As always, we ended the year with a big bang of holiday festivities. If anyone knows how to take advantage of a festive occasion, it is us. We actually probably get a little too excited, but who says seizing the holiday spirit and riding it like a bucking bronco is necessarily a bad thing? It really all started back in November when Sam and I accompanied his parents to The Christmas Place hotel in Pigeon Forge. If you are ever in need of a little Christmas cheer, this hotel is a must.
It is complete with glockenspiels that chime with all your favorite Christmas tunes on the hour every hour,
roasting marsh mellows by the fire, cookies for Santa awaiting you in your room in the evening, hot tubs, Christmas themed rooms, as well as top to bottom Christmas decorations all over the hotel!
Oh....AND a mailbox that sends letters directly to Santa!
This trip was a really fun way to set an anticipatory mood for Christmas. Shopping and food were also on the agenda...and of course it is not a trip to Pigeon Forge without a stop by Smokey Mountain Knife works on your way home.The weeks leading up to Christmas are always exciting, too. Sweets are always within an arms length. This year, for some reason, we found ourselves with a little sugar-fatigued; we got sadly behind in our eating of our advent calendar candy which still looms atop the desk. This years holiday treat endeavors were orange cranberry cookies and fudge. Chocolate peanut butter cookies were also on the menu, but since everywhere we went seemed to be swarming with sugary goodness, we decided to forgo these for another time.
Also, a few weeks before Christmas, we traveled to a little known place called Limestone, TN. To spend a Crockett Christmas at Davy Crockett's Birthplace. I will let Sam tell you about this as it is very near and dear to his heart.
Arriving just as dusk was spreading its divine light upon the sacred terra firma of the birthplace of the greatest hero this great nation has ever seen, my soul felt an uplifting, and, dare I say, a reconnecting, with a tiny one room cabin (replica of the original), nuzzling a pristine stream. My long awaited pilgrimage to Davy Crockett's birthplace was... well, there are no words. Except this:
I was first promised this trip, many, many, many, MANY years ago, from my parents, as a reward for faithfully doing all my chores. It was intended to be my culminating award. The, grand prize, if you will. But, due to this that and the other, it never happened. Either the place was closed on our intended weekend of visitation, or other scheduling conflicts arose. But, I never got to go. And the years went by, until finally, at the ripe age of 30, we finally made it.
We went on the scheduled day of what is called, "Crockett Christmas." What do they have for Crockett Christmas you ask? Just wonderful things like, wassel, stories by the fire, carols sung under the canopy of stars, and a one on one conversation with one of the descendants of Colonel David Crockett. We talked of many wondrous things, and he told me a secret about David Crockett's father, that is unknown to most Americans. He refused to tell this secret to David Crockett biographers who contacted him, and thus, I will not be sharing it over this forum. Just how great was it? This picture sums it up.
Yes, I was wearing the Davy Crockett's descendant's coonskin cap, and holding his musket. How could things get better than this, you ask? Well, while I was inside chatting it up, my mom was talking to the curator of the park, and telling him the story about how I finally got my reward after all these years. And the park curator, was so touched by the story, he called everyone to attention and told the crowd my story, and presented me with my very own Junior Ranger badge. It was simply magical.
Another cool thing I did, actually, before Davy Crockett Christmas, was going to Iredell County with my parents and finding the graves of my great great great grandparents Summers and Walker, and great great great great grandparents Sharpe.
Other updates from me include....getting some good bro time in with Mathew and Chris. Seeing out of town friends, the Hortons and the Taco Andrews. Wrapping up some genealogy stuff. Pumping iron. and coming up with my Top 23 Music list of 2011. Which I'll share now. Not really any particular order until about top 5 which are at the bottom of the list."Nasty" - Nas
"Jesus Fever" - Kurt Vile
"Velcro" - Bell X1
"Tree by the River" - Iron and Wine
"Fleeced" - ARMS
"Wonder Why" - Vetiver
"Land of the Bloody Unknown" - The Middle East
"Helicopter" - Deerhunter
"Holocene" - Bon Iver
"The Longest Day" - Megafaun
"Me Me Me" - Middle Brother
"Civilian" - Wye Oak
"Helena Beat" - Foster the People
"Companions" - Dodos
"Lost in my Mind" - The Head and the Heart
"Rolling in the Deep" - Adele
"Swim Club" - The Cave Singers
"Peso" - A$AP Rocky
"It's Real" - Real Estate
"Eyes Be Close" - Washed Out
"We Don't Eat" - James Vincent McMorrow
"Little Talks" - Of Monsters and Men
"Video Games" - Lana Del Rey
again, no real particular order except "Video Games" is definitely #1.
We spent Christmas Eve with my family (younger brother, older brother + wife and three kids, and parentals). We played yard games (yes, it was unseasonably warm), Guesstures, opened gifts and had a fine meal. That night we attended the candlelight service at the former church of my oldest brother. It was a great evening. Long-lost family member coming into town was definitely the highlight.
We had a leisurely morning on Christmas Day. Somehow we managed to stretch out our morning three hours opening presents and eating breakfast. We woke up, opened a few gifts while we drank cup-o-joe number one, and then went to cooking breakfast.
Breakfast consisted of HOMEMADE cinnamon rolls that were divine! I was really worried about then successfully rising and started on them the day before. We also had applesauce, eggs, and bacon. Very, VERY, yummy stuff. 
We then went back to opening gifts, and then on to the stockings. Since we rarely buy things for ourselves throughout the year, Christmas is a pretty big event for us. I can say it thoroughly brings us joy to buy for each other both things that we want and surprises. Luckily, we are one of those couples that know each other very well and are NEVER disappointed when gift giving/receiving.A few of our favorite things:
Kellie: books! Button Florist bouquet, new jacket, running shoes, pearl earrings, clothes, immersion blender
Sam: books! orange sweatshirt, orange yoga toes, orange vest, orange shirt, orange water bottle, orange, rain gauge, gi joe.
Birthday stuff: framed copy of my great great great grandfather's Civil War letter, weights, indoor weather station.
After opening gifts and cleaning up the destruction zone as well as ourselves, we headed our to Haywood Country to spend the afternoon and evening with Sam's parents. We opened some gifts, ate dinner, opened some gifts, ate dessert, then opened our stockings. It was a wonderful evening!
Oh and so this is kind of exciting and maybe our biggest blessing this holiday season: we kinda sold our house! Totally unexpected! We just so happened to get two offers in a 24 hour period which was very fortunate for us as it made both interested parties up the ante. We close on the 19th of January, so we spent some time contemplating the move and dealing with logistics and inspections and what not. We are moving to my great grandmother's farm house in Leicester. Sam is very excited as we will have more land and be next to our garden space! The news couldn't have come at a more convenient time as I had just began the process of applying to graduate schools. Our master plan is falling into place beautifully!
The New Year rang in with friends and good eats (Chick fil a party tray)....and bed.
We had a birthday celebration on New Year's Day for Sam who turned 27. The expected healthy, wealthy, and wise meal was present as well as an almost-disaster-but-turned-out- wonderfully homemade chocolate cake with pirate candles of course. We were lucky to get to see some out of town friends and spend more time with family. On Sam's actual birthday, I cooked him Indian food and we again had chocolate cake and opened gifts. What a busy time, but oh so worth it!We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Happy New Year! On to 2012...moving, starting graduate school....this year is going to be an adventure!
