A North Carolina Christmas

This Christmas was different from our last few. Besides it being our first in North Carolina, it was also the first time in several years we actually woke up in our own home on Christmas morning. We decided to take advantage of being a little closer to our family in Alabama by driving there after the kids opened their things Christmas morning. (Of course, when we came up with this plan, we had no idea an historic Christmas snowstorm would hit the southeast and we would be driving through the middle of it.)

We've been in our house long enough that it now feels like "home". That's a great feeling. The friends we've made here have a lot to do with that.

Some of our dearest new friends are Ron and Donna Welsh. Dylan has become great friends with their daughter, Laney, and our families have enjoyed spending time together. They hosted a Gingerbread House Party at their home on the 23rd, and we all had a blast!

We were supposed to work together as a family to get the houses decorated, but Kat did the bulk of the work. Behind her, you can see some of our other great friends, Jill, Olivia (one of Kat's best friends), and Ian. Tony and Adam aren't in the picture.

Dylan and Laney didn't mind jumping in and trying to get all the credit after it was mostly done!

Here are a few of the finished houses. I think Isaac ate most of the decorations before they made it onto the houses.

After decorating the gingerbread houses, we went caroling in our neighborhood. It was really cold, but very, very fun!

No one enjoyed it more than Isaac, who would run up to the front each time and sing out...loudly!

Since we were here through Christmas, I was determined to make some homemade candies, including the most difficult...divinity. We were on batch #3 here, with batches 1 & 2 having to be thrown out, so we were very focused. This was our last chance because we had used all the Karo syrup.

When we first started, Scott, Isaac & Dylan were helping drop pecans, but by the end, it was just Katherine and me. Everyone else had deserted us. Scott did grab a camera, though, when he saw things looking up.

The third time was the charm! We did it!!

And this was our house as we drove away. It was snowing and sleeting, and we had a long drive to Atlanta ahead of us. But we made it to Atlanta safely, and made it all the way home for Christmas the next day. I guess, no matter where we make our new home, Alabama is where family is, and family is really HOME.