christmas debriefing

the highlights and lowlights of christmas in nashville, rachel-style.

• 10 days in nashville is wonderful. i’m proud to be from the south.
• my grandma picked me up from the airport. i hadn’t seen her in over 6 months. the first thing she said to me? “i didn’t recognize you. i thought you was a boy!” when i roll out of bed to catch a flight at 4 am, i’m not too concerned about the absence of perfectly applied makeup. i wear a hat and jeans. that’s just how i roll. i suppose boys do too.
• my parents gave me one of the coolest gifts ever. when i was in 4th grade, i planted a tree on a piece of land that we owned. we sold the land later, but i still go back and check out the tree almost everytime i’m home. i love it. i don’t know why, but it’s fascinating to me. the tree is nearly 18 years old now (holy cow!) and it’s beautiful. my parents took pictures of the tree in fall, winter, and summer and framed the series in a beautiful frame. coolest gift ever.
• i grabbed a whitts bbq sandwich one day while i was out shopping. my fav. but dang, i remember being able to eat two sandwiches and a side of baked beans… this time, i couldn’t even finish my one lonely sandwich. either whitts is making ‘em bigger or my tummy’s getting smaller.
• giftcards are heaven-sent.
• you know you’re grown up when you go to blackstone brewery with your parents and brother and order beers. that’s also when you know you have totally cool parents.
• my family does not favor my hair straight. what a shame.
• starbucks + mel + christmas eve = bliss
• i’ve got some of the coolest friends in the world. and i hate it that we don’t get to see each other often. but i’m incredibly thankful for the time we spent together last week! the kids are growing up fast and the families are expanding quickly. this year there were 3 super cool kiddos… next year there will be 7!
• white house is getting bigger. they’ve got a super walmart now. watch out, world! they’ve also got a texmex restaurant that my dad and i tried. i think my second cousin owns it or something.
• visited ernest tubb’s record shop on broadway for the first time in my life. ah. now my life is complete. no, really. turns out that i’m related to ernest tubb. great uncle once removed or something like that.
• all this family history makes me wonder if there wasn’t some cross breeding somewhere down the line. it might explain a little bit of the dysfunction.
• maris and i had our annual shopping/returning of the ugly gifts trip… and ended the evening with a little bit of moe’s. perfection.
• watched a gaither vocal band dvd with my grandpa, dad, uncle, and brother. not cool. my dad said he kinda liked it and that he might want us to buy him some of those dvds when he gets old. my brother’s response: “and drug addicts want you to buy them drugs, but that’s not what they need. they need an intervention.” sorry dad. looks like you’ll be getting an intervention before you get your hands on lovin’ god & lovin’ each other.
• i have the greatest mom, dad, and brother a girl could ask for.
• nashville is home. nashville will always be home. but the lord has been doing something new in me during the past month… i don’t think nashville is where i’m meant to be right now. selfishly, i want to be close to my friends and family… but i sense that this chapter of my life in texas is still wide open. so here’s to continuing the adventure in the lonestar state, where i feel at peace.