christmas in virginia

I am back in California, and while I'm glad to be close to the beach again, I'm already missing the snow. When Drew and I arrived in Virginia, there was about 2 feet of snow on the ground. It was lovely. Temperatures were somewhere in the 30s, and the snow was slow to melt. Even so, there was snow on the ground during our entire trip.

Our trip was nice and relaxing, a mix of lazy days interspersed with days when we went into town to eat, shop, and meet friends. Drew's parents live in rural Virginia, so I'm not accustomed to living in the country. I can't fathom having to travel about 45 minutes to an hour just to buy groceries or go out to eat. Nevertheless, it was nice to be out in the middle of nowhere, in the peacefulness and silence of the country.

Drew's parents live way out in the country, with lots of trees and even a pond. Check out the view of the "backyard":

On one of the first days in Virginia, Drew, his brother Chris, and I went plodding through the snow, searching for a Christmas tree.

I HAD to make a snow angel!
After trudging around, we settled on this tree:
And I chopped it down! All by myself!
Check out those muscles!

Drew and I took a couple trips into Christiansburg and Blacksburg, two of the closest towns. We met some of Drew's friends, saw a movie, shopped, and ate at a few of Drew's favorite restaurants. Here we are in Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech, Drew's alma mater. Virginia Tech's mascot is the hokie, which looks kind of like a turkey. There was this art project that created all these different hokie statues and placed them throughout Blacksburg. Here we are with one of the hokies:

No Christmas would be complete without homemade sugar cookies:

I love the smell of pine trees- the scent is simply heavenly. Here is the wonderful Christmas tree:

All in all, it was a good trip. I got to play in the snow, decorate a Christmas tree, meet Drew's friends, spend time with his family, and visit his old stomping grounds.