A Very Folly Christmas

A week ago today with my LAST Herceptin headache waning, we put chemo completely in the rear view mirror as we loaded up the van (at 1 in the a.m.) to go spend Christmas with my sister, Jennie, her hub, Eric, cutest nephew EVER, Brodie (who I call Charlie Brown), and my Mum (who flew to Charleston for this holiday rendezvous).

We had planned to leave early Wednesday morning. Which I guess, technically, we did; although it was still registering as Tuesday to me because my body doesn't rip the proverbial leaf off the calendar until I WAKE up, see the old leaf and new day in juxtaposition, put 2+2 together, and caffeinate myself enough to perform such acts of manual dexterity such as ripping leaves off calendars. So about 11:59 p.m. we decided that since we had 5 drivers so we might as well hit the road, since everybody was up and already packed.

So we hit the road. Mikey, armed with his new driver's permit, drove the first leg. I took the next shift, at which point my entire load of passengers fell asleep. I drove as far as the Tennessee state line and decided 5 hours of sleep and missing Knoxville rush hour morning traffic warranted a stay in The Jellico Motel.

It did put a good piece of the road behind us, and we ended up at my sister's home in Charleston, SC, just in time for dinner, instead of nightcaps, so all in all, it worked for us.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Folly Beach and got to wake up to the loveliest Merry Christmas Eve greetings from the ocean waves. The day that unfolded before us followed suit. Eric took Dave and my Redheads on his boat.

Click on the video link below at your own discretion. They were on a boat...so they HAD to sing the song. They did, of course, bleep out the bad words. But they weren't able to manage calming the wind, so the sound quality is choppy.

Meanwhile, my Mum, Jennie, Charlie Brown and I spent the day at Folly Beach. Brodie and I quickly kicked off our shoes and I did what I wanted to do for Christmas: walked barefoot on a beach! Brody said this is his favorite picture and I just love it too.

We would still be running into the waves and letting them chase our chilly dogs today if Charlie Brown had anything to say about it. But thankfully, after the first 347 times, he let me talk him into checking out the warm sand. Was SO MUCH FUN. One of my favorite Brodie and me moments ever.

That's what I call a Charlie Brown Christmas!