Best Christmas Vacation EVER pt. 1

On December 16, I boarded a plane with my Mom, brother, and sister and flew across the country to one of my favorite places in the world! I think it's high time to tell you all more about this little trip....


My Mom is the youngest of six. With the exception of our family, everyone in her family lives within about three hours of one another. They don't do everything together, but any excuse to get together is a good one! My Grandparents built quite a legacy of family together! With 6 children, 21 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren (so far), there are a lot of us when we all manage to be in the same place at the same time. And we always have a blast.


Anway...They all got together over Thanksgiving weekend and planned to get together again right before Christmas for a Syrian Feast. My brother was there and immediately started texting us to see if we could swing a trip. And that's how the best Christmas vacation ever was born! Spontaneity drives me crazy, but sometimes, you just have to go with it!

A little over two weeks later, we boarded a plane and had one of the smoothest trips across the country that I've ever taken. I got to sit by a woman who spent her life as a missionary in Papua New Guinea. My sister got to sit by a man whose first and only words were, "So...You're not allergic to peanuts or anything, are you?" And before we knew it, we were on the ground in Atlanta!

Our first couple of days were spent with my Aunt and her three sons. We spent our evenings playing games (usually Catch Phrase) until early the next morning...Slept for a few hours, had chocolate chip pancakes, and then decided what the day would hold. On our last night there we loaded into her minivan and drove around looking at Christmas lights. I've never done that with her before, but somehow, it felt like an every day occurrence.

 

Now, you might be wondering what's up with these three pictures. It's pretty typical in my family, and probably yours too, for certain people NOT to like their picture being taken...I pulled out the camera and my cousin put his hand up in front of his face. My Mom leaned over like they were high fiving and then I suggested that EVERYONE put their hand up. They did and he whipped his hood on and put his hand down! Catch phrase continued with business as usual! 

 

On the first day my Aunt and I took her dog for a walk with my brother at a local park. It was gorgeous...And a warm welcome to the south! The next day we decided it was time to go shopping. We met up with friends for lunch at Chick-fil-A (aka I needed some southern sweet tea) and then headed to the outlets, Target, and a syrian market to get some goodies for the feast. 

 

Our days at my Aunt's flew by. Hugging her when she came out to welcome us was the first of many moments were I kept telling myself "I'm not going to cry...I'm not going to cry..." She pulled out scrapbooks and letters and we went over memories from days gone by. There's just something about family. We have a story and we remind each other of it and no matter how many years go by, the story is still there waiting to be enjoyed all over again.

So that's part 1...Next time I'll share the pictures from our trip to Asheville and Biltmore!