Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Christmas in the mountains

Christmas in the mountains, something I have been dreaming about for years. So this summer I made reservations for a cabin for the week before Christmas. I thought it would be a great chance to become reconnected with the most important people in my life, my husband and kids. And boy was I right.

I planned and planned and planned. I had the perfect menu, the perfect gifts to give and if my wish came true the perfect location.

We packed up everything but the kitchen sink and headed off to Bryson city. I had heard there might be snow. About 10 minutes into the trip I realized I forgot the sleds. About 30 minutes later I realized I forgot three of the gifts. Oh well, life will go on. We stopped by Daddy’s to grab a cup of warm spiced Russian tea and next stop is Bryson City.



[caption id="attachment_232" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The Iron Skillet - our second trip there "][/caption]



We arrived just on time. Had lunch at our favorite restaurant, The Iron Skillet. I could eat every meal there and be just as happy. After our bellies were filled we headed off to the cabin.

Here is where my perfect Christmas started to crumble. We walked in and the cabin had not been cleaned. We called the company and was told someone was on the way but no one showed. We called again and was told to go into town for an hour and it would be clean when we returned. We had to get groceries anyways. When we returned, the cabin had not been cleaned. I was very upset. So we called again and someone finally came to clean the cabin. BACK ON TRACK!



[caption id="attachment_222" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Kendrick Christmas Tree - Charlie Brown style"][/caption]



I realized we didn’t have a Christmas tree so I ran outside and clipped some branches off a tree next to the cabin. Sometimes you have to have a Charlie Brown tree. We unpacked everything and put all the gifts under the tree. I made a awesome pot of vegetable soup and we could not wait. We had to go ahead and open the gifts. YAY!

[caption id="attachment_228" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Scott got gloves u can use with a touch screen"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_230" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="I got a Kinect"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_227" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The boys got all kinds of stuff"][/caption]

 

Grizzly Claus gave us some family board games to play, great clothes and much needed gloves. We had the best time playing Sorry, a very complicated Life game and the game Smart A--.



[caption id="attachment_226" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Snow!!!!This is what 1 degree looks like"][/caption]




The next morning we woke up to 6 inches of snow. God loves me. This made my year. This was the icing on the cake. We all went outside and had a snow ball fight. Scott and I took a walk around the areas and I got some good practice with my camera. Unfortunately, during the snow ball fight Austin lost his phone. We searched and searched for hours with no luck. It was somewhere in that snow. Scott said maybe it will light up after dark. So we headed into town to Pizza Hut. Something about icy roads makes you want to drive on them. We survived. It was the best pizza ever.



Once we got home we called the phone and to our amazement Scott was right and it light up. We all cheered. Lol.

The boys left to go home Monday morning. After we drove them out of the snow I was already missing them. Scott and I went back to the cabin and hung out. We woke up Tuesday morning to no water at all. UGH! So we decided to go into town to see if it would be fixed when we got back. Nope. We had not taken a bath and I remembered that the cabin beside us had a hot tub and it was vacant. So off we went to take a bath in the neighbors hot tub butt naked praying we don’t get caught and we didn’t. But it was freezing running back to our cabin naked and wet.



[caption id="attachment_233" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="bathing at the next cabin over. lol"][/caption]



This was the best week of my life. We made some forever memories that our family will cherish. If you want a Christmas to remember the mountains is a great place to have it.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

To go or not to go

I've taken a break from the blogging world. My life was like scrambled eggs for a week or so. Christmas is full speed ahead and I can't wait. I always feel like this time of year just speeds by and it's so hard to enjoy it. One of my new-found loves is saying no. My life is usually busy with every kind of event I can get myself into but not this year. I came across this article that gave a list of things to ask yourself to decide if you should go or not.

1. Will I be glad I went?

2. Will there be people there that I like to be around?

3. Will there be food there I will enjoy eating?

4. Will I learn something new by attending?

5 Will the other guest make me feel good about myself?

6. Is this event important to me?

If you say yes to at least 4 of the 6 question then it's a go. If not stay home and read a good book.