Christmas Highlights

Nat and I were so thankful to get the chance to spend a few weeks back in the south over Christmas. In addition to the sweet tea and casseroles at every meal, we had many other highlights, and wanted to share a few of them below:

10. One of our first adventures was down to Bulldog country where we were able to see old friends from the Classic City of Athens, GA and visit St. James. Getting to watch Nick Wilbur take the plunge of marriage in the ATL was pretty exciting, plus our visit to JoJa allowed us to get our grub on at "La Parilla," possibly the greatest Mexican cuisine this side of the border. I can't believe we left Athens without taking any pics, but I did come home with Jason Harwell's new album, which is actually the first ever "scratch and sniff" cd I own. Its bubble gum flavored and u can order it here, at Jason's band's website: The Warm Fuzzies!

9. The 8th Annual Hill Holiday Holla was boomin' in the Boom Boom room and it was also a good opportunity to borrow my sister's red tights.8. Getting to chillax with our nephew, Pierce (aka P-diddy), made us consider dropping out of school and moving back to NC...until his dad let him watch "Star Wars" and he started whacking us with a hard plastic light saber. 7. The annual Christmas eve trip to Mocksville, aka, "The Country" and "Aun't Ann's" (pronounced "Ain't Ann's) wasn't quite as exciting this year, as I didn't repeat as the winner of the "money tree." Even still, the raspberry sherbet punch and sausage balls make it worth the trip. : ) As I grow older, I grow in my appreciation of the fact that my Mamaw's seven siblings still gather together every year to celebrate Christmas. I also grow in my appreciation that we refer to where my relatives live as "the country." 6. We finally grabbed some time over the break to do some pleasure reading that wasn't assigned and that we didn't have to be graded on. Reading "The Same Kind of Different as Me" was an emotional ride that opened our hearts in more ways than this post will allow me to share. If you are one of the few Americans who haven't read it yet, check this video out and steal away some time on your couch over the next rainy weekend.

5. We've been to quite a few concerts in our lives. Natalie's first was "NKOTB" with her dad back in the late 80's. Mine was Carman. Needless to say, our musical tastes have always been exquisite. (Yeah, you guessed it, I just had to look up how to spell exquisite, thx Webster!) Over the break we attended what we now call the best concert we've ever been to: Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb." In addition to preparing our hearts for the wonder of Christmas and the coming of Christ, we were also able to enjoy the music with family and old friends: the Grahls, Kesslers, and David and Helen (pictured here)

4. "Team Dounda" (my parents: Doug and Linda) went overboard this year on their Christmas gifts to us kids. They didn't mimic the world and order their gifts online, no, they went straight old fashion and made them by hand. They built and hand painted each of us our own set of "Cornhole." If you're not familiar with Cornhole, you probably haven't been to the beach or a college campus in the past few years. If "Dippin Dots" is "the ice cream of the Future," Cornhole is "the yard game of the Now." Thanks Dounda for a Christmas gift well done!

3. The first annual "Family Christmas Decathalon" occurred this year and it was all worth it, even though we lost to The Crafts, because we got to see my mom on roller sk8s. Boogie on Wheels. Amazing.

2. Ashley, our sister-in-law and family doctor, is also a stylistic genius, (i mean, she married my brother, a walking advertisement for style). Over Christmas she taught Natalie how to make her newest craft of choice, tutus.(I also had to look up how to spell that.) Natalie made these tutus for our on-campus neighbors and it made us excited about the day that we get to have our own children to make outfits for.
1. That day has come...or is coming...sometime around August 2nd...more to come! : )

DISCLAIMER: If we spent time with you over Christmas and you were not mentioned in the above post, please forgive us. There were too many great memories to narrow down to the top ten. And you were probably highlight 11, or at least 12, and u know we love u anyway!