December Highlights

Moravian Stars are everywhere in Winston Salem "The city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, founded by Moravians in 1766, uses the Moravian star as their official Christmas street decoration. In addition, a 31-foot Moravian star, one of the largest in the world, sits atop the North Tower of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center during the Advent and Christmas seasons" (Wikipedia). It is so pretty to drive around and see these stars lit up above doorsteps. Apparently because of their nifty 18 pts. they were also used to teach geometry to the children in the 1800s.
Tanglewood lights

Pics don't do it justice. These are huge displays on a pond.

Other fun notable December Activites

Dec. 5th- Mistletoe Half Marathon with Kim & Stacie. We braved the 40 degree rain and ran the beautiful course around Wake Forest University and other pretty historic Winston Salem neighborhoods. Broke 2 hr goal & had a great time.

Dec. 7th- Nice group dinner downtown with Jim's school class, got to meet some of his classmates and instructors

Dec. 10th- Girls' Night Out / Favorite Things Party at Alexis Snow's. Was only able to go for a little while 'cause Jim was working, but had a fabulous time. Brought the Old Navy fleece blanket as my exchange gift and went home with some awesome retro coasters, holiday kitchen towel and a sample plate of yummy cookies. The best part of the evening was socializing and getting know the Winston Salem crowd a bit better.

Dec. 14th- Drove through Tanglewood Lights display in Tanglewood Park. What a great new family tradition! They really go all out and host a nice half hour's worth of light display. Good times!

Also took a plate of cookies to friends & neighbors, had a chance to chat and get to know a couple neighbors a bit better.

Arielle's December Activities

Arielle's school Christmas Party (yes, the only pic I have is this one of me being lovingly choked)
Arielle making scarves at Activity Days (aka laughing and goofing off)

Ditto

Arielle and some of her new Winston- Salem gal pals

Anna (who moved and will be missed!), Lyna & Arielle at school lunch- note Anna & Arielle are sporting the scarves :)

Arielle has had a busy, full December. Besides joining Pony Club (which allows her a trip to the stables 6x a month instead of the previous 4x) she also had a fun school Christmas party and scarf making Activity Days activity. I know I have said it before...but I just LOVE Arielle's Activity Day leaders. They come up with the best activities and take cute pics of the girls doing the activities and put them on a blog (where I get to steal the pics- yippee) so far all the activities have included craft making and service, you just can't get any better than that! In the few months we've been here they have: made baby gifts and threw a baby shower, made pumpkin pies, made thank you cards, and now made and donated scarves to those in need this winter. They also got to keep a scarf, Arielle is so proud of hers.

I also got to help out in Arielle's Christmas party (oops, must be politically correct... I mean "Holiday Party" ugh). Being the overzealous partier that I am, I signed up to make goodie bags for 24 kids, bring in food and help with crafts (bird feeders, gingerbread cookies & snowglobes). The most fun part was watching Arielle in her classroom setting- so telling :)

Gingerbread Houses at Grove Park Inn

Sample of just a couple of the HUNDREDS of amazing gingerbread houses

This pic gives you an idea of how intricate the gingerbread houses were

The underground pools at Grove Park Inn (no we didn't get to see them in person)


drawing of Grove Park Inn- beautiful view from the Inn!

Many different themed Christmas trees

Arielle & Isabelle

Thought this was a cute shot of the Sloan kids

Checking out the Gingerbread houses

The cousin brigade

Boys, boys, boys...

Girls, girls, girls...

Friday we cruised over to the Grove Park Inn with Julie and her kids. What a magnificent resort! They were holding their annual Gingerbread House Competition that is free and open to the public. There were hundreds of great, creative houses on display and the Inn was decorated so beautifully with tons of Christmas trees in different themes and other displays. The view of the green Asheville mountains from the resort is gorgeous. We also walked around their underground cave a bit and explored the waterfall. An Anesthetist convention was held at this report recently and some of Jim's classmates attended it. To stay at the Inn is at least $300 a night and can be close to $1000.

Thanksgiving at "Bonky's"

The chef extraordinaire
Aunt Shirley & Nancy
Stephanie (friend of B & J's) & Joyce- Stephanie is an amazing single mom with 3 kids under 4 yrs. old. I watched her have all three kids hang on her all day- patience of a saint & such a positive outlook!

Mags & Daddy

Aunt Nancy & Negy (bummer its so blurry) Negy was cute- he wouldn't leave Aunt Nancy's side

Julie & her friend "from the road" Jolene (the family they went to Mexico with last winter)

Jim & Steve (male bonding) Love this pic 'cause Jim is actually laughing so hard he's showing teeth :)


We ventured to Asheville to Bahnson & Joyce's house for Thanksgiving. They were so nice to have about 30 of us over for the day! We had a great potluck style meal with tons of great food. A new kind of "Tofurkey", Joyce's homemade rolls and German Chocolate Pie were the highlights for me as far as the food goes. The cranberry ginger ale is good too! The gals huddled around for the later part of the day, reviewed Black Friday ads and planned our shopping strategy! Julie, Nancy & I headed out at 4:30 am Friday and got some great deals- just about finished all my Christmas shopping. Bummed that I forgot to take pics of Ann's family! Gracie & Arielle had so much fun running around together.

Bring it On

Yah, bring on the holiday weight. Picked up my Tofurkey and Silk Nog today and darn the cashier who told me I HAD to try the chocolate dipped peanut brittle. I'm blaming those pounds on him!! Later in the week we are headed to Asheville for Thanksgiving and I'm getting excited. First Tofurkey, then Black Friday shopping! (Oh, and I found a radio station that is already offically playing Christmas music, thank you 104.7)

New Moon

This poster doesn't do him justice... as to not gross out my kids, I picked a poster where Jacob's shirt was on (you know, the THOUGHT of mom thinking a shirtless man is attractive- yucko)
Me & Jaime with our Five Guys soda & popcorn in hand

Jill, Melissa, Me & Jaime

Yes I am one of "those" people. A "Twerd", a "Twi-hard" whatever you want to call it. The books were fabulous and whenever you read a good book you just have to see it portrayed on the big screen. I think I am getting better though...this year I saw New Moon at 7pm the night after it came out instead of the first midnight showing possible like I did with Twilight. Five Guys first then the movie. Great night with the gals!

Treats for Troops

Arielle in front of some of the finished boxes
Jim & Arielle read thank you letters from soldiers who received packages from the school last year

Just had to include this one 'cause of the look on Toby's face :)

The empty boxes we had to start with, so satisfying to see them get filled throughout the night

Toby & Arielle filling bags to be shipped to soldiers (no Toby's not picking his nose...he's just thinking really hard about what to send his soldier)

All the stuff being sent- snacks, gum, over the counter meds, hats, toothbrushes/ paste, other toiletry items, blank cards & stationary, pens, flashlights, batteries, thank you notes from students, etc, etc

packaging them up and putting address labels on

Nothing kicks off the Christmas season like giving some service! I'm grateful to Arielle's school for organizing this tradition. For the past month families, students and a local church donated items like toiletry items, snacks, stationery, etc, etc (see longer list under one of the pictures above). Then parents and students were invited to meet at school and package up the items to be sent to soldiers over seas. We decided to participate in this as our Family Night for this week. It was neat to be part of something like this. The boxes were quickly filled in a matter of minutes 'cause as you know- many hands make light work. I think the final count was 112 boxes filled. Hopefully that will brighten the day for some soldiers living in chaotic conditions this Christmas season. It was one small way we could say thank you for all that they do for our freedom. Amazing how when a community comes together such good can be accomplished.