Christmas is Coming

When I wrote this we were on the countdown to Christmas. Decorations were everywhere and the shopping was crazy. I went out a week ago on Wednesday with Isabelle to get a few things for Jane and had to fight traffic like a salmon going upstream. Thankfully Isabelle was very good and a big help in the stores. Two weeks ago on the weekend we took a trip up to North Carolina to do some shopping and see the mountains. There still isn't any snow and I don't know when we will see any. Maybe later when we head north to see my sister in Connecticut. We had two main goals in NC: go to REI and hit a stamp shop/sale for Jane. The sale was OK but Jane didn't buy much. REI on the other hand was very cool. It felt just like MEC and actually is a co-op as well. REI has gotten some bad press for being the big box store of the outdoor gear world. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet. We drove through Asheville as well on the way home with the intention of stopping to walk around. It was absolutely overrun with shoppers. We made a few laps but couldn't figure out the parking. There were people everywhere and even a few groups carolling on the streets. In the end we just kept on going and headed for Hendersonville. It's a whole lot smaller-it only has one main street-but it is easier to get around and was not as busy. The last thing we did on the way home was go to Hollywild. This was another of these places where they put up all sorts of lights and have the public drive through for a few dollars a car. In this case it's more like a safari since at one point everyone drives through a field of deer. There had to be about 200 deer in a space the size of a football field surrounded by 100 or so cars. It was a little stressful for me so I can only imagine how the deer felt. The last stop on the safari was a a Christmas village with all sorts of other animals. We saw camels, bison, llamas, and farm animals too. There were a few inflatable bouncy toys, hot chocolate, and a big warm fire to sit around. Our timing was perfect for Hollywild since we arrived a few minutes before the gates opened and only had to wait twenty minutes to get to the two miles of lights. On the way home the line up to get in was over 2 miles long! I'll post pictures later-hopefully I'll have a little more time to blog in the new year and won't be so far behind. All the best to everyone and I hope you all have (or had) a good holiday.