Merry Christmas 2013

Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul, and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say: News! News! Jesus Christ is born today;
Ox and ass before Him bow; and He is in the manger now.
Christ is born today! Christ is born today!

Good Christian men, rejoice, with heart and soul and voice;
Now ye hear of endless bliss: Joy! Joy! Jesus Christ was born for this!
He has opened the heavenly door, and man is blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!

Good Christian men, rejoice, with heart and soul and voice;
Now ye need not fear the grave: Peace! Peace! Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all, to gain His everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!

Merry Christmas!

Gatlinburg

"Such a tourist trap!"

"Just like Myrtle Beach in the mountains!"

And my favorite, "It's just like Myrtle Beach threw up in the mountains!"

Yes, all of those are true, but it didn't stop us from having an incredible spring break!  I'm not sure what possessed Jason to choose Gatlinburg, but we went, had a great time, and crossed it off of our list of places to visit.

We did some super-touristy things, like the Ripley's Aquarium, the Guiness Book of World Records Museum, WonderWorks, and putt-putt (I don't think a trip to Gatlinburg would be complete without a game of putt-putt and a breakfast at a pancake house!).

 

 Our best times, though, were the hikes and exploring the Great Smokeys National Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We kept track of all of the license plates that we saw, looking for all 50 state tags.  We came up with 31 of the 50 states... not bad!  The boys were sure that we wouldn't find Alaska and Hawaii, but to their surprise, we found both. Definitely a tourist-filled location!!

 

 

 These two critters were hanging out right near where we were walking... hadn't even thought about snakes until we saw them.

We saw lots of wildlife out and about, including these turkeys.  The boys were asking why one of them was all decked out and the other was not... it was interesting to hear Jason explaining that the boy turkey was showing off so he could marry the girl turkey.

This is my turkey acting like a male turkey.

Really, for as crazy as Gatlinberg/Pigeon Forge is, we had an incredible time together over spring break.  The super-fun, no-stress, carefree time was just what our family needed.