What I Learned in December

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are coming to the end of this year. WHAT?! True story! Tomorrow we'll Saturday Six and Sunday we'll Shafferland Shuffle and Monday we'll not just turn a calendar page, but we'll put up an entirely new calendar.

So today I wanted to share with you what I learned in the merry (crazy, busy) month of December. And before I do, I just want to thank you for hanging out with me here this year. It has been so much fun to share glimpses of our life with you through the posts, the pictures, and the podcasts. Thanks for interacting with me, and I'm sorry I've been the world's WORST responder here in December. It just got away from me. But I'm reading and loving your thoughts and will get chatty again in January.

Until the new year, here's what I learned in December!

1. I am still crazy in love with this man.

It was a privilege to be able to be back on our wedding beach for our fifth anniversary. We relived so much of that day, including the weather, and I was reminded just how much I love Ryan. I know this, so it's not really something I learned this month, but that day was a sweet reminder of the love we share! I am grateful for our life and the intentionality with which we choose to live it. It may not be for everyone, but it's for us, and I love every part of it.

2. I am better at kayaking than I used to be.

Ryan and I went kayaking in Florida, and this marks our third kayaking adventure in our marriage. Were it not for Ryan's presence, we would still be floating somewhere in the water in that first adventure, because I was t.e.r.r.i.b.l.e. at it. And while I am not really solo material yet, he said I have greatly improved in my skills! Woot woot!!

3. I have many dreams of what I would do with a substantial sum of money, and after our trip, owning a Duck Donuts franchise moved WAY up my list.

We'd never heard of this franchise before, but oh. my. word. I'm not usually a cake donut girl, but these redeemed ALL of cake donuts for me. (Most cake donuts I've had in my lifetime are dry and lackluster, but THESE....oh they're beyond words!) I fell head over heels for these guys!! Duck Donuts - if you ever see one, GO!

4. Mt. Airy, North Carolina (aka Mayberry) really IS like Mayberry on the show.

We were only there a couple of hours, but everyone was as laid back and kind as the town portrayed on the show. I felt like Malcom Tucker, the guy who was rushing through town and not comprehending why people didn't hurry along faster. They were not in a hurry, FOR SURE. I had to giggle when we were leaving the diner where we ate breakfast, and the guy behind us (who was still waiting on his food to arrive) said, "Hey I own the candy shop. I'll open it back up in ten or so minutes Stop by!" 

5. North Carolina really does shut down for snow.

We were in Asheville to visit the Biltmore, and it was open, but the 6 or so inches of snow shut down the rest of the city. All of it. We couldn't find a restaurant for dinner, nor a grocery store to make our own dinner. Lunchables from a BP to the rescue! Even Billy Graham shut down the Cove! Everything we tried to do was nixed because nothing was open. The worst part? Almost impossible to find coffee. And internet access.

6. I like green smoothies.

I'd never had a spinach laden smoothie before this month, but it turns out I really do like them!

7. Taking kids shopping is both fun and frightening.

We took my carpool kiddos shopping for Christmas and had a blast. It really was so much fun. They are great kids and we thoroughly enjoyed having them for an evening. But I was stinking TERRIFIED I'd lose one of them. Ryan said he'd never seen me so unglued. (And it's true! All these attempted abduction reports around our county, whether true or false, have me spooked.)

8. We shouldn't quit our day jobs to become professional gingerbread decorators.

Not that we really thought we should, but it was confirmed this month with our attempted gingerbread camper construction. We have no talent.

These are the things I learned in December! Here's to a new year of learning new things each month! 

Christmas in Shafferland

Before it gets to be January and Christmas was (literally) so last year, I thought I'd let you peek into some of the fun we had this Christmas!

I always struggle with Christmas recaps because I feel no one might actually want to see every present every person in all our families opened over the course of three days. You're welcome. So I thought I'd try to pick some of the highlights of the celebrations and show you!

Our first Christmas was with Ryan's mom, step-dad, and siblings, and it was out at the beautiful log cabin in the woods. Even though his mom had just been in the hospital, the place looked beautiful!

We listened to a reading of Luke 2 (ironically read by Luke, but not the original one) before opening gifts.

And then Sunday brought Christmas with Ryan's dad, step-mom, siblings, and extended family:

 Staring contests...

 Figuring out new toys...

Ryan and I had our Christmas at home together, which was delightful and low-key:

And then it was off to celebrate with my family. This is my favorite picture of Ryan from the day. We were in the middle of opening presents when my dad walked across the room and stepped on one of those big plastic bags used for packing in a box. It popped and sounded like a gunshot. Once we realized what had happened, we all cracked up, and Ryan's belly laugh is THE BEST.

Our last Christmas of the day was with Ryan's step-dad's extended family, and Ryan won the game. He was excited! (I didn't play. This side of the family is competitive, and I figured I'd end up in tears.)

A full but good Christmas!! Now to write my thank you notes...

Let's Wrap Up a Vacation, Shall We?

My type A nature demands I wrap up our Florida vacation.  You know...since we embarked on the thing almost a month ago. :)

When we left off talking about it, Ryan and I had just left the Biltmore after a beautiful candlelight Christmas tour of the place. We were getting kind of hungry, so we found a Zaxby's near our hotel and pulled into the parking lot. That's when we realized we were there alone. They had closed early because of the snowstorm, as had every other restaurant and grocery store in the city. Even some gas stations had closed. We found one open gas station with one employee and loaded up on Lunchables and Combos for dinner.

We went back to our hotel (which by then was entirely full) and settled in to eat and play online. Guess what? No internet. (The hotel had it, of course, but it was down for the night.) Ever try to finish a blog without internet? It was super fun.

We slept well and got up Saturday morning for breakfast. The hotel had breakfast, but this was not a hotel that had interior halls, so we had to get dressed, put on hats, coats, and boots, and walk over to the lobby for our breakfast.

We were up in plenty of time to head on home, but we had promised one of Ryan's co-workers we would go to this chocolate shop in Asheville to get her some chocolates for Christmas gifts. They didn't open until 11:00, and you can bet your bottom dollar that I emailed them to make sure they were opening before we hung around and wasted half a day! They assured me they were, so we decided we would get ready, pack up the car, and go to the Billy Graham Cove to check it out. We had just enough time to go, and it was literally across the interstate from our hotel.

Ryan packed the car, scraped off all the snow with a towel (no snow scraper, you know) and we drove to see Billy.

Closed. Snowstorm.

So we decided to go into downtown Asheville to find a coffee shop to hang out while we waited for this chocolate shop to open.

Let me save you some time here: closed, closed, closed, closed, and closed.

So we watched this truck try to turn around in the middle of a city so he could back down a road. This was literally what our entertainment choices had come to:

So Ryan Googled attractions in the area and the internet said there was a Rocky Balboa statue on a nearby college campus. I still don't know who Rocky Balboa is, but he was all excited, so we set out in search of Rocky.

We even stopped a student to ask him about it. He had no idea.

We finally found it. Turns out Rocky was a bulldog who was their mascot once upon a time. He died. Rocky Balboa's statue is in Pennsylvania. Stinkin' internet.

We resumed our coffee search.

Closed and closed.

And then....

I think it was the only shop open in the whole city. The barista (who nearly received a hug from me) told me the shop serves breakfast to an adjoining hotel so they aren't allowed to close. Bless them.

And then the chocolate shop opened. It's called the Chocolate Fetish, and it has some pretty creative items for sale. Check this out. (All chocolate.)

We made our purchases and got on the road. The roads were actually clear, but the snow still hung on the mountains and trees, and oh my GOODNESS. A stunning drive home. Check out a few of the pictures I took.

We eventually drove out of it, and were moving along swimmingly! Stopped for a little BBQ in the afternoon...

And just around dusk, we stopped a bit south of Cincinnati for gas, a snack, and potty breaks. GOOD THING we did, because we were not back on the road five minutes before we hit a true-Shaffer-fashion standstill.

As we drove on (eventually) we came upon accident after accident after accident.

The roads were wet from melting snow and had begun to freeze. People just weren't driving cautiously and were sliding off left and right. About that same time, two friends from home texted me to urge us to be EXTREMELY cautious if we were coming in that night, because the roads at home were basically a skating rink.

We were just sick about the whole thing, because we only had 172 miles to go, but we knew we needed to stop for the night. So disappointing!!!

At least it had internet.

Sunday morning, we cashed in on our hotel breakfast, put all our stuff back in the car again, and tried to get home.

Sweetest sign ever:

Energy for the final stretch:

H.O.M.E.

Twelve days and a million memories!! We are grateful.