I have so much catching up to do on this blog. I can't believe December is gone and a new year has begun. We had a wonderful Christmas spent with all our children and grandchildren, but before I get started on our Carolina Christmas I can't forget about my December Piano recital. On Sunday, December 15 my students performed their Christmas pieces at Rosewind Assisted Living center. They all did great in spite of the less than ideal piano, but I know the residents really enjoyed their performance.
I was scheduled to fly out the next day, Monday, Dec 16, but I got bumped until Tuesday, Dec 17. I left Boise at 5 am and was in North Carolina by 1:30 that afternoon. Sara and kids picked me up at the airport and we got to do a little shopping in Raleigh before we headed back to Pinehurst.
Lucy was honored at her Elementary school with an award on Wednesday morning and I was so happy to get to go to the assembly where she got her "Wildcat" award for being an all around awesome kid!
Jonathan drove an hour from the air force base to be at the assembly for the award's ceremony but got stuck in road construction and missed the ceremony.
Lucy was happy he made the effort to get there.
I love going on walks in Pinehurst because it is so beautiful. Here are some pictures from my morning walks. I tried to take a picture of the 6 deer I saw one morning, but by the time I got my camera out, they had run off.
Jon's coworker is a member at the world famous Pinehurst Country club (which happens to be hosting the US Open this June). He invited the whole family to the Christmas party at the country club. What a treat to get to go to a southern country club for Christmas (thanks Dr. B!).
Lucy is all ready to go!
They had a couple of fires burning outside in the 70 degree evening weather with all the fixins' for s'mores.
Yum, marshmallows!
They also had horse and buggy rides.
Carolers greeted us as we entered the country club.
and Mr. and Mrs. Claus.
Dinner was amazing. They had a delicious buffet with roast turkey, pork, roast beef and fish plus all sorts of vegetable and potato side dishes. There was a separate buffet for children with all the kid's favorites, chicken fillets, mac n cheese, cookies and milk, etc.
When we walked into the restaurant we were greeted with a beautiful dessert buffet with red velvet cake, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and other southern delicacies.
It was quite a treat!
It's a Christmas tradition to make sugar cookies with grandma, so on Monday, we went right to work.
YUM!
The kids did a great job cutting out the cookies and decorating them.
Tom and Taylor flew into Raleigh late on Monday night so on Tuesday, Christmas eve, we took Taylor on a tour of Pinehurst. Because Pinehurst isn't very big, it didn't take very long.
This is the Christmas tree in Pinehurst village.
We stopped at the Carolina Hotel where they had a great gingerbread village on display
We took a walk around a lake and fed the ducks and tried not to feed the aggressive geese.
Every trip to the south includes a stop at Chick FilA.
Their peppermint milkshake is quite a treat.
We had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner. Our family tradition is to do a "Christmas Around the world" meal so we chose England and had prime rib, mashed potatoes, roast carrots and parsnips, rolls and green salad with apples and walnuts and Stilton blue cheese.
Jon the butcher/dentist
Christmas jello
Surprise pajamas!
Time to set the cookies and milk out for Santa Claus.
Tom had to drive up to Raleigh and pick Whitney up at the airport and the kids were so excited to see her on Christmas morning.
Looks like Santa came.
Twinners!
We had our traditional aebleskiver and sausage Chrismas breakfast.
Sara made a yummy white chocolate hot chocolate.
Poor Jon had to sit at the kid's table
Leah decided she likes Christmas and eating chocolate for breakfast!
After breakfast, Tom, Taylor and I packed up and headed up to Virginia to spend Christmas day with Devin, Sarah and family, but we loved our Carolina Christmas. Thanks Sara and Jon for hosting us.
2 comments:
Looks like such a fun Christmas and that Santa was good to those kids. Your Christmas cookies look wonderful (Zac was sure excited!) and congrats to Lucy on her Wildcat Award. Good job, Lucy! (Sorry Jonathan missed it.)
Yet another nicely done post. We had so much fun with everyone here-- the only downside is that when you guys leave, we get so much more lonely.:(
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