Christmas, Anniversary, and the New Year

Whew, its been over a month since I have made an entry. Sorry.

Nicole and I had a very nice Christmas. We split time between Meridian and New Orleans. This of course gave us the opportunity to see much of our family and some friends we have not seen since the wedding. Add on our two days in Memphis and we pretty much saw everyone. Also in Memphis we went to the Liberty Bowl and OOOOHHHHHH the Bulldogs won, shutting up the very obnoxious Central Florida fans next to us. Its hard to understand how a UCF fan could legitimately be obnoxious. I have had to deal with it from LSU and Alabama fans my whole life, but, both of those programs have had tons of success. I could even take an obnoxious Vandy fan. At least they play good competition. On a final UCF note, Kevin Smith is pretty good. He would have probably gotten 1000 yards if he was in the SEC (of course in CUSA he nearly broke the single season record).

Also, while in Memphis we got to enjoy the hospitality of my cousin Ashley and cousin-in-law Chris. It is kinda strange to remember Ashley as a kid, (or atleast a teen) and then as the college student who would come to visit us in Meridian and eat our popcorn, having seen her now in her current state as a mother and hostess. She performed both roles very well in the time we spent with her. Her two children, Sydney and Clayton, are as adorable as the day is long. This is the first time we have gotten to see Clayton since he has gained a personality, now being 2 years old. I was fairly impressed with the number of words he knows. I think his two favorites are Football and Eat.

Speaking of Football- Hail to the Redskins hottest team (atleast in the NFC) in football. Watch out lame Seahawks.

We spent our anniversary in Gatlinburg. It was a nice time. This was Nicole's first enjoyable trip there; I have had many such trips. We stayed at the Four Sisters' Inn. It was very nice. The inn is located about two blocks off of the middle of the main strip there. It is brand new and the staff (Jackie) was really nice and helpful. I am not getting paid for this endorsement. We ate at Maxwell's, the New Orleans Sandwich Company, and North China. They were all very good. The New Orleans Sandwhich Company has very good onion rings.

We rang in the New Year in Gatlinburg also. They do a pretty decent fireworks show. They drop a ball and shoot fireworks from the giant space needle in the middle of town. That apparently is the only reason to come to Gatlinburg during that particular time of the year because its too cold to do any of the summer stuff and too warm for the skiing. We bought some hot sauce and beef jerky though. That stuff is always there. I also conquered a childhood fear: The Mysterious Mansion haunted house. I went when I was really little and was so scared I had to leave before we really made it in. Unfortunately, the haunted house was pretty cheesy and lame. Luckily I went through with a couple of Russian girls who were scared out of their minds. That was kinda funny.

Thats pretty much it. I have pictures of all of this, which I will post as soon as I find the cord to connect the camera to my pc.

-J