How I Enjoyed North Carolina for Christmas

Many view Christmas as a holiday only children and parents enjoy. I can tell you firsthand that this is a false assumption, as some of my favorite memories from Christmas are from my late teens and early twenties.

My favorite Christmas happened when I was 22, and it involved little more than some dumb luck and fantastic weather. My family and I took a trip to North Carolina for the holidays. We particularly enjoyed the atmosphere because the people there seemed to be far more friendly and polite than our neck of the woods (the northeast). We also lucked out because it was the first year in many that there was going to be a white Christmas, and unlike where I live, the parts of North Carolina we visited looked like a picture taken out of the North Pole. I was able to see snow covered mountains as far as the eye could see, and trust me, when you travel windy roads around those mountains, it certainly adds to the ambiance. I'm told that near the shoreline, the weather becomes much more temperate, but where we were staying in Asheville, the temperature barely rose above the low 20's. We had the hotel we were staying in to ourselves, that is until a group of Christmas carolers checked in unexpectedly and began singing some holiday favorites right underneath our room. On any other day we might have complained about the noise, but we decided to knock on their door and ask to join them.

The rest of the night was spent singing, eating delightful food, and watching the snow fall outside the hotel window. Yes, it might have been a bit campy, and I don't think I could ever replicate the series of events that would lead up to me singing Christmas carols in a strangers hotel room again, but for an abrupt trip to North Carolina, the day could not been any better. I would encourage anyone wanting a magical holiday to live outside their comfort zone, even for a day. They might surprise themselves.

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