Nothing Like a Mini Road Trip to Zap Holiday Stress!!

Let it Snow!!!
We keep watching the weather and both Blaise's (New Jersey) hometown and my hometown (Ohio) are covered with the white stuff. We keep looking outside as it certainly is cold enough to snow right now here in NC -- but alas, the skies remain Carolina Blue.
If you are like most of us -- this can be a very hectic time of year and with that hectic schedule and pressure comes all kinds of stress. So what can one do to beat that stress? Well, if you get your hands on any of the recent articles from NBC news, Forbes, or Kaboodles you can read some pretty bizarre suggestions -- everything from skipping Christmas all together, celebrating Christmas on the New Year to avoid the crunch or, my personal favorite.... pulling over in traffic after getting stressed out holiday shopping to "take deep breaths and meditate." LOL! Can you imagine -- leaving the mall with a kid or two in the backseat, a trunk full of gifts to be wrapped, aching feet, a headache and dinner to prepare and "taking a minute to pull over, take a few deep breaths and meditate??" Come on guys -- you gotta be kidding!
We are feeling the holiday stress level rise here at our house, too. Between working (yep - we're still busy here at Carolina Pines), holiday parties, Sabrina's exams, last minute shopping, holiday baking, and the list goes on and on.... we decided that we need to step back and are going to "take a break" from the holiday commotion by taking a drive up to Washington, DC (about a 4 hour drive) to see the National Christmas Tree and the beautiful lights in DC sometime this week. So once Sabrina completes her exams -- we are in the car and driving up to DC for some good old fashioned "down time." Check out all the holiday happenings in Washington, DC by clicking here; http://godc.about.com/od/seasonalevents/a/Xmas_trees.htm?p=1.
That's just one of the many reasons we love living in North Carolina. It's great being able to say to eachother, "what do ya feel like doing this weekend?" and being able to drive in only a few hours to the mountains, the beach, Washington, DC, Nashville, and the list goes on and on. So -- beat those holiday blues -- take a mini road trip -- and put your cares behind you!
Have a great week.
Blaise & Cathie