December - A Season for Friends and Family

December is now gone.  Where has 2013 gone?  Christmas is past, New Years is upon us…and every second seems to go by at the speed of light.  But it has been a marvelous season.

With Gma and Gpa on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was really lovely.  After celebrating with Grandma and Grandpa, my parents and I went to the mountains where all four of the “Bailey Boys” (my Uncle David’s sons) were there visiting their parents.  I’m so lucky to have such close relationships with my cousins and it was so great to see them all together in once place again.  We always used to spend Thanksgiving with them, but it had been years since we were all together.  We didn’t do a whole lot – lounged around, played games, watched movies (and in the guys’ cases, watched football) – but it was still so nice.  

Sledding in the mountains.

I got to go sledding on a snow-covered hill that remained from the week before, and Michael and I got to take a ride in the 4-wheeler to the top of the mountain where we saw the sunset over the ski mountains in the distance.  It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. 

During the month of December, I had a lot on my plate. I hosted First Friday Night Dinner at my house and we had about 30 people come.   I also took place in a shoe making party where you cut patterns from cloth that are then assembled into children’s shoes for kids in Africa to prevent them getting jiggers in their feet.  It’s cool to know that shoes I cut with my own hands will be on feet half way around the world. Erika came to visit for about 24 hours from Raleigh and we had a wonderful dinner with our lifegroup girls (she's an old member who now lives in LA), and we went out and sang karaoke together afterwards.

At work, we spent several days setting up Christmas trees in local hospitals with tons of stuffed puppies underneath.  As people have donated blood this month and last, donors got to sign little puppy tags to be attached to the stuffed animals.  The puppies are then given out to sick children in the hospitals around the area.  I personally got to deliver puppies to some of these children on two different occasions.  It was so rewarding to watch them light up as they snuggled with the little red and white animals.  

FFND with my Frisbee friends.

Lifegroup dinner with Erika

I performed in my silk aerial company’s December student show, which Mom, Dad, Grandma and Nicole came to watch.  I’m still enjoying that and it’s always nice to show off my new skills.  I also performed a dance this time, as I’ve been taking a modern dance class through Caroline Calouche & Co.’s studio too.

Christmas Eve my parents joined me at church for service, then we went home and ate a delicious dinner Mom made and watched “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  It was, as always, wonderful.

Christmas morning felt a bit lonely without Brett there.  It was like we kept expecting him to come downstairs.  But finally, we opened our presents just the three of us around 11:30 a.m.  Mom and Dad got me an under-cabinet radio/CD player/iPod player for my kitchen, as well as a spice rack.   Hopefully it will inspire me to cook… ;)

My silk performance

That afternoon, Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bob came over for lunch and Mom had made a delicious turkey dinner with potatoes, green beans, carrots and rolls.  Grandma made yummy sweet potato casserole. It was very nice having them all over.

That evening, I headed up to Catawba to see Tiff and Mitch.  Tiffany’s baby belly is just starting to show, and it’s so exciting to know that I’ll be an “aunt” come May.  Tiff’s aunt, uncle and cousins were in town visiting her, and we all had a delicious ham dinner with plenty of fixings.  The next morning, I drove to Raleigh to see Lieselotte who was in town from Berkeley visiting her family.  We spent Thursday just catching up, playing games and watching a movie.  I always love visiting at her family’s home because it feels so much like my own.  It’s always clean and cheerful and smells good.  Her mother, like mine, is always feeding people and taking care of everyone and their whole family loves to play games and loves music.  

Shoe-making party.

On Friday evening I headed over to Erika’s family’s home in Cary.  Erika was in my bible study here in Charlotte until she moved to L.A. three years ago.  She has remained one of my closest friends, and I always go up and see her when she’s in Cary visiting her family. Her family, also, is a lot of fun and I love going to see them.  Erika’s parents made delicious chicken enchiladas for dinner that night and then all of us (Erika, her parents, her brother Aaron and I) played charades and other interactive games until it was time to go sing karaoke at a local bar.  Erika’s dad didn’t feel well, but the rest of us went.  Erika went to Chapel Hill as well and sang in an a cappella group there, so she’s an excellent singer. 

Christmas party with about 300 of my friends. :)

Aaron and I amused the crowd with our rendition of “Barbie Girl” and then he and Erika sang a rap song called “Regulate” which was beyond amusing since they are these two white kids who get up there and knew all the words and were thoroughly impressing the entire bar.  We all danced up a storm on the dance floor and all in all, had a marvelous evening.  

When we got back to the house, Barbara (their mom) put on a Michael Jackson record and we had an impromptu dance party in the living room.  

Lieselotte and me.

The next day I went back to Lieselotte’s house and spent some time with her until she had to go to a small reunion with high school friends.  I stayed at her house with her parents and sang songs while her mom played the mandolin.  I went to bed early and slept 12 hours! (Making up for the late night before).  On Sunday morning, Lies’ mom made a delicious oatmeal and fruit breakfast and I headed out to see Professor Gless in Chapel Hill on my way back to Charlotte.  

He’s now in need of platelet transfusions twice a week and red cell transfusions every 3 weeks.  None of the therapies they’ve tried so far have worked to combat his myelodysplastic syndrome (brought on by the chemo he had several years ago).  Right now, it’s looking like his only option may be a bone marrow transplant, but his sister was not a match, so now they are trying to find a match from the donor registry.  But at his age, a transplant is not a very safe option.  He and his wife continue to stay positive, and I continue to pray for a way out of this situation.  It breaks my heart to hear of his sufferings, and I can’t imagine visiting Chapel Hill and not being able to drop by for some tea and conversation.  So, needless to say, please keep Darryl Gless in your prayers.

Erika and me at karaoke

Last night after returning to Charlotte, I spent some time with Mom, Dad and Uncle David (who was in town) and then went to Sky High Sports with a friend of mine.  Sky High is a trampoline gym in which a huge room is covered in connected trampolines – even the walls.  It’s a lot of fun and GREAT exercise.  

Aaron and me at karaoke.

Tonight is a going away party for my dear friend Bethany who is about to embark on the World Race for the second time.  Except this time, she’s going as a team leader and will be responsible for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of nearly 50 people as they travel through five third world countries over the next five months.  It will be an unbelievable challenge, but I can’t think of anyone better for the job.  

Tuesday evening my friend Zach will be arriving from NYC to spend New Years Eve and day in Charlotte.  He is a friend I met through CouchSurfing, so it will be good to see him again. 

After that, January should slow down a bit from the last two months.  But then again, it never does seem to work out that way. :)