Kersey Valley Christmas

The Christmas fun has continued as we countdown to December 25th. It has been a particularly cold month thus far, with many days hovering in the 30s and with very little sunshine. We've even had a few early dismissals and delays at school because of the chance of dangerous road conditions. Earlier in the week, WSFCS dismissed two hours early, and luckily Aunt Megan was able to watch the kiddos in her office and then at home until Boomer and I were able to get back to Kernersville. Judging from the pictures, between pizza and hot chocolate, they had quite a lot of fun. On Tuesday, it was back to school, but on a delay. The kids were twinning that day in their "I'm down with Santa" shirts, which were hand-me-downs from their cousins (thank you, Zander and Maddox!) After I dropped the kids off at school, I had an unexpected extra hour of time, so I treated myself to some coffee and a donut at Dough Joe's. It was a nice moment of peace in this somewhat chaotic season.  

On Wednesday night, the kids had their performance of "Jingle Bell Beach" at church. After months of preparing, it was finally time for them to take the stage. The storyline followed three "dueling" teams in a music competition at the beach. The children wore different colored shirts to represent their team: Eli as a Snowflake, Emmy as a Starfish, and Maddox as an Electron. All the kids did such a great job. It's always so precious to see young children singing about the real meaning of Christmas. 

On Friday evening, our Sunday School class had our annual Christmas get-together, and this year we went to Kernersville's newest restaurant Gaslight on Main. It was a dinner full of laughs and fun. Then Boomer surprised me afterwards by driving by a house with synchronized Christmas lights. He knows I love anything to do with Christmas :)

And now to Saturday! I didn't think it was possible to top the Christmas fun we had last Saturday with our Yuletide Yadkin County. But with cookies at Grammy's, followed by a family trip to Kersey Valley, it was Christmas magic from start to finish. Well, if we are really starting at the beginning of the day, Emmy went to a softball clinic first thing in the morning. After the clinic was over, we all gathered at Grammy and Grandpa's around 11AM, and we spent about four hours in the kitchen making our favorite sugar cookies. All of the kiddos rotated in-and-out, helping with the cookie-cutting, icing, and decorating. There was a fair amount of flour and sprinkles all about the kitchen, but the finished product was equally beautiful and delicious. Once again, Grammy proves that she is the Queen of Patience! God gave her a double dose more than all the rest of us. 

After cookies were complete, we headed off to Kersey Valley for our Bakewell-Houston-Kennedy 2025 Christmas activity. As in the past, this outing takes the place of presents between the Houstons and Kennedys, and we have found that we cherish the memories more than any sort of gift. In the past, our activities have included: Disney on Ice (2021), Polar Express at the NC Transportation Museum (2022), Winter Wonderlights at the Greensboro Science Center (2023), and Speedway Christmas at the Charlotte Motor Speedway (2024). Each year, it seems as if the activity has perfectly matched the ages of the four cousins, and this year was no exception. They had a blast on the large jumping pillows, the three-story slide, and the pedal karts. We tried to fit in all these activities before the sun went down. Once the sun set, we rode the train through the light display, visited the concession stand for dinner, and then finished out the evening with the walking trail of Christmas lights, the cow train, and the wagon ride. We were leaving the farm around 8PM and with lots of wonderful memories from another Christmas shared together.