Coming Home, Cabin-Bound, & Christmas in Cancun!

We kicked off December with the annual appearance of Pickles and Cucumber, our trusty Christmas-time elves who delivered their whimsical letter complete with all of the adventures they’ve joined us for over the year! I do have to say that they weren’t as diligent as they have been over the years in terms of relocating each evening. And their creativity was a bit hit or miss, but they still made an appearance, so I will give him credit for that! Brayden attended a Christmas semi-formal with her sorority and looked absolutely stunning and had a blast! Concert season is approaching once again, which means a lot of our budget seems to go toward purchasing tickets during this time of year. I bought tickets for Hanleigh and me to join one of her BFFs, Ray, and her mom, Kippen, to go see Zach Bryan in concert in April at Bank of America stadium! I know she is super excited about that, as am I. I don’t really know a lot of his music, but I know it’s really chill. It will likely be the most easy-listening concert I’ve ever attended in my life! HA!

I attended the annual neighborhood ladies’ ornament exchange, where a bunch of us gather, drink tasty cocktails, make a craft (this year it was a small candle around which we wrapped sticks, ribbon, and berries. It ended up making a really cute decoration. Brayden had her first set of exams and she tested out of one of them. She ended this semester with straight As! What a way to kick off her first semester at college! We are so proud of you! UGA played in the SEC football championship against Bama and unfortunately, they lost. Of course, we are very proud of them that they got this far! The Christmas and holiday parties started ramping up with Hanleigh attending one at her friend’s house, and Trent and I were finally able to go to Samara and Mitchell’s annual party, which was really fun! The next night, we attended the F3 holiday party, which was also a great time! It was packed! Hanleigh took care of one of our neighbor’s cats while they were out of town and then Brayden made her way back home! It was so amazing having our family reunited again, albeit just for one night. Brayden spent the night at home and then turned around the next day and drove back down to Suwanee, Georgia where she would spend three nights with some of her best friends from the sorority: Morgan and Megan. Kendall and I had our monthly dinner at Spice, which was delicious and we shared a few tears since her amazing grandmother, Goggi, wasn’t doing very well (she would soon pass just days later). Kendall was very close to her, so this was definitely a sad time. Heaven just got another angel. 

Julie hosted her annual White Santa party, which is basically white elephant, but she unintentionally gave it a funny name a year ago and so this new name stuck! I ended up coming home with a really nice diffuser for our guest bathroom and someone left with my gift which was funny dish towels and napkins. Hanleigh and I had a really fun weekend in store: in order to celebrate her BFFs (Hunter) birthday, we met up at Starbucks with Robin, Hunter, Kippen, and Ray to caravan to Banner Elk for a couple days of skiing. We checked into our amazing log cabin (that Robin treated us to…thank you!), got ourselves all situated and made our way to Beech Mountain. You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day: it was 50° and sunny! We shredded the slopes and then had dinner at LP on Main, an absolutely delicious and unique restaurant. We will definitely go back! We returned to the cabin and had an awesome evening together! The next day, the weather was completely different and we weren’t going anywhere! The temperature was in the teens and it felt like it was 3°. Needless to say, we did not go skiing that day and instead remained in the house having an amazing time! The girls continued to be adventurous and walked around the backyard of the property as well as spent some time in the hot tub! All of us moms were too chicken (or smart!) to do any of that. Even if we wanted to leave the house, it would have been really risky and we were not willing to take that chance as we were at the top of a mountain resort and getting down would’ve been pretty treacherous.

Brayden returned back to home for the remainder of her holiday break and it was so incredible just having her around for nearly a month. She has a profound love for music, just like I do, where it feeds her soul, it’s always on, and she sings at the top of her lungs to a point where you can barely hear the music that’s playing. That seemed to be the soundtrack our month of December and it felt right at home. She attended the Christmas party where she works, which was nice for her to be reunited with some of her co-workers from the summer. I’m pretty sure she’ll pick up shifts again once this summer rolls around. I had my monthly facial with Amy, there were dentist appointments, and Trent and I did the final signing of our updated wills and trusts, but not without leaving with a bunch of homework assignments that we will chip through over the course of the next couple months. We headed to Abby and Justin’s house for the annual family Christmas gathering where everyone enjoyed an amazing dinner together, exchanged gifts, and then concluded the evening with the infamous cousin white elephant gift exchange, which is always full of very inappropriate and hilarious presents! We look forward to seeing what goodies are in store for that event each year!

Trent took me to a delicious date night at a new restaurant called Henrietta’s, and then we had cocktails at a new bar called Sala. The next day, I hosted the annual cookie bake with many of my neighborhood and local girlfriends. We always have a great time and leave with the most amazing tasty treats! The next night, we hosted dinner with Nana, Terry, and Fran, where we exchanged Christmas gifts and got to see them before we woke up early the next day and started a new family tradition: taking a trip over the holidays! 

It seems like every year when the kids are out of school, Christmas rapidly approaches and we are left looking at ourselves thinking, “What are we going to do over the break?” And then we always try to make plans and it’s too late. This year, we nipped that mentality in the bud and planned a trip to Mexico from December 23rd through 30th. The kids wanted to be back by New Year’s Eve, as did we. But, we didn’t really mind being gone over Christmas, so this was a great solution. Especially with Brayden now being in college, our years together with the four of us on vacation many times throughout the year are numbered, especially since we don’t have the same spring break anymore. Carving out that family time is super important and that’s exactly what we did! 

We woke up at the crack of dawn and hopped on a plane to Cancun where we would be taken to our hotel, the Royalton Riviera Cancun! It was absolutely gorgeous, and our room was equally beautiful. We also upgraded our stay as a surprise to the kids by booking the Diamond Club, which included our own butler. Yes, totally bougie, but it definitely had its perks! Relaxation was the theme of the week! I definitely think this hotel had the best gym I’ve ever seen in any hotel out of all my travels! Their workout schedule was also pretty robust as well and I took part in their aquafit and aqua cycle classes. They were really fun! Trent and I also took a sushi-making class and then the four of us played pickleball on Christmas morning, came back to our room and opened gifts, and then hung out by the pool. It was wonderful! There was a foam party in the pool one day, which was really fun as well. That night, there was a white party theme, so we all donned our freshest attire. Trent and I got sucked into doing one of the hotel tours to check out what is essentially their version of a timeshare. They definitely have their sales process pretty well-oiled, but we did not cave. However, for all of time we spent hearing about it, they did give us free massages and a Bali bed for the day, which was very kind. Another perk was that our room came with with an hour hydrotherapy treatment for each of us over the age of 18, so Brayden, Trent, and I did that one morning and it was amazing. We even did a cold plunge pool, which definitely woke us up! 

The last three evenings we’re definitely the most entertaining: from Queen to an ’80s/’90s rock band that was beyond incredible (they even asked the kids to congregate at the front where they whispered to them and asked them to bring their parents out to the dance floor and then proceeded to launch into an awesome version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”), and then concluding the week with the ultimate evening activity, a Silent Disco. I can’t even imagine the amount of steps we got in during those last two nights! The dancing was on point! Our family also has an inclination to rank food while we are on vacation. Years ago, when we went to the Florida Keys for spring break, we ranked the key lime pies in order of our favorite. This time was no different, except we ranked the restaurants. We each had a little bit of a different ranking, but here are the places where we ate: Grazie (Italian), Hunter (steakhouse), Zen (Asian), Taj (Indian: our collective favorite), Agave (Mexican), and Armadillo (Tex-Mex: the best fish tacos ever!).  Our last full day was the only day that brought us clouds and some rain, but we made the most of it by playing lots of games and still staking our claim in the poolside chairs while it rained! On the last morning, we all got up early and sat on the beach and watched the sunrise. It was absolutely stunning and so peaceful. We cannot wait to do this again next year! But where will we go? We’ll have to see, but we definitely have some good ideas churning! 

We returned from our trip on December 30th, just in time to be home and settled before New Year’s Eve! Trent and I went to Mike and Tonya’s house to ring in the new year, while Brayden went to boy Brayden’s house, and Hanleigh went to Hunter’s house. As they say, the days go by slow, but the years go by fast, and this year was no different. I cannot believe 2025 is officially behind us! Happy New Year to all!

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