One of the things we we're most excited this Christmas season was getting a real tree. After we got married, Cary Anne's aunt was nice enough to send us a hand-me-down artificial tree. But Cary Anne's family used to go out some years and chop down their own tree and my family always had a real tree, too, so we missed that. Towards the start of December, CA, Kelly, and I walked to our local garden center to find the right tree. After winding our way through dozens and dozens of pines, we finally found one that seemed tall and full enough and reasonably priced. The half a dozen block walk there didn't seem so bad, but for some reason felt longer when we were carrying the tree.
"I should have done more push-ups before attempting to carry this thing," I said.
"Then you would've just been sore," Cary Anne replied.
"No, I mean more push-ups in life. Not just today."
When we finally got the thing up to our 3rd-floor walk up, CA and I prepared the tree stand while Kelly removed sap from our clothes using peanut butter. Over the next couple of weeks, we decked the thing out in lights and ornaments and ribbons.
After the tree was up, the rest of the holiday season was exactly what you would expect. Our church Community Group had an ugly sweater party, where we spent the night eating lots of snacks and playing games. We also made a short weekend trip down to Lexington in the middle of December since we decided to spend the week of Christmas in Virginia with Cary Anne's family. It was a ridiculously short trip: 13 hours of driving for less than 40 hours of visiting. But we did at least get see family and friends. I even stopped back in at Krispy Kreme to say hello and get some free donuts.The Friday before Christmas, we flew into DC to meet up with Cary Anne's parents, along her brother and his wife who had flown in a few days before. The next day, we all crowded into the van and headed down to Colonial Williamsburg.
Ever since I've known Cary Anne, she has talked about how much she loves Europe and desires to move away from America. But that attitude completely changes when it comes to Colonial Williamsburg. Whenever I would make fun of it, she would vehemently defend it like she was the daughter of Uncle Sam himself. Christmas in Williamsburg is a bit of a family tradition for CA's family, but they hadn't been since 2007, so CA was excited...maybe too excited.
We spent the week exploring the rustic, old buildings and meeting all of the character actors: the wig maker, the cobbler, the butcher, the baker, the candle stick maker. Cary Anne enjoyed learning about their sewing techniques, and I enjoyed watching the men fire off the cannons. During the day we would explore the old Govenor's hedge maze, and at night we'd all head back to the resort where we would eat dinner as a family and play games. The weather was pretty nice, too. It was so warm on Christmas day that Cary Anne and I went to play mini golf, which is an activity I never thought I take part in on Christmas day.
Overall, it was great trip and fun opportunity to bond more with CA's side of the family, but it's always nice to come home again.
