?!?! Unfortunately, sticking around until that late wasn't to be in the cards. I kind of still regret that, but what would come later would make up for it. However, we also got another little participation prize that was pretty cool.

One Nashville adventure down, we headed back towards the riverfront to meet up with the Carter family for lunch. 

It was kind of surreal to be with our Texas family on Tennesse ground! And oh my lord, how we love these kiddos.

We hit the streets again for more sightseeing and to soak up some more of Music City!

At the Ryman, the video crew was filming a much larger group of fans and this time around, they had cue cards for them. Jason and I gave them a hard time that they didn't think of that for us! Also, some of the fans were much more...how should I put this?...um, rowdy than we had been. The crowd got to see a very enthusiastic female fan moon the camera as she took the song title quite literally. Yikes.

With just an hour to go until the Carters needed to head to the arena, we sat down at an open air bar to people watch and visit. I wish I'd gotten a picture, but there were two hilarious dogs on a parked motorcycle with their own sunglasses. You'll see them in a bit, I promise...

It was a fantastic day, the perfect excuse to play hooky from work! The Carters headed off to the award show and we bid goodnight to the Nashville night life.

Ok, so cut to last month and it occurs to me that perhaps the Blake Shelton video was completed. I checked out his website and there it was. I watched it with bated breath to see if we had made the cut...and we did!! 

Now granted, blink and you might miss us, but there we are at the 0:26 mark, right after the lyric, "...and my woman by my side...," sassy as can be. 

Well, I'm sassy. Jason's just a stud.

Cut to this month and the video is now airing on CMT. I saw it on TV for the first time this morning and I'm pretty sure my delighted squeal was enough to wake the neighborhood.

Here we are in all our one second glory! You're going to want to watch this in full screen. Enjoy!

Kiss My Country Ass - Blake Shelton - Blake Shelton Videos