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Not Your Typical Ornament Exchange
Is anything normal in 2020? Let’s see, being home with my immediate family seems normal. Driving in my car seems normal. Going for a run or bike ride is 50/50. The annual Christmas Ornament Exchange party in 2020, definitely not normal. Historically, one cold December evening in North Asheville, a group of ladies gather to participate in a White Elephant Ornament Exchange. The beautifully decorated home is filled with the sound of ladies laughing, while the smell of lasagna fills the air. After dinner, we fill our wine glasses and adjourn to the living room where we take turns opening wrapped ornaments and proudly steal them from our friends. This “super fun” evening is something I look forward to every year.
My friends are resilient and weren’t going to let a global pandemic get in the way of a tradition. They crafted up an Ornament Exchange 2020 style. During a designated 2 hour block, we were instructed to bring our wrapped ornament to one of the ladies homes. We rolled down our passenger window, handed our gift to the hostess, she handed us one from the car ahead. While safely remaining in our car, we opened our ornament, exchanged pleasantries, and zipped on back to our little slice of quarantine. The party lasted about 90 seconds but I got a great VW van ornament and the annual ornament from our crafty hostess.
Where there is a will, there is a way. This one will not be forgotten.
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Sunday Funday
Today was a gold star mom day. To be clear, I am giving myself the gold star because in my house, it is a thankless job. Any who, I put on my cape and took my 8 year old son for ski lessons at Wolf Laurel. Door to door, the drive was 30 minutes and no traffic (thank you Asheville). I received the star because my child spent the afternoon outside, away from a device, happy, exercising, and socially distant from others. Win, win, win. OK, enough tooting my own horn. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and cold and it will all even out. Happy Sunday!
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Covid Safe Activity
Every December, for as long as I can remember, I have loved driving around one evening looking at the neighborhood Christmas lights. As a Realtor, looking at pretty homes is a passion so seeing them in a different “light” is mixing business with pleasure. I have passed along this tradition to my children. We bundle up, jump in the car, and sing Christmas songs as we comment on the great effort our neighbors put into their display. It sounds magical and it truly is. It’s one of the few moments that my kids don’t fight in the car or ask if we are there yet. Fortunately, this is one of the few holiday traditions untouched by Covid. It seems that in 2020, people have more time to put into bringing cheer to others through their decorations. Maybe it is just me looking for a silver lining but I must say last night did not disappoint.
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Rudolph in North Asheville?
Probably not my most exciting blog but I had to share. As I was running around the Rose Garden this morning in the freezing cold, a HUGE buck was in a friends yard. This is exciting to me because I am used to seeing bears, turkeys, hawks etc but never a deer. Is this a Christmas sign? Is Rudolph scoping the area for Christmas Eve?
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Closing Day
Real Estate is an amazing career. Every day is different and just when you think you have it figured out, something new and interesting comes along. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to sell a friend of a friends home. Super excited for the sellers to downsize and a new family to enjoy a special property.
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The Church with No People
Yesterday my daughter got confirmed at Central United Methodist Church downtown. Normally, the church would be buzzing with people on a Sunday morning during Advent. Covid has made the most routine things seem anything but. Although the service was with masks, socially distant, and with only a handful of ministers as onlookers, it was special.
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Asheville Traffic Jam
When I lived in Atlanta, I had to plan my day around traffic. A 10 minute drive could easily take an hour. In Asheville, things are a little different. Don’t get me wrong, every now and then I will sit in a construction zone and that familiar anxious feeling creeps back. More often than not, cars are stopped on Kimberly Ave, Charlotte Street and neighborhood thoroughfares for turkeys. They take their time and don’t seem to feel the urgency to hurry out of the road. For some reason, I don’t get stressed for these delays.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Facing a Fear
This past weekend I had the opportunity to do something that has freaked me out for years and years. My cousins and I went skeet shooting. This is not a country western song about cousins, shooting, whiskey etc. It was a personal challenge that pushed me out of my comfort zone. The sound of a gun ignites a feeling in me to flee. I am a flighter and this is a trigger for sure. Once I accepted the challenge and decided I would pick up a shot gun, I went all in. I didn’t want the instructor to load it for me. I wanted to do it all. Feeling the kick back from the first shot was an adrenaline rush. I pushed aside my fear and squeezed the trigger a second time. Success. I hit the clay pigeon (I think that is what they called it). After a few rounds the fear turned to enjoyment. Do I want to go buy a gun now? No. Would I go skeet shooting again? Absolutely. Did I push myself out of my comfort zone? For sure. I can apply this feeling to my real estate career. There is always something new that I encounter in every deal. I will face the challenge and unknown and attack it head on. Stepping outside of the center lane is hard but worth it.
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Bucket List
Three of my dear friends and I set out on the Appalachian Trail for my 44th birthday celebration. I have always been fascinated by this mythical trek and had never set foot on it (even though part of it is 25 mins from my house). One of my trail running buddies mapped it out and we set sail at 7:20 AM. The weather was cold at Sam’s Gap where we started. We ran for 6.2 miles to the most beautiful bald perfectly named Big Bald. On the way we passed 6 hikers. I asked where they were headed and they said Georgia. They were through hikers. To me they were unicorns. I am amazed by people that can hike from Maine to Georgia. Just like an Ironman, hiking the entire AT is on my life’s bucket list. I wanted to stop them and pepper questions, but I just told them how impressed I was and let them continue on. When we made it back to the car, my fantastic friends surprised me with a birthday cake and Perfect Day IPA which was so fitting for the special morning. I truly couldn’t think of a better way to ring in another year.
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Blogging as a Covid Activity
I really should have started blogging earlier. Frankly, it was one of those things that I knew I should do but kept putting on the back burner. Between homeschooling, mothering, exercising, real estate, keeping my house in some type of order, etc etc I neglected the blog. I also had great ambition to clean out all of the closets in my house and organize my drawers but it never happened. Oh well.
If you are going to quarantine, Asheville is a pretty fabulous place to do so. I have spent tons of time outside in the last 8 months. I dusted off my middle school tennis racquet, learned how to can pickles, trail ran on the AT for the first time, explored tons of swimming holes with my 8 year old, biked all over this town and checked out the newly completed greenway by the river arts district. I vow to run and bike on it lots and lots.
In my free time, I have loved the real estate boom we have seen in this town. I’ve learned something new with every transaction and gotten to see some beautiful homes along the way. Pretty sweet job for someone that truly is passionate about where they live.
