It has been a busy couple of weeks and add of the fact that I lost my computer charger and my other chargers on an aircraft over a week ago and that is my excuse for being behind on not having anything posted in over a week. We will chalk this up to the hazards of the job….losing all of your things or Jess not placing her things back where they should be living when not in use. I thought I had this down, obviously not.

Anyways, The Saturday after Thanksgiving I was able to give away my local which meant I was able to fly out to New Bern, NC a couple days earlier and spend more time with the family. Oh, friends we have some new family traditions that everyone else seems to have known about and Kelsey and I were left in the dark until an instagram story showed us the way.

Oh Friends it is The Holly Jolly Place. I’m not sure who was more excited the girls or Kelsey and I. Before we get to that I will recap the whole Christmas Hallmark Town Trip for you. If I haven’t said this before New Bern is your quaint Christmas Hallmark town. New Bern has something going on up to Christmas each weekend, parades, markets, parades and floating parades.

I flew out Friday right after work but had to spend the night at the Atlanta Airport to which I then got on a flight first thing in the morning to Charlotte, then right into New Bern. This is usually pretty typical commuting for me, which is why I don’t fully live out there. Saturday morning my big brother Marcus and the girls picked me up and we went straight for coffee and to the farmers market before heading back to the house so I could get some sleep and take a nap.

Kelsey got home and we were off. We went downtown to see the town decked out in Christmas galore and we did a little Christmas shopping while we were down there. The girls got to dance with Santa Clause while Kelsey and I were getting yet another coffee we saw the carolers and almost took a horse drawn carriage ride through town. After playing downtown we went back home where Marcus made us pulled ‘pork’ bbq sandwiches. Then Kelsey and the girls and I went to check out Canterbury Rd to see if all the lights on the street were up yet. Most of the houses still hadn’t had their lights up yet. Canterbury is the street to drive down when in New Bern to see all the lights light up the street.

It was back to the house for a Christmas movie while watching the movie I came across a friends instagram story where she was showing some pictures of a local farm where they do all of the things through out the year. So I went and checked out the website and well from there Kelsey and I decided Sunday Night was going to be a Hayride with a light show at Mike’s Farm. Tickets for the hayride was just $12 dollars per person for 30 minutes with Christmas music while sipping on some hot cocoa….I mean do I need to say more? After the Hayride we spent a good amount of time in the gift shop, there was so much. Everything in the gift shop was all local to North Carolina.

If you haven’t caught on yet, Mike’s Farm is the Holy Jolly Place to go and visit. They also have a Christmas Show that is done through out the season, that sadly Kelsey and I couldn’t do because it was sold out already. Hopefully next year. Really that Hay Ride was amazing. The girls were in complete awe and even little Malia was all excited there was just so much pure joy in all of their faces. I have been to other places where it costs far more and there was just something about the experience and the atmosphere of the place that just put it way at the very top for me.

It was back to the house for game night with friends and a hygge winter desert and where I dominated at Settler’s of Catan. Sunday night and Monday night were both spent doing game night and going and looking at more lights in Downtown New Bern.

Kelsey and I spent a good amount of time as well going through different recipes and traditions that are held over the Christmas season and wanting to do All of Them. We may have an obsession with Christmas. Did I mention the Christmas music was played all day everyday. It really just comes down to trying to get in all of Christmas that last all month down into 4 days.

Challenge accepted!

Any one else ready for Christmas?

What tradition do you look forward to the most each year?

with love,

jess