Losing the Familiar: Holidays Recap #2

Since I am blogging, you can be assured that we made it out of Kansas and back to the southeast. Around 9pm on the 25th, we rolled into Lexington and spent a few hours celebrating Christmas with the McMahan parents. Adam, Ben, and I devoured Christmas leftovers, drank some tea, opened presents, and relaxed for a bit. In the morning we spent time with both sets of grandparents and then that afternoon, we were back to our four wheeled travels.

Christmas in Nashville - everyone got to wear the hat sent by Ben's mom, Ann!

In Nashville, we saw family and friends, drank excellent beer from a local microbrewery, and had Christmas (round #5)? Ben got to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame and we all went to a new vegetarian restaurant in East Nashville (The Wild Cow). We spent an evening at the famous Station Inn where we got to watch a very professional bluegrass jam session and drink yazoo beer. During our short stint in Nashville, Adam and I also took a daytrip to Rome, Georgia to see our friends Ashley and Jared before they would venture down to Key West to get married!

Station Inn!

A day later, my mom and I drove to Dothan, Alabama (Ben and Adam would come the next day) to start preparing for my cousin Becca's wedding. It had been over a year since I was last in Dothan, and being there brought up slew of warm childhood memories. It was a whirlwind experience in that I was a bridesmaid surrounded by constant wedding activity. I got to meet some new people and see Becca as a beautiful bride.

Mother-Daughter LOVE

Tired bridesmaid...

Cousins!!! Becca, the bride is in the center, Christina is on the right.

Side Note: a few moments after arriving in Dothan, I received a call from Adam and Ben along the lines of, " We got lost on the way to Virgin Falls and decided to go for a run on a boyscout camp/game reserve...The dogs ran off after a deer and we've been calling for them for 3 hours...." Uh...ok? So an hour or so later, I finally got another call, "The dogs finally came back and they've been skunked...Now we have a 2 hour, skunked dog car ride back to Nashville." Greaaat...I have no doubt that the dogs had a blast hunting by moonlight on a game preserve and despite having a thorough bath in Nashville, it should be noted that both critters and the car still smell like skunk!

We spent New Years Eve in Dothan after the wedding. I was exhausted and although our NYE ceremony was a bit nontraditional, it was just what I needed:

- Watched a PBS series on "60's Music" with Adam, Ben, our relatives from Gallatin, TN and my mom repeatedly screaming; "Oh my God I LOVE this song! I remember this!" There was oh so much laughter.
- After the PBS special went off and killed our fun, I made my mom, Ben, and Adam do a little pre-count-down yoga. It was quite relaxing, and Adam fell asleep in Baddha Konasana (not a position in which one might typically fall asleep). I ended the yoga right before the countdown, and we cheered and toasted red wine along with the ball drop.

So we finally made it back to Lexington. On the drive north, we stopped at the farm of one of my best childhood friends, Tirzah. She is living in Pennsylvania, getting a masters in art management (I think) and is also a certified yoga teacher! We hung out with Tirzah, her sister Olivia, and her mom Janet. We ate pizza, rode around the property in their "gator", and warmed up in their new sauna. Although I had not seen them in years, it felt very natural. Tirzah and I mentioned doing a yoga retreat at the farm and I think that it would be perfect! Back in Lexington, Ben stayed with us a few more days and we road our bikes downtown, toured both the Woodford Reserve and Kentucky Ale Brewery, and managed to eat some good home-cooked meals in between. Now, it's back to the grind of nursing school. This last semester is proving to be quite intense.