My very first WHITE CHRISTMAS!

I'm 14, and I just had my first ever White Christmas. Is that sad or what?? That wasn't the only thing that happened, though. Our plan was to leave our house on Thursday, get to my grandparents' house (in the mountains in North Georgia) around dinner, and hang out until Saturday, and we would leave on Saturday afternoon. Here's most of what went on over the weekend.

Thursday: We got there at about four in the afternoon, had a delicious dinner, and went to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Which, by the way, was awesome).

Friday: Pretty relaxing morning, and then that afternoon, my aunt and uncle came with their little nine-month-old daughter, Ivy. At about five, we left to go to the Christmas Eve service at my grandparents' church. At home, we had a yummy dinner and opened our Christmas presents. (We weren't planning to have much time on Christmas Day to open them.)

Saturday: We woke up to a snow storm. For half of us, it was our first White Christmas. Very exciting. My dad got a trip for something like eight o'clock that evening. We had a delicious breakfast. Daddy was getting worried that he wouldn't be able to get his truck out of the driveway. He asked for everyone to help push it up the driveway, so we did, and he was able to leave in time for his trip. We had Christmas lunch instead of Christmas dinner, since we were planning to leave before dinner...which didn't happen. Halfway through the afternoon, my mom decided that we would stay another day. I rejoiced. :) We went to bed that night having enjoyed a relaxing, fun-filled, white Christmas.

Sunday: Church had been canceled, so we just hung out all morning. After lunch, my mom got determined to leave, so we spent at least a half an hour trying to get the car out of the driveway. First we all piled in and Momma gunned it and tried to turn to go up the driveway, but she ended up halfway in the yard. My Uncle Fred took the hint and went inside to put on some shoes, a coat, and a hat (he's bald, hence the hat). My dad's mom -

Okay, pause, I need to explain something. My mom's mom (Coco) is staying with us at our house in PTC. We all (including Coco) went to my dad's parents' house in the mountains. They're Grandma and Grandpa. Names make things much easier.

- also went inside to put on another layer. They came outside to help push the van up the driveway. My mom got out of the car, and Coco took her place in the driver's seat. Let me outline this scene for you again. We now have one person driving the car (Coco), six people pushing the car (Grandma, Fred, Momma, Me, Sarah, and William), and three spectators (Aunt Katy, Ivy, and Grandpa). Oh, and did I forget to mention that Winston was buckled into his seat screaming like the sky was falling because no one was paying any attention to him?? Indeed. We took three (or more, the whole thing is kind of a blur now) tries to finally get the stupid car on the road. We used De-ice-er, boiling water, ice cream salt, pieces of cardboard, shovels, brooms, a squeegee, and I don't know what else to achieve our nearly impossible goal. And we finally did it. Hooray!!

Sunday, Part 2: The drive is usually about 3 or 4 hours long, depending on traffic and weather. With the snow, it was going to be closer to 5. (These are all rough estimates. I'm not the one driving.) After driving watching two movies, pigging out with the candy from our stockings, sleeping, and reading, for close to three hours, we stopped at a gas station. Sarah and I went inside to go to the bathroom and buy more food. I know, we're such pigs. We got two personal-sized Pringles (We couldn't agree on a flavor), "Grandma's" peanut butter cookies, and a little bag of Combos. We got back in the car and Momma was on the phone. We soon discovered that on our way out, Katy and Fred's keys had gotten picked up and put with our stuff. And they didn't have a spare. Whoopee. So we doubled back and drove for another hour, and then we found a hotel. I'll sum it up like this: There were six people sharing one hotel room with two double beds. The ground outside was covered with snow and ice. There were crumbs of some sort in between the sheets on my bed. The pool was frozen over. The lock on the door was about to fall off. Not the most charming hotel I've ever stayed in. Once we got to the hotel, my mom and I bundled up and walked about a fourth of a mile to the only restaurant that was open. Three cheers for Waffle House!!! We got enough food to last for a week, and took it back to the room. Grandpa and Fred came and got the keys, and we all had a good horrible night's sleep. At least I did, anyway.

Monday: We got up and had a huge breakfast at the hotel. (That was about the only redeeming quality of the place.) Then we drove for three more hours to get home. I'm never, ever going to forget this Christmas.

~Caroline

P.S. I neglected to mention the fact that Winston took 20 minutes to go to sleep in the hotel. At one point, he got out of Momma's bed and walked over to William's pathetic little pallet on the floor. He laid down next to him and was quiet for about five seconds. After the five seconds, he started going, "Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh." No joke.