**Christmas Break Part II** {1.5.2022}

January 5, 2022 / 2 Comments

Monday, I shared Part I of our Christmas Break vacation. If you missed it, check it out here. 

Today, I’m sharing the rest of our vacation. Sunday, we got up and went to church. 

Sunday night, we had Christmas at my Mom & Dad’s house. She cooked a Prime Rib roast with baked potato and salad. It was delicious! 

After some pictures, Addison was excited for present time. 

We had so much fun at my Mom & Dad’s, and we are so thankful for time with all of our family this year. 

Monday morning, we got up and headed north to North Carolina. Here’s me and my girl at iHOP for breakfast. 

We took our time, and arrived around 1 to our destination, Maggie Valley, NC. There wasn’t too much open, but Addison wanted to stop and get pictures with all the bears at this shop. 

We decided to drive up the mountain to check out the ski area. We weren’t sure if we wanted to partake, and once we got up there we couldn’t join in even if we wanted to. They were sold out for the day. 

After checking out the ski area, we drove back down the mountain and reminisced about Ghost Town. I never went as a child, but always heard about it, and wanted to go. Joey, however, did go as a child. It’s since shut down, but the building and the lift up the mountain were still intact. You could even still see the old roller coaster on the side of the mountain. Very eerie. 

We still had time and daylight left during the day. One of the main reasons that Joey wanted to go to Maggie Valley was to see the Elk. The best time for viewing is early in the morning or right before sunset. The next day we already had plans to do something else. So, we headed over the mountains in search of Elk, and we had lots of success. Joey was so excited! You can tell they’re used to humans and know they’re protected.

We got back, to town, right at dinnertime, so we grabbed a burger at a small diner. The town had this little light display as we headed to the hotel. 

The only bad thing I would say about the town is that there aren’t many places to eat for dinner, and a lot of places were closed on Monday and Tuesday. So, that was against us too. 

Tuesday morning, we got up and headed over the Blue Ridge parkway toward Pigeon Forge, TN. We saw more Elk on the drive. 

After arriving in Pigeon Forge, we headed to Pigeon Forge Snow which was an indoor snow tube place. So fun! It was pretty crowded, but we still ended up going about 5 times with the tubes. Then, Addison played in the “snow” for a few minutes. After that, we were good to go. 

It was 76 degrees outside, so we left there and went to get ice cream. Crazy December weather! 

Here’s a video of Addison & Joey going down. It went fast! 

After leaving the Snow place, we headed back through the Smoky Mountain National Park. The mountains were beautiful! 

The next morning was yucky rain. We headed to “The Buttered Biscuit” for breakfast then headed back toward Georgia. Holy cow, everything was huge! And delicious! I only ate half my biscuit it was so big! 

When we got back home, I had all of the Christmas gifts to go through and organize. Then, I had to take all of the Christmas decorations down. That took a hot minute. It always makes me so sad to take it down, and everything always looks so empty and bare. 

New Years Eve night, my parents came over for dinner and to celebrate. Addison still had her 2021 glasses from last year. I told her she could still wear them because, technically, it was still 2021. Ha! 

We enjoyed lots of shower fireworks and sparkles. The weather was so crazy. It was so warm. 

The three girls enjoyed our glasses. Lots of laughs were had. 

I saw this meme and laughed out loud thinking NOOOOO!!! I sent it via text to some of my family, and my Uncle happily responded that it’s pronounced Two Thousand Twenty Two. Haha! 

Do you guys do a big meal for New Year’s day? I always have since as long as I can remember. My Nanny used to cook it, and now me and my Mom carry on the tradition. I made Collard greens and Mac-n-cheese this year. Mom did the ribs, peas, corn, cornbread, and deviled eggs. You are always supposed to have peas and collards for luck and money. We always have pork too, but I’m not sure of the reason. 

Saturday the weather was very warm. Like in the upper 70’s. So, we played outside and enjoyed the sunshine. Saturday night, we had bad storms come through our area.

Sunday night, we had a major cold front come in with snow, and the temperature dropped to the 30’s. This meme cracked me up because it’s so true. 

That concludes our Christmas break. We really enjoyed our time together and tried to make all of the memories. Thank you all for stopping by. I will see you on Friday for some favorites. 

xo

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