christmas in the mountains

this past weekend was christmas with my mom's family. we rented a cabin in the smoky mountains and filled it with 20 people.

the lower level had two big bedrooms, each with a private bath.

and a theater room (note the large white screen on the wall) with a very comfortable sofa that i claimed as my bed.

the upper level had two bedrooms, a sitting area with a tv and multiple game tables.

the main level also had two bedrooms with private baths. it also had the dining room, kitchen and a sitting area with a tv and electric fireplace.

with the coffee table out of the way, the sitting area had plenty of room for playing railroad tycoon.

and with railroad tycoon out of the way, there was plenty of room for the kids to open their gifts.

the dining room table sat 10, and was plenty big to spread out a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

and plenty of room for the kids to do crafts.

the three balconies afforded some gorgeous views of the mountains.

and a great backdrop for family photos.

you'll get to see the opposite view of this one at a later date. ;)

and it snowed! this was my first trip there when it snowed. doesn't it look so pretty here?

yeah ... not so pretty here. the snow was only about an inch thick on the roads, but the layer of ice underneath is what stranded us on the side of the mountain.

this was the last of the inclines we needed to climb, but we just couldn't do it. and turning around to go back to the cabin wasn't an option because we'd come down inclines just as steep.

so we sat and waited for four hours, along with a handful of other cars who couldn't make it up the hill either. thankfully, there was a gravel driveway we could back into to get out of the way. see where the people are standing? in the last photo, my car was parked right about there. not a good location if someone decided to come down the mountain and couldn't control his slide. the white car to their right is a good example. i'm not exactly sure what he was trying to do (because he was already off the road ... maybe turn around?), but he couldn't stop sliding backwards and he crumpled up the fence at the intersection. it was a slow, gentle crumple ... no injuries to the driver and the car probably didn't get worse than a small scratch from the wood.

after the sun melted through the ice, we were on our way. we hit snow a couple of times, and had a near white out for about a quarter mile ... but after that it was smooth sailing. once we lowered our elevation, the weather was good and we made it home without further incident.

if we go back next year, i'll be investing in a set of chains for my tires. :)