This was unbelievable!! The fireworks exploded over the lake, and we had an amazing seat!!!! The Lake Junaluska team really put some effort into this with the show starting just after 9:45 p.m. and lasting around 20 minutes! Happy Fourth of July!
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Thursday, July 5
Tuesday, November 1
Photo of the Day November 1
Happy Halloween!! Last night was a bit of a bust. I miss being a kid on Halloween... In fact, I miss being a kid on all the holidays. It feels like the magic is gone. My parents would get me a costume every year, and we'd go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood for hours, me and Kate! Now, that I'm transitioning into being an adult... I can't go out trick-or-treating. I can't be with my family because there's class the next day at 9:30 a.m. And while my roommates are fun, when you don't drink like me, not even a little... being around drunk people isn't nearly as fun as YouTube and MTV make it out to be.
Thankfully, I had Stuart with me. He had the night off - probably the only holiday he'll get off - and he tried very hard to make the holiday special. He personally does not participate in Halloween, but after I begged him to dress up in his chef coat and pants, he put on a happy face and tried to get me to cheer up. We ended up holing up in my room with a gigantic bag of candy and watching Maneater, a film NetFlix called "horror" but was clearly the most tamed horror film I've ever seen! Harry Potter was scarier!
Thankfully, I had Stuart with me. He had the night off - probably the only holiday he'll get off - and he tried very hard to make the holiday special. He personally does not participate in Halloween, but after I begged him to dress up in his chef coat and pants, he put on a happy face and tried to get me to cheer up. We ended up holing up in my room with a gigantic bag of candy and watching Maneater, a film NetFlix called "horror" but was clearly the most tamed horror film I've ever seen! Harry Potter was scarier!
Sunday, April 24
An Open Letter to Stuart
Easter Day, April 24, 2011
Hey baby,
It's been a crazy day with my family... as all days with my family are. I miss you very much, but I know that even if I was in Raleigh today, we still wouldn't be able to be together because you're so busy at work.
I woke up very early this morning because I had to sleep on the mattress from the couch bed meaning that I actually slept on the floor because you know how awful those springs are. Sparta and I slept in my old room together, which has been turned into a mash-up of mine and Anne's personalities. On the floor, there's an ocean of pink things like Hello Kitties and princess accessories which spell disaster for my feet should I step on them. Then on the walls there are cut-outs of celebrity pictures from Entertainment Weekly and a Cher poster on the ceiling from where I left behind evidence of my living in that room for over ten years.
As you know, everyone speaks here in a loud voice and screams. My Southern accent (which somehow I managed to escape speaking in all while growing up) has arrived on my tongue in the strongest of fashions. It wouldn't be going away until I leave Gaston County again... Gassten Coun'ee. There are a bunch of screams, barks, and meows. Remington hates Sparta and Sparta hates Remington and Piddy Paws seems pissed at both! Ma talks about the hardships of life and how line dance classes are going. Then she screams about something. Kate talks veryreallyfastandIcan'tkeepup and then screams that Seth pinched her or something. And Anne just screams in general before lapsing into babbling.
Nothing has changed except the size of Remington. He is blossoming into a handsome young cat! His tail is a giant Q-tip of a puffball and his face is round and regal like a lion. He's hardly bullet gray anymore taking on a deep, dark brown and saddle tanish color. But good grief has he gotten HUGE!!
Ma and I went to church this morning to listen to a lovely sermon on the Resurrection. Shockingly enough, there weren't any extra videos about the crucifixion or any skits. Typically, my church can get a bit theatrical on holidays but this Easter, nothing but the fog machine during worship hour. Afterwards, we dined at Sonic and got burgers - hers with tots, mine with fries.
Then it was calm until Kate and Anne showed up. I wandered around in the backyard with Sparta and read a few chapters of Wicked. Then I played Endless Ocean 2 on the Wii for awhile after switching from NetFlix (which I'm now sharing with the family via the Wii system). Last night, I showed everyone Stomp LIVE, which was a huge hit!! We didn't get to watch the whole thing but I made sure they saw the newspaper bit and the sink part. Anne has now found my NetFlix and is currently watching the Strawberry Shortcake movie.... help me!!!
When Father showed up with Anne, I ran over to his house to dump Sparta off since he was so upset over being in a house with other cats. Then, I drove back to Mount Holly for the annual egg dying and egg hunting.
Speaking of driving, Little Honda got an oil change yesterday thanks to Seth and she'll need brand new tires tomorrow. The current tires are completely bald and worn down to the metal. I feel horrible for never noticing and being an official Terrible Car Owner.
I'm missing you and Nutmeg!!! I didn't get nearly enough time to play with the hamster and rest with you before I had to go back to school. Two more weeks, baby, two more weeks!!!!!!
Dinner is a-cookin' and we dine at 6:00-ish. Remington and Piddy Paws have to be locked in the laundry room because they beg for food that badly... more like steal food that craftily. When they were put up for dinner last night, I let Sparta out of the back bedroom and bragged about what a good cat he was. He never tried to grab food once. Kate is peeling the egg shells off of Ma's deviled eggs and later we're going to be enslaved to peel potatoes for her mashed potatoes. I'm sure there will be another chore or two because of this massive ham she's baking. Yes, that's right: ham! As you know I despise ham, so I get to eat corn-on-the-cob and orange sherbet for dessert! Yay for me!! And now Kate has been fired from shelling eggs because apparently she... sucks.
Dinner was a colorful affair of Seth eating everything in sight and making love to the honey glaze on the ham and the rest of us shouting over each other to pass something or other. It ends calmly with fake Scottish accents and orange sherbet and apple pie. How all three of things go together, I don't know... only at Ma's house.
I best go, baby!! I'm am so, so proud of you and I can't wait until this summer!!!! It's going to be so great to be with you and Nutmeg with Sparta on a regular basis! One big happy family... with Fox!! :)
Yours,
Lex
Monday, April 18
April Always Gets Me
It's that time in the semester where I literally waste before your very eyes. It's like a magic trick except there's nothing magical about it. It's that part of April where I'm so stressed and so busy that I get sick and hardly eat anything and just run off of fumes until after exams.
I was waiting for the bus this morning - I take the off campus transit bus now because gas prices are too high and I have to save every mile for trips to Raleigh - and thinking about last summer. In fact, I've been thinking a lot about last year because I had a run-in with not only The Viking but also the girl he left me for... twice (twice as in we ran into each other twice... though now that I think about it, he did technically leave me for her her twice.). We passed each other as they entered and then we left the Courtyard Dining Hall, and the whole ordeal really shook me up since I haven't seen either of them in over a month, and I had prayed that I would be lucky enough to miss them across campus for the rest of the year. Lady Luck just wouldn't have it.
As I'm bogged down by my long distance relationship, which has now been made harder by not being able to talk on the phone beofre 7 p.m. because of no free minutes (and guess what time Morgan has to go to work!) and recently the loss of Skype by my laptop being infected again, along with papers and final exams, I wish more than anything to romp about the backyard with Kate chasing after caterpillars. The desire to be childlike overcomes the guilt of murdering innocent caterpillars. The bus rolls up another insane hill that is the Peaks' driveway. I feel that as soon as the driver lets go of the brake we'll plummet backward down the hill with no way to stop then crash and flip upside down in a terrific and horrible explosion that my boss will write about in The Western Carolinian. But we don't. The bus continues on past the endless giant brick that is The Peaks Apartments and down a small drive to campus where our reflection oozes across the tinted mirros of the Ramsey Center.
Campus has changed since spring began. Students exist again. They're not just rushing to class. They're ambling along the new UC lawn and fountain. They're gathered on the banks of Cullowhee Creek in bikinis and shorts sunning themselves with a laptop on a blanket. They're walking dogs along the Intramural Fields track and playing Ultimate Frisbee. It actually makes me not want to transfer to UNC Greensboro. However, I know this is all a short happiness. This scene only lasts the last and first month of school. You'd never see this from September to March... unless it's snowing, and that's a different scene entirely.
I wonder how long my exhaustion will last after final exams. If I ever get a job in Raleigh (please anyone call me for an interview), it's doubtful I'd get my week of sleeping and utter laziness like last summer. Since recently I've been experiencing harsh headaches and nausea again, I've been wondering if I ever completely got over my mono last semester. My body tells me, "NOPE!"
I was waiting for the bus this morning - I take the off campus transit bus now because gas prices are too high and I have to save every mile for trips to Raleigh - and thinking about last summer. In fact, I've been thinking a lot about last year because I had a run-in with not only The Viking but also the girl he left me for... twice (twice as in we ran into each other twice... though now that I think about it, he did technically leave me for her her twice.). We passed each other as they entered and then we left the Courtyard Dining Hall, and the whole ordeal really shook me up since I haven't seen either of them in over a month, and I had prayed that I would be lucky enough to miss them across campus for the rest of the year. Lady Luck just wouldn't have it.
Anyway, last summer I arrived back in Mt. Holly pale, pasty, beyond thin, and exhausted beyond belief. I do believe I spent the first week or so of my summer sleeping constantly, zoning out with my iPod's ear buds crammed down my ear canal, or watching the television screen flicker away until the family came home from school. Then, I'd retreat to my room for more sleep. I was a walking zombie, broken and completely at a lost with how to cope with what happened freshman year and how I was going to handle sophomore year in three months.
Then as the big rumbling bus picked me up at the stairs that lead to the lower parking lot of my apartment complex, I walked on and took a seat in the middle to watch the scenery float past as we barreled down the insane hill of a driveway and out onto Highway 107 for drop off/pick up students from the University Peaks. The leaves have been flourishing on trees only now for the silky white nests of newly born caterpillars to devour them. I remember every spring going out in the yard after school with Kate and running around scooping up caterpillars and putting them in boxes. We'd give them names and treat them like pets until we either accidentally killed them or they spun themselves into a bushy coccoon where we'd then become bored and forget the boxes. The next spring, we'd do the exact same thing.
As I'm bogged down by my long distance relationship, which has now been made harder by not being able to talk on the phone beofre 7 p.m. because of no free minutes (and guess what time Morgan has to go to work!) and recently the loss of Skype by my laptop being infected again, along with papers and final exams, I wish more than anything to romp about the backyard with Kate chasing after caterpillars. The desire to be childlike overcomes the guilt of murdering innocent caterpillars. Campus has changed since spring began. Students exist again. They're not just rushing to class. They're ambling along the new UC lawn and fountain. They're gathered on the banks of Cullowhee Creek in bikinis and shorts sunning themselves with a laptop on a blanket. They're walking dogs along the Intramural Fields track and playing Ultimate Frisbee. It actually makes me not want to transfer to UNC Greensboro. However, I know this is all a short happiness. This scene only lasts the last and first month of school. You'd never see this from September to March... unless it's snowing, and that's a different scene entirely.
I wonder how long my exhaustion will last after final exams. If I ever get a job in Raleigh (please anyone call me for an interview), it's doubtful I'd get my week of sleeping and utter laziness like last summer. Since recently I've been experiencing harsh headaches and nausea again, I've been wondering if I ever completely got over my mono last semester. My body tells me, "NOPE!"
And so April goes on... I leave for Raleigh on Wednesday and then to Charlotte to be with my family for Easter. I've been away from Charlotte for too long! I plan on sitting outside all weekend long and soaking up Gaston County air! I can't think of a better way to spend my time...! Please, I pray, no rain!! Knowing Lady Luck... it's gonna rain..............cripes!
Tuesday, February 1
Kodak Moment: Photo of the Day Feb 1
It's finally February - the month of love! Morgan and I are taking my Build-a-Bear bucks and are going to make teddy bears for each other this weekend!! That's probably about as overly romantic and mushy as I can take, but don't let me fool you... I'm super excited about going to do it!!! Even if it means having to wave a little plush heart in the air and screaming, "I LOVE MY BEAR" in front of a bunch of people!
The fact that Morgan has to do the same thing... TOTALLY WORTH IT!
And because of that, the photo of the day is the February month bear of my little month bear set in honor of February and building bears!
The fact that Morgan has to do the same thing... TOTALLY WORTH IT!
And because of that, the photo of the day is the February month bear of my little month bear set in honor of February and building bears!
Saturday, January 1
Turn Around
It's amazing what can happen in a year.
Last year, I spent New Year's alone, unhappy, suffering from depression, and reeling from the heartbreak inflicted on me by The Viking.
This year I was curled up beside Morgan and now I look back and realize, I didn't think about The Viking for a single second last night. It wasn't any different from what I had done years before. I lounged around waiting for the colorfully lit ball to drop in New York City as it does every year. However... Morgan was curled up beside me watching too, laughing at the Nivea commercials and booing at the pop artists singing.
Last year, I spent New Year's alone, unhappy, suffering from depression, and reeling from the heartbreak inflicted on me by The Viking.
2010 wrapped up its days for me with a new found love and an apartment to call my own. I made new friends like the Ice Cream Book Club (without books) gang and have the fondest of memories thanks to the ending of 2010.
I don't typically make resolutions, and if I do, they're in jest because I know I won't keep them. If I were to make a resolution for 2011, it would be... wear my retainer more often!!! That's extremely important and I need to do that more or else my braces were a waste......!!!!
But also to cherish every second I have with Morgan. As we face our long separation after two more days in Charlotte, I will make a resolution to never take him for granted, to never pick a fight or start an argument over something insignificant, to cherish him and always give him a chance to express himself, and to never let the physical distance between us cause a figurative wall to build. We will be "the exception to the rule" when it comes to long-distance relationships and survive. 2011... Bring. It. On!
Tuesday, December 7
Tis the Season
Tis the season to wear more clothes than make-up
~
Tis the season for lips and fingertips to be the first to go
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Tis the season for "There's always tomorrow for dreams to come true" sung by animals
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Tis the season for toys to start marching
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Tis the season for frosty pumpkins, brown grass, fresh evergreens
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Tis the season for cats to destroy Christmas ornaments and puppies to drink the tree water
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Tis the season for ABC Family to run a non-related Harry Potter marathon
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Tis the season for "TOO LATE? Frosty's not gone for good. You see, he was made out of Christmas snow and Christmas snow can never disappear completely."
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Tis the season for "ribbons... tags... packages, boxes, and bags!"
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Tis the season for Who people, talking snowmen, mysterious trains, dancing penguins, and a wacked-out family with too many Christmas lights!
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Tis the season for never leaving home with still wet hair from a shower
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Tis the season for feeling manly and wanting to kill Christmas dinner yourself
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Tis the season for an elderly snowman to teach children about the importance of material goods like silver and gold
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Tis the season for Hocus-Pocus to explain the situation "to Santa, who as you know, speaks fluent rabbit."
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Tis the season for TV stations to re-air random shows' Christmas episodes or specials
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Tis the season for "Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no! We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny *middle name* Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white *split cheeks* down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of *Who people* this side of the nuthouse!"
~
Tis the season for showing love to your family through screaming, punching, gossip, and poisoning the ham!
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Tis the season for forgotten actors to "reboost" their career with an original, stereotypical TV Christmas film
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Tis the season for Santa to give up cookies for a bit to drink Coca Cola!
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Tis the season for weather cold enough for snow but no actual snow
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Tis the season for Christmas!
Sunday, November 28
The Perfect Day
All Thanksgiving Break Morgan and I have been looking forward to this Sunday! And it was well worth the wait!
After spending barely two days in Charlotte, Morgan and I spent an hour or so at the Charlotte-Douglas airport overlook with Kate and her boyfriend before hitting the road for home. In separate cars, we tagged alongside each other, keeping time and waving at each other ridiculously whenever we passed each other. The trip was easy and fun. The stresses of the holidays were left behind us on the road, and we flew along I-40 with one thing in mind: sleep! Arriving at home, we unloaded the cars and relaxed in each other's arms before I fell half asleep in bed while Morgan typed up part of his 7-page paper due in two days.
We woke up for our anticipated day together at the ungodly hour of 7 a.m. thanks to Sparta's incessant wailing! His wailing turned into batting at my hands with his claws out when I refused to answer. Eventually, Morgan and I were up without a choice and making fluffy, warm pancakes in the kitchen with Sparta tearing through the apartment with the never-ending energy only he and a four-year-old possess.
After pancakes, Morgan and I decided it was time for some cleaning. The apartment has been a mess for weeks! No one has had time or everyone is just too lazy to participate in some housecleaning and organizing. Morgan got the kitchen; I was assigned the living room. While Morgan tackled the mountain of dishes in the sink, I vacuumed with a fury! This may sound "un-perfect" and horrible because it's housework, but Morgan and I enjoyed ourselves! He has this cleaning streak... like Kate! Suddenly, Morgan must clean something and off he goes! I find it to be quite useful. I'll come home from a long day at school and find a recently scrubbed bathroom!
"I love you and I appreciate all that you do."
When the carpet was clean, the tile mopped, and every surface clorox-ed, Morgan and I headed out to Little Honda to visit the Ty-Lynn Christmas Tree Farm.
Since the first time my heart was badly broken, I have dreamed of nothing else but owning my own home. This meant buying my own furniture, painting my walls and then repainting them, gardening out back, cooking the family Thanksgiving turkey, and BUYING MY OWN CHRISTMAS TREE!
I have yet to achieve my goal of owning a house, but I do have an apartment I share with my boyfriend and three roommates. And today I got to go out and by my own Christmas tree for the first time.
Ty-Lynn is a family-owned Christmas tree farm in the middle of nowhere (a.k.a. Cullowhee) and sells everything from 5-foot trees to 16-foot trees to handmade wreaths. Morgan and I were searching for something 3-foot or under because of our lack of space in the apartment. Also, we couldn't afford a large Christmas tree and everything else to light and decorate it as well as a tree stand. When I was searching the web for Christmas tree farms, I saw Ty-Lynn had trees "under 5'" so I called to see how under 5-foot they were.
"Well, we have everything pretty much," said the woman. "We even have little Charlie Brown Christmas trees out back behind the barn. They aren't as perfect, you know, have some gaps and holes. They're $10."
"That sounds perfect!" I cried.
She laughed. "Great!"
So off Morgan and I went through the winding roads of Cullowhee. Up, up, up, up the mountain we went, swerving and curving until we began to follow the happy Santa signs to the Christmas tree farm. Quickly, we realized this wasn't just a Christmas tree farm.
First, we passed a pen of llamas and alpacas!
Then, there were trout ponds.
A chicken coop.
A pot-bellied pig.
Ducks.
This place had it all and it was surrounded by acres and acres of land covered in rolling hills of green grass and Christmas trees!
At the barn, we were given the scoop of how things worked: you rode in the 1950 Chevy truck to the trees, picked one out, the crew cut it down and carted it back, you paid, and got your picture taken to put up on the yearly Christmas board and if you could find your picture next year you got 15% off your purchase! There was a bonfire smoking, free apple cider, and a stand to buy a hamburger or hot dog while you waited for the truck to come back for another load of Christmas tree-buyers.
"Actually, we're just interested in the Charlie Brown Christmas trees," I said.
"Oh, they're around back along the wall."
Morgan and I, now separated from the growing group of people waiting on the Chevy to return, walked around the back of the barn where lined up against the wall were the cut tops of several Christmas trees.
"Aww, Morgan, look!" I cried, delighted by our discovery of little, perfect-for-apartment-sized trees.
After much playful debate, we chose our Christmas tree and headed inside to pay.
"Yay you found one!" said the woman at the register. "You know, we used to throw those out but then people started asking for them."
"It's perfect for our apartment," said Morgan, who I was hugging tightly as he balanced our new little tree on its severed trunk.
We brought the tree home after another lovely drive through the mountains, talking about what I wanted in my dream home and how Morgan might get employee-of-the-month for November. Without a tree stand, Morgan took the mop out of the Wal-Mart blue bucket and there our Christmas tree stands... in a Wal-Mart blue mop bucket.
Off to the Dollar Tree where we bought little ornaments: a 12-pack of mini presents, a 12-pack of little drums, and four clay ornaments of a fat happy reindeer, a ball ornament, a stocking, and a sprig of holly. Then, a gold star with lights at Wal-Mart and a string of lights.
I was bouncing with excitement at the thought of decorating my Christmas tree. It was what I always wanted: a little tree in a bucket, some pretty lights, little tacky ornaments, and a loving boyfriend who willfully covered his hands in sap many times today. He wrestled with the star for a long while trying to make it perfectly straight and after sawing off half of the top spine, he did.
"I love you and I appreciate all that you do!"
Then, the lights! The strand we bought not only did have an electric plug-in on both sides, it was also too short. Morgan tried hanging the lights. Then, I tried hanging them. Both times the tree looked retarded with a strand of lights that obviously did not fit our Charlie Brown tree. It was quite discouraging, but we headed back into town were Morgan picked up a new, longer strand of white lights and we got ourselves some Bojangles chicken! It's not a good Sunday without some Bojangles chicken!
After watching Flash of Genius while munching on chicken, we tackled the lights again. Now we had a 25-foot strand of lights to encircle our the uneven, mismatched branches. First, I tried because of Morgan saying I "had the most experience" because I had told him of how "I was the one who lit the tree back at home because I was the only one tall enough to reach the top branches." Well, that didn't go very well. Morgan had to step in, once again getting sap all over his hands which he CANNOT stand, and fixed my slapdash job. It didn't end up being perfect but there was nothing perfect about the tree in the first place. The last thing that was going to happen was two inexperienced Christmas decorators putting on perfectly placed lights, which is already a sucky, difficult job for any professional.
Finally!! I got to decorate my tree with the little ornaments I picked out! I was soooooo excited!!! It was becoming a family Christmas tree now with dangling gold, red, and silver drums, shimmering presents, and the four clay ornaments that looked like Morgan and I had actually sat down and created them ourselves. With Christmas background music from a CD I found in a Corn Chex cereal box years ago, I was creating my own tradition, the tradition I would start as I began to miss out on the family Christmas tree decorating in Charlotte. And to have Morgan there at my side... well, it'd be really nice if that continued to stay part of the tradition.
Finished, I sat down in the rocking chair and Morgan seated himself on my lap. Together, we rocked while staring at the tree as a beautiful opera number began to play on the CD. And it was the perfect end to our perfect day, and my eyes began to tear up because I was so happy to have this as my last day on break before heading back to the stresses of school in the morning. Just him and me rocking in the chair in the darkened living room of my apartment with Sparta purring on the love seat and the lights twinkling on our Charlie Brown Christmas tree in a mop bucket. I looked at Morgan and smiled blissfully, widely, gleefully.
"Merry Christmas, Morgan."
"Merry Christmas, Lexi."
After spending barely two days in Charlotte, Morgan and I spent an hour or so at the Charlotte-Douglas airport overlook with Kate and her boyfriend before hitting the road for home. In separate cars, we tagged alongside each other, keeping time and waving at each other ridiculously whenever we passed each other. The trip was easy and fun. The stresses of the holidays were left behind us on the road, and we flew along I-40 with one thing in mind: sleep! Arriving at home, we unloaded the cars and relaxed in each other's arms before I fell half asleep in bed while Morgan typed up part of his 7-page paper due in two days.
After pancakes, Morgan and I decided it was time for some cleaning. The apartment has been a mess for weeks! No one has had time or everyone is just too lazy to participate in some housecleaning and organizing. Morgan got the kitchen; I was assigned the living room. While Morgan tackled the mountain of dishes in the sink, I vacuumed with a fury! This may sound "un-perfect" and horrible because it's housework, but Morgan and I enjoyed ourselves! He has this cleaning streak... like Kate! Suddenly, Morgan must clean something and off he goes! I find it to be quite useful. I'll come home from a long day at school and find a recently scrubbed bathroom!
"I love you and I appreciate all that you do."
When the carpet was clean, the tile mopped, and every surface clorox-ed, Morgan and I headed out to Little Honda to visit the Ty-Lynn Christmas Tree Farm.
Since the first time my heart was badly broken, I have dreamed of nothing else but owning my own home. This meant buying my own furniture, painting my walls and then repainting them, gardening out back, cooking the family Thanksgiving turkey, and BUYING MY OWN CHRISTMAS TREE!
I have yet to achieve my goal of owning a house, but I do have an apartment I share with my boyfriend and three roommates. And today I got to go out and by my own Christmas tree for the first time.
Ty-Lynn is a family-owned Christmas tree farm in the middle of nowhere (a.k.a. Cullowhee) and sells everything from 5-foot trees to 16-foot trees to handmade wreaths. Morgan and I were searching for something 3-foot or under because of our lack of space in the apartment. Also, we couldn't afford a large Christmas tree and everything else to light and decorate it as well as a tree stand. When I was searching the web for Christmas tree farms, I saw Ty-Lynn had trees "under 5'" so I called to see how under 5-foot they were.
"Well, we have everything pretty much," said the woman. "We even have little Charlie Brown Christmas trees out back behind the barn. They aren't as perfect, you know, have some gaps and holes. They're $10."
"That sounds perfect!" I cried.
She laughed. "Great!"
First, we passed a pen of llamas and alpacas!
Then, there were trout ponds.
A chicken coop.
A pot-bellied pig.
Ducks.
This place had it all and it was surrounded by acres and acres of land covered in rolling hills of green grass and Christmas trees!
At the barn, we were given the scoop of how things worked: you rode in the 1950 Chevy truck to the trees, picked one out, the crew cut it down and carted it back, you paid, and got your picture taken to put up on the yearly Christmas board and if you could find your picture next year you got 15% off your purchase! There was a bonfire smoking, free apple cider, and a stand to buy a hamburger or hot dog while you waited for the truck to come back for another load of Christmas tree-buyers.
"Actually, we're just interested in the Charlie Brown Christmas trees," I said.
"Oh, they're around back along the wall."
Morgan and I, now separated from the growing group of people waiting on the Chevy to return, walked around the back of the barn where lined up against the wall were the cut tops of several Christmas trees.
"Aww, Morgan, look!" I cried, delighted by our discovery of little, perfect-for-apartment-sized trees.
After much playful debate, we chose our Christmas tree and headed inside to pay.
"Yay you found one!" said the woman at the register. "You know, we used to throw those out but then people started asking for them."
"It's perfect for our apartment," said Morgan, who I was hugging tightly as he balanced our new little tree on its severed trunk.
Off to the Dollar Tree where we bought little ornaments: a 12-pack of mini presents, a 12-pack of little drums, and four clay ornaments of a fat happy reindeer, a ball ornament, a stocking, and a sprig of holly. Then, a gold star with lights at Wal-Mart and a string of lights.
I was bouncing with excitement at the thought of decorating my Christmas tree. It was what I always wanted: a little tree in a bucket, some pretty lights, little tacky ornaments, and a loving boyfriend who willfully covered his hands in sap many times today. He wrestled with the star for a long while trying to make it perfectly straight and after sawing off half of the top spine, he did.
"I love you and I appreciate all that you do!"
Then, the lights! The strand we bought not only did have an electric plug-in on both sides, it was also too short. Morgan tried hanging the lights. Then, I tried hanging them. Both times the tree looked retarded with a strand of lights that obviously did not fit our Charlie Brown tree. It was quite discouraging, but we headed back into town were Morgan picked up a new, longer strand of white lights and we got ourselves some Bojangles chicken! It's not a good Sunday without some Bojangles chicken!
Finally!! I got to decorate my tree with the little ornaments I picked out! I was soooooo excited!!! It was becoming a family Christmas tree now with dangling gold, red, and silver drums, shimmering presents, and the four clay ornaments that looked like Morgan and I had actually sat down and created them ourselves. With Christmas background music from a CD I found in a Corn Chex cereal box years ago, I was creating my own tradition, the tradition I would start as I began to miss out on the family Christmas tree decorating in Charlotte. And to have Morgan there at my side... well, it'd be really nice if that continued to stay part of the tradition.
Finished, I sat down in the rocking chair and Morgan seated himself on my lap. Together, we rocked while staring at the tree as a beautiful opera number began to play on the CD. And it was the perfect end to our perfect day, and my eyes began to tear up because I was so happy to have this as my last day on break before heading back to the stresses of school in the morning. Just him and me rocking in the chair in the darkened living room of my apartment with Sparta purring on the love seat and the lights twinkling on our Charlie Brown Christmas tree in a mop bucket. I looked at Morgan and smiled blissfully, widely, gleefully."Merry Christmas, Morgan."
"Merry Christmas, Lexi."
Thursday, November 25
It's a Cliche to be Thankful
It's the first holiday where I'm not in Charlotte. I've never spent a holiday without my family.
On one hand, it's easier. There's less stress because I know I'll get along with Morgan's parents seeing as I've never met them before and we all walk around being polite to each other and saying things like "how did you sleep?" and "that's a lovely skirt you're wearing." It's been hard since my parents split during the holidays. Which parent are you going to spend it with? How many turkeys are you eventually going to end up eating because you have to celebrate in more than one place? There's a lot of stress! And lately, holidays haven't been going smoothly around the house because you're dealing with four girls in one household without any male supervision.
On the other hand, it saddened me for a week or so that I was missing out on my family Thanksgiving: watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning with Anne and pointing out the giant Hello Kitty balloon, laughing at Ma scrambling around the kitchen like a headless turkey herself trying to make everything perfect, settling in for an after-dinner round of Rummy, Kings in a Corner, or Texas Hold 'Em, being the last person awake and dancing about the kitchen in my socks. It hurt I wasn't going to be there. At first, I wasn't going to be there at all, but Morgan and I worked out a plan that we'll be back in Charlotte for tomorrow. At least then we get the leftovers of Ma's turkey and side dishes.
Still, it'll be different. I'll be constantly enthralled with Morgan making sure he's not left out of the conversation and that none of my outspoken family has said something offensive or downright strange! What if he doesn't like my family? Or what if he has to witness some blowout fight when my and Ma's Scorpio stubbornness hits head-to-head? An even better question: Where are we going to sleep? My one and only bed is back home at apartment. That leaves a love seat too short for me and a couch the dog has made into a nest of nastiness with a pull-out mattress of unbelievable harsh springs! Ahh, too many questions!!
Since I have no answers to those questions, I guess this is the time when I tell you what I'm thankful for. But that's such a cliche! I can be thankful anytime I want. In fact, prepare for a blog post in December dedicated to everything I'm thankful for!!! Take that family-tradition-prayer-of-What-I'm-Thankful-For-around-the-dinner-table-before-eating-and-forgetting-what-everyone-was-thankful-for!!!! Aha! Oh if only my sociology professor had been here for that statement.
"Now, Lex, how does that relate to society's views of family?"
Professor, I still don't know!!
Anyway... this post is not about the issues I have with Professor Guinness who was a great teacher and then turned psycho!
This is about Thanksgiving. Though considering it's only 10:25 a.m. there's really not much Thanksgiving to write about yet. I'm mostly online because Morgan was cooking and he's not a great talker when he's cooking because he gets "in the zone" and all serious which is the same how I get with writing... which is why he, currently no longer cooking, is getting ignored in return.
So I'll guess I'll write again after more Thanksgiving has happened. The forecast predicts a slow, easy, relaxed day of walks with Morgan, turkey, snuggling on the couch, and more turkey! Now that's something to be thankful for!!
On one hand, it's easier. There's less stress because I know I'll get along with Morgan's parents seeing as I've never met them before and we all walk around being polite to each other and saying things like "how did you sleep?" and "that's a lovely skirt you're wearing." It's been hard since my parents split during the holidays. Which parent are you going to spend it with? How many turkeys are you eventually going to end up eating because you have to celebrate in more than one place? There's a lot of stress! And lately, holidays haven't been going smoothly around the house because you're dealing with four girls in one household without any male supervision.
On the other hand, it saddened me for a week or so that I was missing out on my family Thanksgiving: watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning with Anne and pointing out the giant Hello Kitty balloon, laughing at Ma scrambling around the kitchen like a headless turkey herself trying to make everything perfect, settling in for an after-dinner round of Rummy, Kings in a Corner, or Texas Hold 'Em, being the last person awake and dancing about the kitchen in my socks. It hurt I wasn't going to be there. At first, I wasn't going to be there at all, but Morgan and I worked out a plan that we'll be back in Charlotte for tomorrow. At least then we get the leftovers of Ma's turkey and side dishes.
Still, it'll be different. I'll be constantly enthralled with Morgan making sure he's not left out of the conversation and that none of my outspoken family has said something offensive or downright strange! What if he doesn't like my family? Or what if he has to witness some blowout fight when my and Ma's Scorpio stubbornness hits head-to-head? An even better question: Where are we going to sleep? My one and only bed is back home at apartment. That leaves a love seat too short for me and a couch the dog has made into a nest of nastiness with a pull-out mattress of unbelievable harsh springs! Ahh, too many questions!!
Since I have no answers to those questions, I guess this is the time when I tell you what I'm thankful for. But that's such a cliche! I can be thankful anytime I want. In fact, prepare for a blog post in December dedicated to everything I'm thankful for!!! Take that family-tradition-prayer-of-What-I'm-Thankful-For-around-the-dinner-table-before-eating-and-forgetting-what-everyone-was-thankful-for!!!! Aha! Oh if only my sociology professor had been here for that statement."Now, Lex, how does that relate to society's views of family?"
Professor, I still don't know!!
Anyway... this post is not about the issues I have with Professor Guinness who was a great teacher and then turned psycho!
This is about Thanksgiving. Though considering it's only 10:25 a.m. there's really not much Thanksgiving to write about yet. I'm mostly online because Morgan was cooking and he's not a great talker when he's cooking because he gets "in the zone" and all serious which is the same how I get with writing... which is why he, currently no longer cooking, is getting ignored in return.
So I'll guess I'll write again after more Thanksgiving has happened. The forecast predicts a slow, easy, relaxed day of walks with Morgan, turkey, snuggling on the couch, and more turkey! Now that's something to be thankful for!!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!
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