A Sandy Christmas

This year we did something very different for Christmas. 2008 was quite a year for my family. We had lots of ups and downs, twists and turns throughout the year. So we thought it would be a good idea to just get away for the holidays. We decided to spend Christmas at Myrtle Beach. The Myrtle Beach State Park has several little cottages that they rent to vacationers. They were all booked, but we were lucky enough to find one spot available for three nights. Just what we were looking for! We definitely couldn't depend on our old 15 passenger van to get us down there and back, so we rented a 7 passenger minivan. That was the most exciting part of the trip....fitting 9 people into a minivan--not to mention the luggage and everyone's Christmas presents! That was quite a feat! But thanks to Daddy's expert packing skills, we managed to fit inside with just enough room left over to breathe. (We didn't even have to tie anyone up on top. Although, after a couple of hours I would have gladly volunteered to be strapped to the roof!) While everyone was busy loading the van, I decided to help out by putting our breakfast of doughnuts into the oven to warm up. Then I went to help pack. When I came back inside I was greeted by a smoke filled kitchen, black doughnuts, and grim faces. I decided it was a good time for me to get in the van. :)
The ride down was not as bad as I thought it would be. Micah, Hannah, and I sat in the backseat and the 4 younger ones double-buckled in the middle seats. My elbow room was nonexistant and my feet were pinned down by suitcases and pillows. But at least we could breathe. The worst part of our trip down was the radio! The choice of music was seriously driving me insane! Some bright person stopped on the Disney channel and we had to listen to the Jonas Brothers sing a song.....one song is enough from them! Then, Elvis sang Christmas music nonstop. Daddy was fascinated with the satellite radio and he found a French radio station.....where he left it....for like 2 hours straight! This was the point where I almost lost it! Micah was loving it and was attempting to sing along. There she was singing made up French words right in my ear! Every ounce of patience I have ever accumulated was quickly used up. I finally had to scream at her. I felt bad, but hey, it shut her up for awhile. :-)We passed by a town called Manville, SC. We wanted to stop and catch us a fellow there, but Daddy just drove right past the exit! Oh well. We finally stopped at McDonalds and got double cheeseburgers. I was so starving so I ate two cheeseburgers in like less than 5 minutes.....which was definitely a first for me. haha Soon we could smell the salt air and see the palm trees lining the roads. Chaos broke out in the van as the children realized we were finally at the beach!!! Myrtle Beach has such a nice state park. We have only ever camped there, so to stay in a cabin was a new experience. The house was little and white with an airy screen porch lined with rocking chairs. Inside were three bedrooms, two baths, a living room, and a kitchen. It was very nice. I decided that when I build a house of my own, I want it to look like that one. :) After we unpacked and got used to walking again, (which took awhile) Daddy went to get groceries and a Christmas tree. The rest of us stayed at the cabin to explore. First we walked down to the ocean. It was only a 5 minte walk from our cabin to the shore. Chloe could not stay away from the water, even in December. So she took off her shoes, rolled up her jeans, and ran through the waves. I was afraid her toes were going to freeze and fall off....but they didn't. When we got back to the cabin we realized we were locked out. One of the kids had accidently locked the deadbolt and we couldn't get it opened. Soooo....Ian and I hiked up to the rangers station to get some help. In no time we had the door unlocked and were getting settled in for the night.
The next day was Christmas Eve. The weather was beautiful that day! The highs were in the 70s. We drove over to Huntington Beach State Park. There was an old house there that the Huntingtons had lived in. It was supposed to be built like an old castle. It was called Atalaya. Not to put down their creativity or anything, but I was not impressed with their "castle". It looked like a run down warehouse! But anyway, to each his own. We took a nice stroll on a boardwalk that went over the marsh. It was full of oysters. Ian and I climbed over the rail and sat on this bench that hung over the marsh. Our family went ahead and walked off, but we had to get an oyster souvenir. So....I wrapped around the bench-upside down- and took hold of a clump of oysters. Apparantly they attach themselves to something under the mud, because it was pretty hard to pull up. But we finally pulled it out. About that time I started freaking out, because I realized I was hanging upside down over a marsh.But I didn't die. We climbed back over the rail and snuck back to the van without the rangers seeing our souvenir. :)One thing that stood out in our day trip to Huntington was a couple and their son who walkd by us. They saw my siblings trying to open this old trapdoor at the "castle" (which was actually the basement door, but we didn't tell them that). But anyway, I heard her say something to her husband about "those rotten children over there". Yeah, so that pretty muched ticked me off. I was going to tell my siblings to go tackle her...but I decided not to. She was obviously a confused and frightened lady, so I left her alone. :-)
That night we observed our Christmas Eve traditions at the cabin. Mama always reads a book called The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. (We always laugh at her because there is this one part she always cries in every year!) We sang a few Christmas hymns, watched the Nativity Story , and set out our stockings.
Christmas morning came before we knew it! We woke up early enough to watch the sunrise. We ran down to the beach in our pajamas and made it just in time to watch the sun coming over the ocean! It was beautiful! I ran down to the shore to write Merry Christmas in the sand. Since we were alone, I didn't mind being in my Hannah Montana pajamas. (Thanks for the pjs Grandma! LOL) No one was around to see me anyway. But as I finished writing, I turned around and saw a guy jogging by. (He looked like Buddha running down the beach!) I glared at my family who was just standing there snickering. They obviously didn't think it necessary to warn me that Buddha was jogging right by me in my Hannah Montana pajamas!! But anyway, we went back to the cabin and read the Christmas story on the porch, and then went inside to open our gifts. Daddy and Mama cooked a delicious Christmas dinner of ribs, macaroni and cheese, fried green beans, and fruit salad. That evening we wandered out onto the pier and watched the fishermen. Later on when everyone was settling in for the night, I had an urge to walk one last time on the beach....at night. I thought it would be cool. So Micah, Hannah, Chloe, and I snuck out for our excursion. The porch light quickly lost its effect and we were surrounded by darkness. We had to walk through the woods to get to the beach. We were pretty much scared to death. Our cell phones were not very good lights, and we were defenseless. But we found some tools by the horse hitching post. These looked like pretty good weapons, so Chloe grabbed a pitchfork, and we went on our merry way to the beach. The fog lay heavily over the sand, and the ocean was so black...all you could make out was the white foam when the waves crashed. It was beautiful....but creepy. After a quick visit, we hurried back to the cabin, but not before returning the pitchfork we "borrowed." :) We took off running through the woods and finally made it back to the cabin. That was a fun excursion, even if it did creep us all out.
The next morning we had two hours to get everything packed and cleaned. We finished in pretty good time, and stuffed ourselves back into the minivan. The ride home was an experience just like the one down there. But we had home to look forward to. That's the only thing that helped me survive the squished trip back. As we pulled into the driveway, we knew our vacation was over, and it was back to real life. I am thankful most importantly for the opportunity to remember and celebrate our Savior's birth. And I am thankul that we had such a memorable Christmas together! :-) Hopefully we can do it again next year!