A North Carolina Christmas: family, food, presents, and ... snow?!

I gave away my Kohl's sweaters to the guys in Annapolis Tue night and then headed down to NC Wednesday afternoon. It seems that no matter how I try to time the traffic, I always get stuck in a bottleneck south of DC, north of and around Fredericksburg. Why anyone would want to live in that exurb of DC and waste 20% (2-3 hrs) of their day in traffic is beyond me...the quality of life in Dale City cannot be worth it! Heck, I get upset when my bike ride takes 12 mins instead of 9 (the 2 stoplights - on Rowe and King George St - really make a difference, haha!)

Anyway, I rolled into Greenville in time to visit with Charles, Kim, Bill, Bret, and Mike and Kendra (who were all in town for funeral visitation for Adam Wall). Thursday I rode up to Cary with Dad to visit with him and Gran and hear from her financial planner. Friday, Christmas Eve, I visited my friend Amanda Wooten, visited with Aunt Carrie Dail and Uncle S.A., and helped mom cook, wrap a mountain of presents, and played with the dogs and Rhett. Friday afternoon, we went to St. James' church service, where I ran into several old Greenville friends, and then enjoyed the evening visiting with family. Saturday, Christmas day itself, was relaxing, although we started the day early - as is our tradition - because Dad goes into work around 8 a.m. (so we opened presents early). Saturday evening, several of the Browns came over for dinner (delicious turkey, ham, collards, stuffing, sweet potatoes, jello, beans, corn, a couple of pies... mmmm), and because of the forecast of 6-8" of snow, and the thought that Mike would have to work Sunday during the day, I volunteered to ride back to Clayton with them Sat. night and help drive Kendra and Rhett to Cary the next day for Barrett Christmas.

Mike's work ended up being cancelled, so we all drove to Cary together in the 4-Runner - a good thing because the roads (especially the back roads near Mike & Kendra's house) were pretty deep with snow. Barrett Christmas was fun, although Mom didn't make it from Greenville (snowed in). Mom and I visited some Sunday night and Monday morning, and then I loaded up on food (I mean loaded!! Still have 1/2 of it uneaten in my freezer now) and headed back to Annapolis Monday night to get ready for a Thursday midday departure for Chile.

Here are some pictures: