.oh christmas lights keep shining on.

Today my first christmas break being in the real world came to an end.  Okay.  I didn't actually get a christmas break, but the time period I would have had for the break ended today.  The last of the friends who had come in town for the holidays packed up and journeyed back to their lives in other cities.  Since the holidays are over, and all I have are the memories to treasure, let's take a look back on the past month.

On December 16th, my family and I traveled with the Smith family to the home of country music for a wonderful night at the Ryman.  We met up with Jodie and went to Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb concert.  This has seriously become my favorite tradition...5 years in the making now, and I hope to continue it for a long time.  It is such a treasure to be able to sit and listen to wonderful artists tell the story of Christ's coming through beautiful music.  I get chills every time.

I love spending this night with family and old friends.

After the drive home from Nashville and getting back at 3 in the morning, I got up and drove to the land of orange to see Natalie.  We spent the weekend watching movies, playing sudoku, baking cookies, and taking pictures. (duh.)  

Sadly all good things come to an end, and I had to return to Chatt town.  Drew got home on the 20th, we hung out with friends, and I frantically (or not so frantically) finished the little bit of Christmas shopping I had left that week.  On Christmas Eve, Drew and I headed out to Flinstone, GA to see the Whittiers.  Drew and I grew up with Spencer and Carter, so it was a lot of fun to hang out and catch up for a bit with them and Carter's wife, Megan...who I met at camp years ago.  We did what any true southerner does on Christmas Eve in the country...shot guns.  This is what I sound like when I'm holding a gun:

"Drew come show me how to use this thing."

"Ok."

"I'm really scared.  Can you put the ear things on my head please?"

"Sure."

"I can't see through this scope thing.  Eeeeek.  I'm not sure if I can do this."

"Just point and shoot, Meg."

"Ok. Ok. Hold on.  Don't rush me." 

POW. POW. POW.

*Remain calm.

"I did it!!  Did I hit anything??"

"Yeah."

(this may or may not be a little dramatic.)

Needless to say, my poor brother doesn't know what to do with me, but he thinks I'm pretty awesome anyway. 

 I woke up Christmas morning to this....

I'm dreeeeeeaming of a whiiiiiiiiiite christmaaaaaaaaas!  Oh pardon me.  I didn't realize you were listening.  I'm not sure what came over me.  

Ahem.

Anyway.  We got a very white Christmas!  My first white Christmas. Ever.  To me, snow is one of the most enchanting things.  I could seriously sit and watch it fall all day long.  Everyone made it safely to our house Christmas day.  We built a fire, watched Narnia, ate, played games, opened presents, and played in the snow.  Nothing like building snow forts and a having a little friendly snowball fight with the cousins.  Friendly??  What am I saying?  My back was hit very hard by several snowballs, and while I was in the middle of saying "NO HEAD SHOTS!", I was pelted in the eye by a massive snowball.  I'm pretty sure my kidneys are no longer in the right spot, and my vision is now more impaired than it was before.

Of course, you can't get a good snow like this in Chatt town and not go sledding. So Sunday we had a fun filled afternoon doing some training for the next winter olympics.  I have a feeling we will be ready.

For our next adventure, Aimie and I drove up to Smurfeesboro to get Elisa. We visited Opryland to see the lights...our 2nd year going together.  The lights were beautiful as always and Elisa was as entertaining as ever. :)

We headed back to Chatt town for a low key New Year's Eve filled with movies, chick-fil-a, games, and lots of laughter.  After all the sitting around, we needed to get out of the house and start Operation: January.  So Sunday we headed out for  a little hike at the blue hole.  Let's just say we don't like to stay on the trail.  Trail blazing is more our thing.  We ran into several people, said happy new year, ran into more people. and Elisa told them to watch out for the bears.  Way to scare the campers, E.  We tried to explain to Elisa how bears hibernate during the winter.  She didn't believe us...  

I have really enjoyed getting home every night and seeing these lights on our porch.  Is it wrong that I want to keep them up for a couple more weeks?  This Christmas has been very different than past years, but I know that's part of life. I love the holidays, but I hate them.  People come in town and people leave.  I have never been good at goodbyes.  They are sad and messy.  So for now, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and until next time.

Love,

Meg