Uncle Tom, Tante Neet, and Jordan in Indian Trail, North Carolina.

We visited my Uncle Tom, Tante Neet, and cousin Jordan from Thursday to Saturday. We had a great time together and had a lot of fun. We ate a lot of delicious food as well. I was really happy to get the chance to play some pick-up basketball with Jordan and a couple of his friends. I was surprised that I could keep up.

We want to give a big thank you to Uncle Tom and Tante Neet for letting us stay at their place. It was great to see you and spend some time together. Thanks again, and see you in a week.

Christmastown, U.S.A.

We drove out to McAdenville with Uncle Tom and Tante Neet on Friday night to go see the Christmas lights. We wore festive hats and brought some doctored-up hot chocolate with us to keep us warm. The lights and decorations were sometimes pretty and sometimes funny. We had a great time.

Highlights?

The Bailey's-laced hot chocolate. The palindromic year of the town's founding, 1881. The cute girl who thought I was really Santa Claus. All the people yelling greetings to me, including a dude who yelled "You go, Santa Claus" when I was kissing Rhoda. The friendly, folksy people giving away hot chocolate and cookies. The lights on the lake. And, in reaction to my Uncle Tom saying "Ho, ho, ho" out the window, a young woman replying, "What'd you call me!?"

A preemptive Merry Christmas to all. Now it's time for dinner.

New Orleans to North Carolina.

We drove from New Orleans to Auburn, Alabama on Wednesday. We had planned to camp at a state park that night; however, contrary to the information on the park's website, the park was closed when we got there. So we stayed at a motel ten miles down the highway.

We left early in the morning and drove through Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. We got to my Tante Neet and Uncle Tom's place near Charlotte in the afternoon. It's great to be able to visit with them for a couple days and have a home-like environment.