Addison & Jace ::: en route

It’s three days after Christmas, and I’ll just come right out and say it: being at work sucks. I wish I was still celebrating with my wife and our crazy families. But I’m not. I’m at work. Boo!

All in all, Christmas was awesome. I’ll give you the run-down on what happened since several things changed a good bit after Addison wrote about our plans a few weeks ago.

On Monday, December 21, we had Bear, Mary Alice, Caroline, Steven, and Mac (Addison’s grandfather) over to the house. Addison cooked dinner; we exchanged gifts; we played charades; we had a delightful time. By the way, I love charades more than any other game ever.

We played hosts on Christmas Eve as well. My mom and dad and Allyson, Matt, Cole, and Fred (Matt’s dad) all came over. This time, we shared the cooking responsibilities, and everything was delicious. While the whole crew was together, we opened presents (even though it was Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day). As usual, my mom and dad totally spoiled Addison and me. They’re always super generous, even when we tell them to only give us a little bit. After opening presents, we played Pictionary Man, Uno, and Mario Cart on the Wii. Super fun times.

On Christmas Day, my beautiful wife and I got up and headed to Lexington where we ate a delicious breakfast with some people we know and some people we don’t know (but were glad to meet) at Elise’s house (Addison’s stepsister). Then we hit the road to Morganton, Georgia–a very small town in the North Georgia mountains, just below the Tennessee line.

In Georgia, we visited with Addison’s mom and sister as well as some of her extended family—aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Anne (Addison’s mom) showered us with great gifts—big thanks to her for her generosity—and we ate yummy food, played fun games, and just enjoyed being in the mountains for a few days. We had a lovely time, in a most beautiful place. I’ve posted some photos of “the farm”—that’s what they call Addison’s uncle’s 100-acre estate—so that you can see how gorgeous it is. I took these shots with my phone so they’re not the greatest, but they’ll begin to give you an idea of the beauty that surrounded us over the past few days. I’ll try to remember to post the photos we took with the real camera soon so that you can get the full effect.

Now that Christmas is over (well, I suppose we’re still celebrating the 12 days of Christmas), I’m pretty bummed out. The only thing that’s keeping me cheery—other than all the awesome gifts I got, two of which I’m wearing right now—is New Year’s Eve and Day. On Thursday evening, we’ll be heading to North Augusta to ring in the new year with Bear, Mary Alice, and whoever they invite over. On Friday, we’ll probably find ourselves bidding at an auction with the same motley crew. I expect to have an awesome time, as we always do when we visit one of our favorite places on earth—the gardens where we got married.

I’ll likely be moping around until Thursday, mourning the passing of Christmas and not yet excited about New Year’s Eve. If you see me around, give me a hug and tell me how nice I look in my new sweater and/or scarf (I plan to be wearing either a new sweater or a new scarf for most of the week).

-Jess