North Carolina Christmas

Now that January is almost over I guess it’s a good time to update you on our Christmas vacation. Can I just say GOD IS SO GOOD! He answered our prayers in so many ways! First of all, we had wonderful travel days. We had no problems with the roads whatsoever and the only time we ran into any traffic was a little getting out of the city. Thank you Jesus!

Secondly, it was just such a wonderful time. Nothing felt rushed. We were able to spend so much time with all of his family. It was great to just chill with our NC peeps. Apparently John’s family and youngest sister are hooked on NCIS and own 6 seasons. Needless to say we watched alot of NCIS. I actually enjoyed most of it, other than the violent parts in the beginning or when they were doing work on the bodies. The characters are very unique and endearing. 

Other than watching NCIS we played a few games, ate alot, visited with family, ate alot, played out in the snow, ate alot....did I mention we ate alot?! The Daniel’s dinner on Christmas eve was a blast. So much good food and we played a little football too. It was a nice day, at least much nicer than Chicago. However, that would not last too long. 

White girls can jump...who knew?
(Photo courtesy of John Dodson)

Yummy Daniel's Dinner
(Photo courtesy of John Dodson)

Christmas day was nice. Just hanging out all day at John’s house with the whole family. His grandparents came over as well as sister Jess and brother in law John, and Brittany and boyfriend Ethan. Had fun opening gifts and then played one of them. John got Star wars trivia pursuit and I don’t think anyone will be able to beat him in that game.

Allyson buried beneath all the wrapping paper

Christmas evening it started snowing, and it kept snowing. Alot of people in NC where he is from have never seen a white Christmas. They got one this year. By the morning we probably had a good 5” on the ground. It was gorgeous! Church was canceled so we had a really relaxing morning and then geared up to head over to mama’s. We all 5 piled in the pickup truck (the front seat) and drove a few miles up the road. At Mama’s John and I took a walk and just soaked in the winter scenery. It was a mild day outside and the snow was perfect for packing. Needless to say a few snowballs were thrown. How can anyone resist such perfect snow. 

John's thinking face

Me trying to be a statue

After a wonderful and very filling lunch we bundled back up and made our way outside again where everyone got in on the snowball action. Then we built a gigantic 8’ snowman and a snow igloo. We worked really hard and I think most of us were actually getting warm about mid-stride, but we kept at it and got to have the satisfaction of completing something that looked really cool! I think that was one of my favorite days of the trip. Had to come to North Carolina to play in the snow. Crazy!

Making our huge snowman

He was huge. Probably like 8 foot tall.

The start of our snow igloo

The finished product

Jessican and John D made a snow dog as well. How cute!

The rest of the week was a little more low key. His parents took us out driving showing us where some of the Cox family relatives used to live. We hung out with his younger cousins and grandparents. We spent some more time with his sisters. We went to see Narnia the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I must interject was absolutely amazing and makes me yearn for Heaven all the more. We took his parents out to eat for their Christmas gift at the Tavern restaurant in Old Salem. Ate dinner with a good friend Dave. Had to get in some good NC BBQ sometime. Watched some more NCIS, ate more and I think that about sums up our trip. 

At Old Salem, an old Moravian village

At the Old Salem Tavern where we took his parents for lunch

To ring in the New Year we stayed the night with our good friends Richard and Rachel and Dave. Played Dave Ramsey’s game Act your Wage! Really good principles to follow in that game. It was just a fun evening of laughter and fellowship. The next day we (us, richard, rachel, dave) got together with all John’s family and had a really nice meal out. It was the first time we had all been together since our wedding and it was such a great way to say goodbye and draw a close to our time down south. Even though it is never easy to say goodbye, we both felt like we were able to enjoy our time so much that it wasn’t as hard.

Thank you Lord for an amazing Christmas vacation and our wonderful families you have blessed us with!