Holiday Wrap...
This was my first Christmas with Natalie as my wife, so that by itself made it very special. However, a lot of other wonderful things added to the mix that made it even more so.
Of course, Natalie loves the holidays and wants to open her presents as soon as she gets them. She manages restraint for the most part but I can tell she'd love nothing more than to unwrap the stuff as it arrives (not that I blame her, I do too). So I decided to play on this theme and try and make her first Christmas as my Wife as special as possible. So I aimed for a "12 days of Christmas" theme. Starting on the 14th (which I'll admit my own impatience in having this day arrive so I could give her the starting gift), Natalie received one gift a day. Some gifts were obviously bigger than others, but she seemed to love the idea and the gift delivery was mostly successful. I really had a LOT of fun planning all this out. I don't know if I can repeat it in successive years, but we'll see. She really seemed to love the gifts so I'll consider that a success.
Next came our much anticipated trip to Savannah for the weekend.
Savannah was awesome, once we got there. Unfortunately we had to swim there, which made a 4 hour trip a nerve wracking 6 hour romp thru the rain. The couple we were staying with arrived a few minutes before us so they had to dry off as well. All of the bad weather and traffic was quickly forgotten once we arrived, however. The hotel was awesome. It kept raining that night, so we grabbed dinner at a restaurant on the river close by and made it a quiet early night of things. Saturday was a great experience. We started at Clary's for breakfast, walked most of the historic district, took a carriage ride & tour, visited Tybee Island (very underrated beach, imo), and finished with a nice dinner at Belford's (seafood & steakhouse) and a late night cruise. The weather could not have been more accommodating. In all it was a perfect day.
Sunday started with us seeing our friends off as they headed back to Charlotte. After that I got the treat of finally getting to meet my good friends from America's Debate, Mike and Jaime. They welcomed Natalie & I with a huge plate of homemade cookies, so that definitely started things off well. We had a nice leisurely lunch together and then walked around a bit. It was really great getting to finally meet them in person after all this time. Of course, Savannah is a great excuse to visit them as well :) I see more trips in our future to that place.
Unfortunately our trip ended a tad early, as pending storms coming from the South coerced us into heading back on Sunday, a day ahead of schedule. We were sad to be leaving early but neither of us wanted the pain of driving in heavy rain and storms on Monday. As it turns out, it was probably a good decision as Savannah, Charlotte, and most of the area in between received a heavy amount of rainfall on Christmas. The drive back, although late, was pleasantly uneventful. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the dogs out of the kennel until Tuesday so that made the house considerably quieter for the next few days.
Christmas Day we woke and opened the remainder of our gifts. It was really nice being able to spend Christmas morning with Nat, though I think we both wished we had family around us to enjoy it even more. That isn't to take away any of how special this Christmas was, just a reminder how much this time makes us think of our families. The rest of the day we relaxed and watched movies & played on the computer, ending a very nice holiday.
Times like this do remind me how truly blessed I am. I hope all of my friends and family near and far had a wonderful holiday as well.
I'm not sure 2007 could top the blessings that 2006 visited upon me, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
Happy early New Year, everyone.
Doc
Of course, Natalie loves the holidays and wants to open her presents as soon as she gets them. She manages restraint for the most part but I can tell she'd love nothing more than to unwrap the stuff as it arrives (not that I blame her, I do too). So I decided to play on this theme and try and make her first Christmas as my Wife as special as possible. So I aimed for a "12 days of Christmas" theme. Starting on the 14th (which I'll admit my own impatience in having this day arrive so I could give her the starting gift), Natalie received one gift a day. Some gifts were obviously bigger than others, but she seemed to love the idea and the gift delivery was mostly successful. I really had a LOT of fun planning all this out. I don't know if I can repeat it in successive years, but we'll see. She really seemed to love the gifts so I'll consider that a success.
Next came our much anticipated trip to Savannah for the weekend.
Savannah was awesome, once we got there. Unfortunately we had to swim there, which made a 4 hour trip a nerve wracking 6 hour romp thru the rain. The couple we were staying with arrived a few minutes before us so they had to dry off as well. All of the bad weather and traffic was quickly forgotten once we arrived, however. The hotel was awesome. It kept raining that night, so we grabbed dinner at a restaurant on the river close by and made it a quiet early night of things. Saturday was a great experience. We started at Clary's for breakfast, walked most of the historic district, took a carriage ride & tour, visited Tybee Island (very underrated beach, imo), and finished with a nice dinner at Belford's (seafood & steakhouse) and a late night cruise. The weather could not have been more accommodating. In all it was a perfect day.
Sunday started with us seeing our friends off as they headed back to Charlotte. After that I got the treat of finally getting to meet my good friends from America's Debate, Mike and Jaime. They welcomed Natalie & I with a huge plate of homemade cookies, so that definitely started things off well. We had a nice leisurely lunch together and then walked around a bit. It was really great getting to finally meet them in person after all this time. Of course, Savannah is a great excuse to visit them as well :) I see more trips in our future to that place.
Unfortunately our trip ended a tad early, as pending storms coming from the South coerced us into heading back on Sunday, a day ahead of schedule. We were sad to be leaving early but neither of us wanted the pain of driving in heavy rain and storms on Monday. As it turns out, it was probably a good decision as Savannah, Charlotte, and most of the area in between received a heavy amount of rainfall on Christmas. The drive back, although late, was pleasantly uneventful. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the dogs out of the kennel until Tuesday so that made the house considerably quieter for the next few days.
Christmas Day we woke and opened the remainder of our gifts. It was really nice being able to spend Christmas morning with Nat, though I think we both wished we had family around us to enjoy it even more. That isn't to take away any of how special this Christmas was, just a reminder how much this time makes us think of our families. The rest of the day we relaxed and watched movies & played on the computer, ending a very nice holiday.
Times like this do remind me how truly blessed I am. I hope all of my friends and family near and far had a wonderful holiday as well.
I'm not sure 2007 could top the blessings that 2006 visited upon me, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
Happy early New Year, everyone.
Doc