Friday, November 28, 2008

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree


This time of year is always one of my favorite, because it reminds me of my grandpa. My grandpa had a nickname, "Treeman" because in the small town of Mt. Holly North Carolina , he was the "man" when it came to selling Christmas trees. And everyone who was anyone bought a Christmas tree from him, I don't know how did it, but he remembered everyone who came to see him at Christmas time....or he was really good at faking it!
As long as I can remember the day after Thanksgiving was not one of shopping to get the best deals at the mall, it was spent "shopping" for the best Christmas trees in the mountains of North Carolina. I can remember some years my daddy going with my grandpa to pick up the trees. I can remember all of my "family" who came to the tree lot, there was "Red" Pattterson, "Uncle" John Hope, my Uncle Ray and his wife Judy and people I didn't see any other time during the year I would get to see at the tree lot...but those were my favorite.
Some of my best childhood memories come from hanging out with my grandpa at the tree lot, because I didn't really get to spend that much time with him other than at Christmas, well not quality time anyway. I can remember just running around the Christmas trees and standing in front of the fire, eating homemade cakes and drinking coffee. As I got older I was able to help more, although they never let me run the chainsaw.......I wonder why? I can remember one Christmas we decorated wreaths with pine cones and bows and my grandpa manned the glue gun and my mom and I were the brave ones manning the pinecones and bows. We had such fun!!!!
In our house growing up there was a Christmas tree, of some kind, in every room. It isn't any wonder why the smell of evergreen puts me so at ease.
We were blessed to get Amelia Grace's 1st Christmas tree from my Grandpa's tree lot, but the following July 4th my grandpa passed away. It is bittersweet to drive by that same place and not see Christmas Trees, but to remember the man that I did not know a lot of when I was young, except at Christmas time. But when I got older is when I think he truly realized how much I loved him, and I realized just how much he had always loved me...and we both realized just how much alike we truly were.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Chimney Rock 2008

A few Sunday's ago we decided to take a trip to the mountains. We also decided that we needed to take reinforcements, so we asked my parents if they wanted to go with us. My mama and daddy, and my grandma all signed up for the adventure if Levi's first trip to the mountains....Chimney Rock and Lake Lure...and we picked a great day because the sun was shining but it was cold very cold and we weren't even in the "real" mountains.
We started off the day by my daddy insisting that we buy Levi a hat because his head was going to get cold and he would not be a very happy camper if we had to keep his head under a blanket the whole entire day, so we walked to Bubba O'Leary's outfitter shop (one of my most favorite, next to Fibber McGee's) and al we found was a youth small fleece camo cap, well we bought it figuring it would be a good investment for a 7 month old considering short of losing it he will be able to wear it until he is oh say 10 YEARS OLD. Then we decided we were hungry so we went to this most fabulous restaurant called Laura's House which has family style dining and the best meatloaf next to my mom-in-laws that you can find. Although I decided that day to try the turkey and gravy. We sat in the upstairs section that has a perfect view of the Chimney Rock, a breathtaking view. Then we decided that we needed to walk around in the little shops, yes with a 3 year old, everything turned out okay because the whole trip she didn't break anything. We ended up in a small shop called Willow Creek, who upstairs has the quaintest coffee and dessert shop in Chimney Rock, we all got coffee and some type of dessert, Jason bought a small rum cake for us to bring home and it was very good.
We had a really good time Amelia Grace got to spend lots of time with her great grandma and with her mamaw and papaw. We got mountain apples and peach cider and have some very good memories of Levi's first trip to the mountains, even though he slept on his papaw's shoulder most of the time.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Election Results

I would be lying if I said that I was not disappointed with the results of this year's Presidential Election. I did not want Barack Obama to win, I do not think he is the right man to run this country. I do not think that you can take a minority and put them in charge of the majority without many people voicing their opinion, and doing so rather loudly. And that does not make me a racist.
Now do not get me wrong I thought that Barack Obama talked a very good game, he is great at saying what you want to hear without really saying anything at all. As I was watching a debate one night I was listening to him talk his way into the minds of many Americans and as I was thinking, "This man could be exactly what we need to help this country", then GOD snapped me back to attention and said,"stop what you are doing and listen, truly listen to what this man is saying" and when I did I realized the above, He is not what this country needs, and I do not think it is in our best interest to have him as our President.
With that said, however, I do understand that we are told by God that we must pray for Mr. Obama even if we do like the position that he has been put in, and I do believe that just as we must pray for Mr. Obama to make the right decisions for us and our Country I believe that we must also pray for him tobegin a personal relationship with God and to seek God in his daily life, and to fully rely on Him in these next 4 years.
I do believe that there were Christians who voted for Mr. Obama and I am sure they had their reasons....reasons I will never understand.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Trick or Treating


This is the first year that we have taken Amelia Grace trick or treating. It was a little bit of a challenge since this was also Levi's first Halloween. So we recruited help.....Nanny & Papaw (Jason's mama & daddy)


First we went out to eat at our favorite Japanese Steakhouse SOGO in Concord, which was a fun adventure because Amelia Grace was dressed in her butterfly costume (minus the wings because those things are just unhandy) but anyway then we went to Mall-o-ween at Carolina Mall in Concord. We had a good time seeing all of the different costumes, some were scary, but most of them were really cute little kids all hyped up on sugar. I kind of felt sorry for some of the moms and dads but Halloween = candy and lots of it. then we went to Nanny & Papaw's and Amelia Grace got to help give out candy to the children trick or treating in the neighborhood. Jason's mama said she had more fun giving candy than she did getting it, and that sounds exactly like Amelia Grace.