Decorating the Christmas Tree

-Kara

The 2016 Barnette Family Gingerbread House

 I know we say it each year, but this year's gingerbread house is our FAVORITE EVER!!!  The candy was absolutely awesome,  And John created the first-ever candy car to accompany the house.

 

Merry Christmas to all!

-Kara

When Christmas Isn’t Merry

This is my article which was published on SBC Today on December 13th:

When Christmas Isn’t Merry

North Carolina Mountains

In November of 2016, our family had a WONDERFUL getaway to the mountains of North Carolina! We hiked, we explored the sights, but most of all...we spent time together with each other.  

On one of our hikes, we were fortunate enough to see a WILD HORSE!  She was beautiful, she was photogenic, and she was very pregnant.

 Elk Knob was our highest hike of the trip.  It was a rough 2 miles up the mountain, but the view was absolutely worth the hard work getting there...

The mountains of North Carolina are full of Christmas tree farms.  And since we were there right before Christmas, the trees were each perfectly trimmed and tagged, ready to ship all over the East Coast.

And what was really incredible was that because the Christmas tree farms are so prevalent, their seeds get blown all over the area.  So as we were walking in the woods, we would come across patches of wild Christmas trees!  They were beautiful (below), and different in both shape and scent from the regular pine trees that grow in the forest.

 

 

"The mountains are calling, and I must go."

-Kara