123123

We've got another double flower this Christmas - the first Amaryllis was blooming over Christmas and still remains here for New Year's Eve, but the other one is coming along and looks ready to replace the first very shortly!

The Zombie Gävle Goat is soon to be taken down, not a victim of arson or reckless driving this year, but rather flocks of ravenous birds after the seeds in the straw.  The poor goat was deteriorating before our eyes, being skeletonized very quickly and sort of putting it out there to would-be arsonists:  how about a mercy kill?  I mean, a Flaming Zombie Gävle Goat would be pretty spectacular.  No, let's not advocate arson here.  

The date today is 123123, which has been noted time and again leading up to today.  The date is written (in North America) as 12/31/23, which apparently won't happen for another hundred years.  So what to do with this information?  You sort of make a mental note of these things, point it out to everyone, do one big collective "huzzah" and then move on with life!

Today I was walking in Times Square, or at least on the treadmill.  The workouts continue - I did 93 in 2023, which is pretty good considering I got the device set up the first week of October.  We were imagining what Times Square would be like tonight.  It's cold out there!  You can tell because all the birds are puffed up, and nearly round in shape like little angry birds!

It was a quiet day, one where we were filling out new calendars, cleaning up, sweeping up, and doing a bit of bird watching too.  You can see the Phoebe there, and below a mockingbird, cardinal, and some bluebirds on the new bluebird feeder.

We also have some visitors on the birdhouse I got Mom for Christmas.  It says "Merry Christmas" on it, and has a lot of birdseeds all over it.  We had some birds enjoying the snacks this afternoon, and pretty much a full aviary out there on the deck.  

It was a quiet New Year's Eve.  The last day of 2023 was spent doing some grocery shopping, but Maddie isn't feeling as well today with some coughs and a stuffy nose.  We stayed home for the rest of the day, and that was okay.  We've been out a lot lately, and we should be out tomorrow, hopefully.  Maddie and I were getting groceries, and then using up some of our cards for one last free boba tea of the year at Tea Top.  Maddie likes that place, and so do I.

So we were looking back at the year, remembering quite a bit, although there were some harder memories of the year too.  But we made it to 2024, and this year is going to be great.  I sent out an email to our friends at church with that reminder:

In Genesis 24:7, Abraham spoke of stepping out with faith into something new, how God blessed him, and how an angel would go on before his servant in order to help.  Yes, you’ve got that same help too!  In 2024, remember that God will be with you 24/7!

It's going to be a good new year.  And this last year was good too - we spent the last night of the year with a fine meal from Mom, who prepared some delicious shrimp pasta. We had cake, and those white strawberries that fool the eyes but look really nice with the delicious strawberry cake we picked up from Publix.  Gluten free!  

Tonight's television viewing helped us stay awake until midnight, and it was a marathon I was looking up as we went along watching.  These were some fun shows that you could watch that cover New Year's Eve pretty well:

Laverne & Shirley - "New Year's Eve 1959" - this might have been the weakest link on the chain as far as writing goes, but seeing Squiggy lowered down like a Times Square ball was fun.

Frasier - "RDWRER" - this is a great episode. We were laughing through this one, a unique story involving Winnebagos, truck stops, time zones, and police chases. 

Mr. Bean - "Do-it-yourself Mr. Bean" - the one is a classic.  We've seen this a few times, the highlight being the easy chair on top of Mr. Bean's car, where he's forced to sit as he drives down the street.

Phineas & Ferb - "Happy New Year!" - We love the infinity slide, and I imagine some day they'll probably actually lower a giant New Year's ball from outer space.

Austin & Ally - Jessie - "All Star New Year" - The Disney Channel came through with a couple themed episodes that take place around Times Square at New Year's Eve.  Or, perhaps Tim's Square Pizzas.

All the while, Maddie was revisiting her game Animal Crossing, where there was a countdown going on within the game.  Characters there were assembling for the big moment, and as we got closer to midnight, we put Animal Crossing on the big television set, and on this laptop we had a livestream from the Magic Kingdom.  Together, we all counted down the final seconds of 2023, celebrating at midnight with everyone from Disney, plus a whole lot of random animals up there on the screen.  Maddie was interacting with them, wishing them a Happy New Year.  And of course we were wishing each other a Happy New Year too - we had the sparkling grape in the bottle and the champagne glasses, plus some Christmas crackers that each of us pulled on, getting the usual trinkets and paper crowns and bad jokes within.  We had just barely made it to midnight - everyone was super tired.  We made it though!  

We toasted each other, the new year... and were fast asleep soon enough!

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Today was a much more quiet day here at the ranch, with all of us sleeping in a little.  Mom was up first, and she had a skillet breakfast for us as we sat and ate together, also watching the birds just outside the kitchen window.  There was one particularly menacing bird though, right there on the edge of our backyard, and hard to miss. 

Fortunately, the hawk flew off and all the other birds were able to enjoy a meal with us.  We hung up a few new feeders, including the new bluebird feeder, which took a few moments to adapt to, but soon had plenty of birds visiting.  We have five or six bluebirds at a time, and ten or more sparrows, a few cardinal couples, three or four chickadees, three or four tufted titmouse, a mockingbird, a robin, four or five warblers, four or five red finches, some yellow finches too, a couple blue jays, two downey woodpeckers, a yellow bellied woodpecker, a few nuthatches (we call them penguins), and a partridge in a pair tree.  Okay, maybe not that last one.  But the hawk was a largely unwelcome visitor, even if some of these squirrels are driving us crazy right now.  Fortunately, the squirrels haven't figured out the hanging feeders yet.  Give them time, of course.  Never underestimate the greed of a squirrel.

So we spent a good bit of the day just straightening up the house some, and we've got a long way to go on that account.  This meant going through all the plunder on the tree, putting books on the shelves, hanging up new clothing and that sort of thing.  I was back on the treadmill earning that last badge for December.  We hung up the new bird house, the one that says "Merry Christmas" on it, the one covered in birdseed.  The birds haven't quite figured that one out yet, but give it time.

Our one trip out of the house was to go and see "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," which was at a really quiet theater.  Considering it was a cold Saturday during the holiday weekend, there weren't many people there to see any movies at all.  It's been a weaker year in cinema, that much is certain.  And we knew that this latest movie would nothing more than a "popcorn" movie of sorts, just a fun action movie with a few laughs and explosions and posing superheroes.  Of course, Aquaman is an underwater movie, largely, and that's an element I enjoyed in the movie.  We all loved the cephalopod character, and I thought seeing Storm, Aquaman's seahorse.  And yes, Black Manta is as menacing as ever.  Seriously, it took this long to get Black Manta to the theater - he was one of of my favorite villains as a kid, back when I revered the Justice League and the Legion of Doom.  How could you not love a Darth Vader that shoots lasers out of his eyes?

So we enjoyed it for what it was, what with all the scenes borrowed from The Lord of the Rings, Thor, Black Panther, Return of the Jedi and elsewhere.  It was like opening a comic book and flipping through the pages to see the colorful costumes and action scenes.  We had a good time!

It's cold outside.  We got home and had a quick meal there, and watched the finale of "What If...?"  Mom got a bath, and we played some games... but that was about it for the day.  We spent some time reading tonight, and then said our prayers.  We're sleeping in again tomorrow, the last day of the year.  No KidPak, but we'll watch church online.

Snowfall

 

Maddie took this photo above from the balcony in Gatlinburg, where we were making our escape, trying to get ahead of the weather.  What weather, you say?  Snow.  It was supposed to be coming here, and although it might not be as bad in Gatlinburg, it certainly could get harrowing up in Great Smoky Mountain Park, where we were supposed to be driving today.  In fact, they could actually close that road and then we'd be stuck trying to make our way around somehow.  

We got things packed up and got out the door fairly quickly after taking a look at weather radar images.  Yes, the snow was coming in, but not too much.  Still, just enough to be of concern.  And so as we drove back south and up into the mountains, we saw the sign at the entrance to the park:  road closes at 11:00am.  The time was 10:40am.  We were making it into the park just in time before they closed it all down!

As we traveled upwards, the flurries started, and we watched the temperature drop.  And we saw snow start to stick on branches, railways and logs.  And then, as we got higher... the snow got thicker!

I was driving, and actually got a bit nervous as we ascended up the winding road towards the pass.  The road closed behind us, there were no other drivers admitted into the park but those of us along this beautiful scenery.  It was indeed a winter wonderland, the Smoky Mountains amidst snowfall, these thick and heavy flakes floating down as we drove along.  One part of me was worried and wanting to get down as soon as possible.  The other part of me wanted to get out and play for a few moments.  At the pass, we did just that, all three of us getting out to enjoy the scenery.  It was windy there at the pass, and in fact it was twenty-four degrees before that wind chill.  And it was icy!  We made our way up to the observation deck, and it was a perilous journey downward, with Maddie and I slipping at least once each.  But we made it back to the car, and it was there that we decided to build our first and only snowman of 2023!  We didn't get any snow in Georgia, and actually this was the first snow we saw this year.  Maddie loved it, snapping photos and videos like the ones above.  Here are just a few more of the pictures we took from the state line there between Tennessee and North Carolina.

Joey hopped out in the snow too!

The Appalachian Trail... not today, thank you.

Treacherous steps up to that small observation area.

Maddie took a panorama from up there.

Ice was forming quickly as the temperature took a nose dive.

It was beautiful up there.  Cold, but really pretty!

Our 2023 snowman!

Snow was accumulating on the roads by this point, so we were getting a little nervous!

Snow falls in the valley.

And beams of sunlight sprinkle through as well.

Maddie hopped out of the car for a quick picture.

The view from Newfoundland Gap, only this time with snow

You can see many others had the same idea as us... the road's closed, but here we all are!

Maddie atop the observation area.  She's cold. So am I!

Taken from atop that observation area.

Maddie enjoyed walking in a winter wonderland.

These could be next year's Christmas cards!

Brrrr!  It's about time to get back into the car.  First, she has to throw a snowball at me!

Mom and I pose at the overlook.

Our snowman's hat kept blowing off!

So after that, we had to get down.  Again, the road was closed, so no one was coming up.  We saw one elk, but the traffic was practically non-existent.  We were making our way down really slow.  The ice on the road was present, as I did feel a couple slides - I was pretty anxious to get down further.  And sure enough, the lower we got, the higher the temperature went, from 24 to 25 to 26 to 27... eventually by the other side of the park we saw it at 33, where there were only flurries again.  We were safe again, exiting the park and into Cherokee.  

We stopped at our usual McDonald's there in Cherokee, and had our first meal of the day - we were so preoccupied with the snow that no one remembered to eat food!  But we did stop there, and then continued safely southward with a few flurries but decreasing clouds all the way. 

The only big stop we made was at the Blue Ridge Honey place to pick up a lot of jars of honey, elderberry jam, and some honey infused carbonated beverages too.  It was a nice stop.  We also stopped by Goats on the Roof, but they were closed.  It's too cold to have goats up there!

We listened to a few Perry Stone messages along the way, some we picked up from the revival a few weeks ago, and that helped move things along.  Soon enough, we were back home, quickly unpacking and saving hello to the birds and the sea monkeys, making sure everyone was fed or at least oxygenated.  

Tonight's feature movie was "Aquaman," as we were thinking of seeing the sequel tomorrow and none of us had any idea what the first movie was about, even though we all saw it only five years ago.  A lot of it came back to us as we were watching, but not one of us could tell you anything specific beforehand, as all we remembered were lots of underwater fight scenes and so forth.  But it wasn't a bad movie - it's just funny we didn't remember a thing from that.  We also watched the next episode of "What If...?" just to keep the streak going.  One more episode this season, coming up tomorrow.

We ended the day with prayer, and with reading too.  We were all pretty tired from the day, and the week's adventure.  It was a wonderful trip filled with so much favor.  Getting tables at restaurants for ice cream and for pizza just as others were getting on, getting on that train with the last seats, getting in those shows in a similar manner, seeing all that we did with so many people there ... time after time we experienced such favor in our trip.  Mom didn't have a great reaction to something she ate at the end, but she's okay now, and what we do remember from our trip were great memories of a pretty full vacation. 

It also ended our Year of Dollywood in a solid fashion.  We went during all four seasons, using those season passes at least ten times each this year.  There are still things left to see or do, but we might take a break from that in 2024 to go and do something else.  It's been a pleasant time at the park though - season passes really make for a more relaxing experience, as you're not so focused on squeezing in as much as you can in one day.  Maddie's favorite moments for this trip included the snowfall and the cars.  Mom and I loved the snow, but also the shows we saw on that first night, including the carolers and the Nativity play.  We picked up a "Stampede" ornament for the tree, and even hung it up on the Christmas tree tonight before bed, joining a few of the other Dollywood ornaments.  It's been a great destination.  I wouldn't recommend the super busy days as much, but even through those, we had some amazing favor.

Christmas Stampede

We had a fairly big day here, and it started out with a visit to the Christmas Stampede show!  We've had tickets for this event some time, and have been looking forward to it a really long time, as in years.  It was one of those things we said we would do some day, and wow, someday turned out to be today.  Of course, we saw this Stampede show back in June, but this version of the show was modified to have a Christmas feel to it, and it was somethin' special!

Visiting with the horses in the stalls before the show.

Maddie poses in a gingerbread house in front of the building.  She's wearing her new Dolly sweatshirt purchased just yesterday from the Emporium.

Three camels doing a rather slow stampede towards the Nativity.

Everything was decorated for Christmas.

Christmas wreaths and lights at night.

And giant ornaments too!

The reindeer are rip-roarin' and ready to go!

Mom and Maddie pose in front of the gingerbread house.

Joey wants a picture in front of the gingerbread house too!

Maddie has a seat in an old barbershop chair.

Mom and Maddie sit a spell.

Nice decorations and tree - and some gifts too!

Joey sits for a while too.

Entertainment while we wait on the show.  We got there early - soon this room would be packed!

Maddie took this nice picture of the decorations.

Time to get in the show after the big thick line of people.  Joey looks hungry!

The MC has a nice Christmas jacket on, and is getting us prepped for a big show.

Lots of choreography and pageantry with the equestrian riders.

Joey looks on and enjoys the show.

It was the North Pole vs. the South Pole today - we were South Polers.

The games were pretty one-sided, until the very last game which was worth five points... and yes, the South won it!

Lots of games, and lots of good food too!

This rider came right up to us - we had good seats!

She's thinking about jumping through that hoop of fire...

Yep, she did it!

The Nutcracker sequence, with the terrifying ballerina and fairy... lots of blacklight!

The fairy flies around, and the jumping jack had a lot of spins on the bungee.

And this nutcracker rode around greeting everyone.

Ah, time to eat!  That is not a porg on the plate!

A real horse carousel!

The changes for Christmas were nice.

The comedic sidekick Skeeter was fun, up here with us in the crowd.

We had "preferred" seating, which I think worked out for this busy season.

I love the snowmen as obstacles - little touches like that throughout the show really sold it.

Santa came by on a horse-drawn sleigh.

The beginning of the Nativity scene, with Joseph and Mary seeing a star.

Here come the Wise Men!

Even the camels bow.  The sheep came by already, and are seated behind.

The Wise Men rode in, dismounting to present their gifts.

This was really a nice scene, a living Nativity.

Ah, and an angel as well, floating high above.

The Nativity Scene was surely a highlight of the whole show.

This place is decorated to the max, as is all of Pigeon Forge.  

After the show, we made a trip over to Dollywood for one final visit of 2023.  We stopped at our hotel in Gatlinburg first though, and traffic was horrendous.  On a whim, we decided on the return to go up the road our hotel was on, and I mean further up.  Like, waaaaay further up.  We left the hotel, made a right turn and drove right up the side of a mountain there on Greystone Heights Road, and what an adventurous little road that is!  Hairpin turns and no guardrails and deep plunges - you're sitting there overlooking Gatlinburg on this perilous path... wow.  Maddie was not a fan!  The road goes right up to that bridge and the chair lift high point, and then joins up with our destination, the Gatliburg bypass.  It was fun, but Maddie would probably not rather do that one again.  The one thing that surprised us though was seeing a bear!  Yes, an adolescent bear ran right in front of the car, made it to safety at a tree on the other side of the road, and just camped out there watching us as we slowly passed by.  That was a really nice surprise!

At Dollywood, Maddie had a small list of things to do, starting with the cruising cars, then bumper cars, then the carousel, and then ice cream.  Right away on the tram, we knew the temperature was much colder, but the park was still packed when we got to the gates.  Still, we accomplished our mission tonight!

Here's Maddie in the line in the garage.

Joey's ready for the Rockin' Roadway.  Maddie and I both stand in line, and she gets to pick which car she wants to get in.  She's a big fan of 50's cars, and wishes they were still made to look like this.

In fact, she wanted to pose with this old police cruiser outside the ride.

Maddie picks her car, and goes for a cruise!

Here she is, outside.  The radio is playing old Christmas songs, of course - "Frank Sinatra's Santa Claus is Coming to Town."  You can see all the Christmas lights all around as we cruise the track.

Here's another shot of Maddie with the old police cruiser.

Mom loves these old decorations, and so do I!

The bells and retro decorations in this part of the park are wonderful.

Ah, another old display.  Looks festive and fantastic!

This is actually at the junction there, a nice display with a tree.

And here's the train loading up for a Christmas run.  Huge crowds were waiting to board!

They had more runs on this train - it's super popular, and I can understand why!

Next we got on board the carousel, and it was crowded too, but really nice.

Even Joey got to ride.  We had to wait for this one too, that's how big a crowd there was.

An oh my goodness!  An ostrich!  That's right, this cowboy got to ride an ostrich!  That was just a funny little nod to one of our messages at KidPak, a nice little present for me!

Maddie rode nearby, and we got to get on practically first so she had her choice of noble steeds.

And next we got to join the Demolition Derby!  We waited in line for a good bit the first time, but used up our last free pass to ride a second time (avoiding that line).  This time around, the demolitions were a little more rough, as there were plenty of kids (and grown-ups) not familiar with how these cars work - and a lot of oncoming near head-on collisions!

We got some pizza afterwards, returning to the Iron Horse.  We got that seat just as someone was getting up - there were very few seats available inside where it was warm, so we were blessed and highly favored!

Back towards the front, walking around and seeing the lights.  We've seen this area above go from umbrellas to kites to leaves, and now bells.  The music changes too, themed to everything - lots of Christmas songs with bells!

Joey at the Palace Theater

Maddie got us one of those revered seats inside the ice cream shop.  There are only a few, and somehow we always manage to snag one.  In fact, it was another wild accomplishment to snag the seat for pizza too.  We had lots and lots of favor this trip.  Maddie had chocolate chip mint, and I had an egg nog milkshake!  Mom usually gets the butter pecan.

We made our way over to the other side of the park after this.

Yes, Joey came along too!

So here we saw the Joyful Christmas Drone Show, which was pretty awesome!

Yes, these are all drones flying overhead making massive 3-D shapes in the air.

Including a Nativity Scene, which was really nice.

Ah, the globe.  Florida has apparently expanded, and Panama looks a bit swollen.

A dove with flapping wings, holding a ribbon.

And fireworks at the end, along with a message  "Merry Christmas" from Dolly.

Here's that tree at Wildwood.  We got there about 45 minutes early, picking out a prime spot.

We were there at a bridge, so there was no one in front of us (unless they wanted to stand in the creek!).

These bells actually rang in the sky, or at least moved as if ringing.

It's an amazing thing to see, almost like the laser shows of the 80's.

And there were added pyrotechnics too!

It was a short show, but we loved it.

There's that dove again, flying across the sky.

And another shot of the fireworks, with the drones saying "Merry Christmas"

Here's the finally image - "Merry Christmas  Love, Dolly"

Above is a brief low-res excerpt from the drone show.  It's worth seeing!  It made for a nice conclusion to our trip here in Dollywood.

Streams in front of the Big Bear Mountain Coaster.

And there's Joey, all snuggled up inside a bag for the ride home.  The temperature was plunging, but Mom dressed us all very well with layers, and we had a great time tonight.  We got back to the hotel for one final night, and we were pretty wiped out from a very full day.  We watched an episode of "What If...?" and that's about all there was time for before we started getting really tired.  It was time for prayers, and a good night's rest!