Appalachian Christmas

The pbf and I are in the hills of eastern Tennessee for Christmas. We're visiting his side of the fam, enjoying seeing his many sisters and bro's in law, his mom and our sweet, adorable, smart, perfect niece and nephew. Today was his mamaw and papaw's 65th--please reread--65TH(!) wedding anniversary. They got married at 4pm on Christmas eve many moons ago. Since then they have done a family dinner at that same time every year. Today was no exception. It was complete with delicious southern goods including banana puddin', cornbread dressing and string beans with potatoes and of course Mountain Dew! It's always fun to come down here and see where the pbf grew up. It's so easy for me to forget that my oh so city dwelling baby grew up with a wood burning stove as the only heat option, 60 acres of land to be perused while squirrel and rabbit hunting and having one high school for the whole county. Today, his cousin told him he had a Yankee accent which I found amusing. It is true, you would never know that my husband is genetically a hillbilly (his mother suggested that I say that, so don't be offended) but when he drinks he starts to sound like the country boy he actually is. I'm always proud of my husband for deciding to go to art school in NYC when he had such rural roots, but I also really appreciate those roots and I want to honor them. For my wedding present to my pbf I got him a banjo. Sadly he has yet to pick it up--baby, it's never too late!--here's to hoping.

Thanks to my Tennessee family for a wonderful Christmas!