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Christmas Break Recap...

I had an amazing time with my family back in North Carolina.  We were able to go to the beach for five days, just chilling out, talking, and resting.  That is the best quality time in my opinion.  None of us had anything to do except for my older sister but we all were able to just wake up late, take long walks on the beach, and chill in the hot tub.  We had no agenda and nothing we had to do, therefore we played cards, watched movies, and just talked.  I loved that time.  
Then we came back to the house for Christmas day.  We did a version of our typical Christmas morning which normally occurs in this order; wake up, wait to come downstairs, take pictures on the stairs, read the birth of Christ, open some presents, eat an amazing french toast breakfast, open some more presents, then nap for the rest of the day while waking to play with the new gadgets and gizmos.  This year we ate, went to church, then opened presents.  The major difference this year was that my brother and I go zero gifts because we don't really need anything material.  We both got our ski trips financed by our parents which helps out a lot because skiing is not cheap.  My mother got the bulk of the gifts with my little sister coming in close second.  Christmas was fun, but the gifts don't really matter that much now because if we "need" something we just go out and buy it.  We do not wait until Christmas to have Santa bring it.  

Then on Tuesday our cousins came over for our normal meeting with my fathers side of the Family.  This time was very special because it was the first Christmas without my grandfather.  That is very difficult for all of us because he was such a special man, but the Lord has his plan and he says his plan is much much better than our plan so I will trust that!  My Aunt made some amazing presents for us cousins.  She put together a frame with some of my grandfathers pins, ties, hats, and some special pictures of us with him.  She made on frame for each of us grandchildren, each one is different, mine is going to have to find a special place in my room to occupy.   Aunt June also made personalized Christmas ornaments depicting our summer ventures. Mine had all of the countries I visited this summer, the Theta Xi letters and my initials.  Those type of gifts are so much more valued in my opinion than anything that could be purchased from a store.  

We found a lot of old pictures on Tuesday so I scanned them in.
They are really cool.  Check out my Google+ pictures for more of them.

On Thursday we traveled to Tarboro, North Carolina to meet with our second cousins on my dads side.  I really enjoyed that time because I got to catch up with family that I only see once a year.  We were able to just sit in the dining room and talk about life, what was new, how we were changing, and what the future may hold for us.  I got to play with Sadie, she is one of my young second cousins, we built an umbrella.  The only problem was she wanted an umbrella that opened and closed like a real umbrella.  We were using popsicle sticks and tape so it took some thinking to get it to work.  The great thing is that she was the one thinking up most of the ideas, I would just guide her along in that though process.  She was a champ though and we eventually got a miniature umbrella that opened and closed.  The smile on her face was well worth the hour and a half we invested in that project.  

We left Tarboro around 4:30 and did not get home until around 9:30.  Traveling from Chapel Hill to Tarboro takes about 2hrs, but when you get a flat and ride on a spare on back roads in rural North Carolina it takes some more time.  Also we had to wait for a tow truck for over an hour because we did not have a jack to get the blow tire off the car and get the spare on.  All ended well and we were safe the whole time so thats a blessing!

Now I am down in Atlanta a few days early for Passion Conference.  Kelly had to get back to Arkansas to prepare for classes on Tuesday so I was came back to Atlanta early but thats all good in my book.  Now I have time to work on a lot of projects that I put off during the semester.  I plan on starting to tear apart our room for the remodeling we have planned this semester.  Also I hope to scan in a lot of old photos that are in the attic of the old house.  There are thousands of old photos that need to preserved and I have a few extra days so that will be a fun project to protect some of the history of this Fraternity.  
I hope this post does not have to many error I enjoy getting my thoughts out but then rereading over them, not so much.  
Another project for the break, see how many pieces of technology can I use at the same time!!!

All is Great in the Lord

Paul Shackelford
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