Jan

5

Christmas in Greenville and Michigan

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Andrew was able to take off of work on Christmas Eve, so we headed down to Greenville Tuesday evening (Dec. 23). We spent Christmas Eve morning completing our Christmas shopping at some stores we don’t have in our area. We went to the Christmas Eve service at Hampton Park and spent time with both of our families.

Christmas morning we ate breakfast with my parents and then headed over to the Garland’s to open presents. Grandma Q. came over as well and brought her carload of gifts. Anthony is known for his creative wrapping. One present for Dad G. was about 6 feet tall and in the shape of a “T”. Dad unwrapped the top part and found an empty wrapping paper tube filled with paper towel rolls. He unwrapped the rest of the present and found an umbrella hiding inside. It was pretty funny. We went to lunch at BJU with both of our families. After lunch we opened presents with my family. We got a lot of nice gifts. Andrew’s favorite gifts were a George Forman grill, ESV study Bible, and several books from his Amazon list. My favorite gifts were two snowmen cross stitch books, a hot water bath (for canning), and a pressure canner and cooker.

Friday was a busy day. My family was busy packing for our annual trip to Michigan. Andrew and I attended the funeral for Mrs. Hadley, the mother of one of my good friends. We spent the evening with Andrew’s family.
Saturday was a long day that began at 4:30am. We followed my family for the 12 hour trip to Grandma and Grandpa Erickson’s farm. That area of Michigan had been getting a lot of snow, but Friday and Saturday were a little warmer and it rained so most of the snow melted. We did get a few more inches of snow halfway through the week.

Sunday was our only busy day of the vacation in Michigan. Grandma wanted her whole family at church so she could show us off. We took up 3 pews (most of the rest of the family lives in the same area, but they go to different churches). After church we headed over to Uncle Brian’s and Aunt Annette’s where we had our big dinner and then opened our gifts. Since there are so many of us we draw names for gifts. Some of the women like to do small things for everyone. This year my mom made caramel corn for all the guys and cookies in a jar for the women. Tricia made a small loaf of friendship bread for all the guys and Bath and Body Works handsoap or lotion for the women.

On New Year’s Eve we all went back to Uncle Brian’s for supper. Then some of us younger adults went into town to go bowling. We had a good time and enjoyed watching some of my cousin’s friends come up with creative ways to bowl. The funniest one was when the two girls (who were terrible bowlers) decided to roll the ball together. They got a strike. We got back to Uncle Brian’s about 9:30. Half of the group went downstairs to Uncle Brian’s home movie theater to watch an action movie and eventually everyone else went home.

The other days were pretty slow although there was always a house full of people, especially at meal time. All of us from out of town headed home Saturday morning. It is wonderful to have family we both get along with and enjoy spending time together.

Dec

6

Thanksgiving

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Andrew and I were able to go to Greenville for Thanksgiving. We were busy most of the time. Here’s a recap of our trip.

Tuesday: We headed south when Andrew was finished with work at 4pm

Wednesday: Andrew went to his parents’ house most of the day while I stayed at my parents’ house and helped my mom make food for Thursday. The Keys and Jessica got in that evening.

Thursday: Thanksgiving dinner #1 was at Grandma and Grandpa Boone’s house around 12:30pm. My family was there as well as Grandma and Grandpa, the Ridleys, the Keys, and Jessica. Thanksgiving dinner #2 was at Grandma Q’s house at 5pm. Andrew’s family was there plus grandma and a family Mom Garland works with.

Friday: Andrew helped Dad Garland and Anthony do some work on their new property. I stayed with my family and we went downtown for awhile. It was a beautiful day. We ate supper and spent the evening with Andrew’s family.

Saturday: I helped my parents pick out a Christmas tree. We went out to lunch and spent some time with Abby and Lincoln. We spent the evening with my family.

Sunday: We went to Hampton Park for church and ate lunch with Andrew’s family and our friend Erica. The Keys and Jessica left. I helped decorate the Christmas tree. We headed back to Radford around 3:30pm and had heavy traffic the first half of the trip. It took us more than an hour longer to get back.

Aug

13

Boone Family Vacation

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We had a wonderful time with my dad’s side of the family this past week in Green Mountain, NC, which is just north of Burnsville. We have a wonderful family. There are no fights; everyone willingly pitches in; and we can have fun without alcohol.

I’ll give the highlights of each day below, but there were some regular activites each day. A different crew cooked or cleaned up for every meal. Andrew and I cooked two meals and cleaned up three. It was great to not be in the kitchen for every meal. I know everyone else felt the same way. Another regular event was family devotions in the evening, just as we have done on every family vacation. This summer we sang some songs, had testimonies, and the “young” guys (Michael, Andrew, Nathan, and Brandon) gave a challenge. Each night was such a blessing.

Saturday
Uncle Dave and family took I-81 down from New Jersey, so we invited them to our apartment for lunch. After lunch Stephanie rode with us. We ended up taking NC-197 instead of the interstate. The road still got us there, but it took MUCH longer. We went up and down a mountain and ended up in a valley with several houses and a church or two. Then went up and down another mountain past some more houses and a church or two. This continued for several hours. We finally made it to the house. The driveway was almost worse than the road we had been on. It was steep and narrow, and the last section was all gravel. Brandon got his family’s van stuck on the first attempt. They had to unload some people to shift the weight to the front wheels. We were the last ones to arrive. One of the first things said to us was, “Don’t drink the water. It smells like sulfur!” Sure enough, the water had a strong stench of sulfur.

Sunday
My dad spoke for family devotions in the morning. He spoke longer than the rest of the guys (more like a church service). There was nothing planned for the rest of the day, but in the afternoon some people were going to the town of Green Mountain. I wanted to go along. Green Mountain was not very big. It consisted of a general store (which was closed), a post office, and a Presbyterian church. A few people drove by, but no one was around. My car then went into Burnsville to get more bottled water.

We celebrated Grandpa and Grandma’s 60th wedding anniversary after supper (the reason we all got together in the first place). Grandpa and Grandma, Sharon and Nathan, and Andrew and I played the newlywed game. Uncle Dave had collected questions from everyone to ask Grandpa and Grandma about their marriage. Then we watched a picture slide show and ate pound cake with mashed strawberries.

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