Tender Tennessee Christmas

After our cruise, we drove to Gatlinburg Tennessee. We had spent the first part of our honeymoon at my grandparents timeshare there, so it felt as though we were reliving our honeymoon- in reverse.

As a Christmas present to my parents, we had arranged a family getaway at the timeshare. Two of my brothers, two sisters and Paul and I joined my parents. The first morning together there was a pillow fight and plenty of sibling fun. It was so nice to relax and hang out the way we had as kids.

As we left to go to breakfast very early on our first morning together, it began snowing!!! It was so crazy to have a sunburn from laying on the beach one day and then be freezing in the snow the next!

Cutest diner ever! Notice the snow scene painted on the windows? They even had a working jukebox! When I buy my vintage rv this is what I want the dining area to look like!



Pidgeon Forge has a hotel and shopping area called Christmas Place.
The shop filled with Christmas decorations and nativity scenes was amazing. They had a ceiling covered with starlight and a sleigh with santa and the reindeer that was flying through the sky. Around the end of the ceiling there was also a model train chugging along.



Aren't my sisters and husband too cute for words???



My sisters and I love taking silly pictures like this. The fun thing is getting my Dad to get in the picture with us. He's very silly, but he tries to hide it as best he can.

Mom makes the best cookies. I'm sure that she's the real Mrs. Claus!

The view from our balcony at the timeshare was amazing. Mom had mentioned to the woman who checked us in that she was so excited because we haven't had a family vacation like this since before my brother had been deployed and now he and his bride-to-be are going to stay there at the timeshare on their honeymoon! The woman upgraded us as a thank you for my brother protecting our country. Wasn't that sweet?

During my brother's deployment, while Bush was still president, my brother recieved a phone call from the president on Christmas eve thanking him and all the members of the Coast Guard for defending our country. A few weeks later he was invited to have breakfast with President Bush while he was doing a troop tour. Our family is very proud of him!