Nicole Moore Sanborn
This year, I experienced my first white Christmas. You may be thinking “Uh…where was she about eight years ago when we had all that snow and a white Christmas??” I was in Georgia in about 70-degree weather visiting my grandparents and preparing for my leg surgery on the 27th in South Carolina. Most of you know about this surgery, so I will not take time to explain. If you’re interested in hearing the story, feel free to ask me about it later; I’m very open to talking about it. Also, if you’re wondering where I was two years ago when it snowed Christmas Eve and the 26th, I do not count that, because it didn’t snow Christmas Day.
This year, it wasn’t about the gifts for me. My family and I traveled to Washington state (it takes three flights to get there and nearly an entire day of travel) to visit my mom’s sister and mother, who we rarely see. My mom’s brother and his family came up from Nevada to join the fun. Older readers, remember the retreat story from a few years ago when Dan Hardesty told the spider cave story, and a guy named Keith was involved? Yeah, that was my uncle. True story. I got to see my cousins (mom’s sister’s kids) that are near me in age for the first time in about two and a half years. One of the guys is 21 or 22 (I’m not sure), the girl is 19, and the other guy just turned 16. They’re just about the most awesome cousins I could ever ask for. Well, the 22 year-old can be mean, but that comes with the territory. Bond, the 19-year-old (yes, her name is Bond, like James Bond, just to clarify), and I enjoyed the time together, catching up and discussing how college is going. Bond is a freshman at Baylor University this year. Britt, the 16-year-old (yes, my cousins have interesting names), is very nice. He and I had many good talks about life and learning from mistakes. Through our time together, we discovered he and I are a lot alike in struggles we either have gone through or are currently struggling with. He attempted to teach me how to play Brawl on the Wii, but I’m still very horrible at playing video games. Now, on to stories about my visit.
The first day, I interned at my aunt’s office. She is the CEO of an international Market Research and Innovation firm, called New Edge, the Brewery. While there, I listened in on part of a conference call with Pepsi. I was shown recent work the company had done with Coors Molson (yes, the beer company) and Milliken (a textile company now developing wound care products). I learned many things while at her office, and it confirmed my career aspirations. I want to go into Business Marketing, focusing on the innovation and research side of things.
I was taught how to play Settlers of Catan, a strategy game some of you might be familiar with. It is very competitive and quite fun. I won one of the games, which was surprising since I was not familiar with the game until my visit (since it is a strategy game). Admittedly, my family helped me, so I did not win entirely using my own strategy. We also played card games. Aunt Pam, Bond, and I successfully completed nearly all of the Christmas shopping December 23-24. The stores were crazy, but the three of us were surprisingly good at making quick stops at a variety of stores. A couple of days before Christmas, it snowed. I was thrilled, because this presented the possibility of experiencing my first white Christmas. Christmas morning, not all of the snow had melted. I decided to call it my first white Christmas, even if it did not officially snow that day. However, as the morning progressed, it began snowing. Bond, Britt, and I made a giant snowman, approximately 10-12 feet tall, and named him “Big Bob.” He was the biggest snowman I have ever made. Pictures are on Facebook. Unfortunately, my family and I flew back to Virginia the 26th, so our visit was cut very short. My aunt and uncle invited me to return over the summer and intern at my aunt’s office, as well as spend time with my cousins.
One of the best parts of Christmas was seeing all of my family. My younger cousins, a guy who is 12 and two girls ages nine and eight, were also with us. I was able to see my grandmother while in Washington, which was very nice. She is 83 now, and since I do not get the opportunity to see her in person often, I cherish the moments I am able to spend with her. My grandfather passed away when I was about two, so I never knew him. Flying home was bittersweet, but more adventures were to come.
We arrived home the 26th at nighttime. The 27th was spent doing laundry, working, and preparing for our next trip. The morning of the 28th, my dad and I began another adventure. We drove down to the area of Charleston, SC to visit my dad’s sister. My cousin is 24, and she was on a different vacation, so I did not get to see her. My aunt, uncle, dad, and I went on many adventures. We arrived around dinnertime on the 28th. The 29th, my dad, aunt, and I went to the USS Yorktown. For those unfamiliar, the Yorktown is an aircraft carrier used in World War II and is now open to the public. No other aircraft carrier in the country is open for the public to tour. We explored the ship, and I concluded I would not want to live on a ship like that for any period of time. While the ship is large, the bedrooms are like barracks, the restrooms are public, and the whole time you live on the ship you are confined without portholes. Inside the ship was much information about the history of the USS Yorktown, as well as information about how the sailors lived. At the site of the Yorktown, the USS Clamagore, a World War II submarine, and the USS Laffey, a much smaller World War II vessel, were also open for touring. The submarine was tiny. My dad and I had to bend down to get through all of the passageways, and living spaces were extremely cramped. Approximately 30-40 men would live on one submarine for extended periods of time. This forced good crew relations, as they lived right on top of each other. The Laffey was slightly more spacious than the Clamagore, however it would still not be fun to live on during a war.
The same day, we traveled to Ft. Sumter, where the Civil War began. Presently, the fort is basically just walls with nothing but cannons inside, but we saw pictures of what it looked like at the start of the war. Being on the fort was a neat experience, since it was where the Civil War started, and because we studied the Civil War in detail in history class.
We also visited the Hunley, the first submarine to sink an enemy battleship. The Hunley was a part of the Civil War. Unfortunately, all three crews that embarked in the submarine died. The submarine was tiny, and in order to get into it, the crew had to have a 20-inch waist to fit through the entrance hole. In order to make the ship move, the crew had to sit on a bench and turn a crank continuously. It was a very early model of the submarine. The Hunley was submerged in restoration water.
We also attended a local minor league ice hockey game. The Stingrays, the local team, won 3-0.
Walking the downtown area and seeing the Charleston museum was on our list as well. The downtown area was beautiful, especially walking the “Rainbow Row.” The old painted houses were beautiful, and I recommend walking downtown if you’re ever in the greater Charleston area.
We also toured a plantation. Middleton Place was very beautiful. The gardens are very well kept, and many plants were in bloom even though it was the end of December. The plantation demonstrated what times were like before the Civil War. During the war, Middleton Plantation was burned to the ground. The Plantation almost survived the war, as it was burned in the last few months of fighting. One of the three buildings was rebuilt by the family and is now a museum featuring furniture similar to that of the Middleton’s, family portraits, and memorabilia. Middleton Place kept horses, water buffalo, sheep, chickens, goats, and hogs. It was, unfortunately, a slave-owning plantation.
After visiting South Carolina, my dad and I traveled to North Georgia, near Atlanta, to visit his parents for a day. The visit was short, as we needed to return home. My grandpa is currently fighting an illness, and we wanted to visit him. My grandparents were planning to stay at my aunt and uncle’s house the same time as us but were unable when my grandpa became ill. He is receiving treatment as this article is written. His illness is not fatal. He has an auto-immune disorder. Since he is a born-again Christian, if treatment is unsuccessful he will be in a better place. I believe he will recover. My dad and I began the return home less than 24 hours after we arrived, but the visit was worth the trip.
Over Thanksgiving, my parents and I stayed at Massanutten, a resort outside of Harrisonburg, Virginia, where James Madison University is located. While staying in Massanutten, we drove a couple of hours to Luray Caverns. The caverns are worth the visit if you have never been. Another highlight included watching James Bond movies when we were exhausted. My family also drove a few minutes to the hiking trails in the Shenandoah National Park. We went on a couple of hikes and enjoyed the outdoors and scenery. On Thanksgiving, we drove about an hour and a half to Charlottesville (where University of Virginia is located) and went out to dinner (we made a reservation earlier in the week). One of my favorite memories of the trip happened on the way to Shenandoah National Park. As soon as we entered the park (we were still in our vehicle), we saw a wild black bear. The bear looked like a teenager due to his size. He was eating and digging for food on the side of the road less than 100 yards from the park entrance! My family and I stopped and watched him for a few minutes, and I have a video and pictures of him on my phone. Our family vacation to Massanutten was very enjoyable and relaxing.
As a whole, my holiday experiences this year were amazing. The time spent with my extended and immediate family was very worthwhile, and I will cherish the memories forever. My first real White Christmas, fun with cousins, and wild bear sighting were all gifts from God, and I wouldn’t trade the memories for anything.
Redeeming Pandora 