November in Review – From Mild to Wintry Weather

Since I typed the last word and hit publish on my Write 31 Days series in October life has been a whirlwind, and I haven’t been back once to work on another blog post.  Why? Number one, writing for 31 days straight was exhausting and a lot more demanding than I thought it would be. Number 2, November was a month of hosting friends and family in our home which meant a lot of local sightseeing, including trips to the beach and the mountains.

Today I will simply share some photos from November with a little commentary thrown in.

The month began with my friend Debbie Kitterman coming all the way from Washington State to meet up with our other writer friends Holly Soloman and Mary Geisen, at Surfside Beach, South Carolina. Here we are by the Christmas tree at the Outlet Mall, because you know we had some shopping to do.

Holly and Mary spent a full half day before Debbie and I arrived attending a timeshare presentation, and for their sacrifice we all benefitted from a dinner voucher and tickets to the Carolina Opry Christmas show. It was fabulous and I laughed so hard my tummy hurt.

In spite of some iffy weather we got in some beach time.

Here are my old feet enjoying the feel of the warm sand.

November weather at the beaches of SC is mild and the crowds are few. It was perfect.

When we left for the beach the leaves were just beginning to change color and when we came home there was a noticeable difference. This is a picture from our back deck.

Just a few days after I had to say goodbye to Debbie, my sister Sharon and her hubby John arrived. Here she is posing for the camera at Hobby Lobby. You can see where I got my crazy!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends, and we served a low-country boil. Here I am toasting the camera with a ramekin of butter, YUM! Sissy and I decided it was much less work and mess than the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner. Our friends Rob and Lou gave us a little Salsa dancing display which I tried to upload from the video I took on my phone without success. Take my word for it, they are awesome!

The day after Thanksgiving we braved the crowds of downtown Greenville to see the Budweiser horses. They are such beautiful and proud animals.

We took several day trips with my sis and her hubby.  This particular day we drove up to the mountains to Dahlonega, GA, which was voted one of Southern Living’s best Christmas towns. They’ve filmed some Hallmark movies there and my sis was hoping to be an extra but they weren’t filming that day. LOL! This is a picture of the hubs in front of my favorite store. He doesn’t look as cheerful as usual because he’s been having a lot of neck pain 🙁

Of course we had to take the opportunity to have our picture with Santa while we were there.

This is a great picture I took of John and Sharon at their favorite Southern restaurant, Cracker Barrel.  Being from California, they were freezing the whole time they were here, so we made sure to get a seat by the roaring fire. We had to say goodbye again a few days after this picture was taken. The older we become, the harder it is to say goodbye. Living so far apart we never know when we might be able to see each other again.

How quickly the weather changed from the beginning of the month to the end. We are seeing wintry sunrises here at the lake daily.

 

And with the colder weather it feels like the time is right for everything Christmas. This is our tree which I’ve added Magnolia flowers to this year to make it a bit more of a Southern tree.

After arranging and rearranging the mantel a few times I finally decided to display my Santas here. I created a Krank Family sign for the mantel which I’m still not quite satisfied with. I’ll be tweaking it in days to come.

We had a couple of days in the high 60’s last week so I got outside to decorate the front of the house. I’ll share more photos later. Today, we will be getting out to do some last minute shopping for “The Great Snow-in” that is expected this weekend. As you can see below, the South prepares in advance for inclement weather.

It is an anomaly to us native Pacific Northwesterners that in the South we cancel events before the actual forecasted winter weather arrives. Then we hit the stores to clean out the bread and milk supplies, whether or not we normally eat bread or drink milk. It’s just a thing. Our church is being proactive and our services have been moved to Saturday. Good call Pastor Jeff. With our fridge stocked and a stack of good reading material by our sides we will have a wonderful day of rest, all cozy by the fire. Whether or not the snow ❄️ comes. Hmmm, I think Southerners are on to something.😍

Blessing friends,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!

Sunday:

SundaysAtHome, SilverPenniesSundays, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays

Monday:

IShouldBeMoppingTheFloor, TheDedicatedHouse, Dwellings, ProjectInspired,  InspireMeMonday, CelebrateYourStory,  Darling Downs Diaries, MomentsOfHope, Glimpses, SittingAmongFriends, InspireMeMonday,

 

Tuesday:

TalkOfTheTown, HomeStoriesAtoZ, AStrollThruLife, CoastalCharm, CedarHillFarmhouse, TuesdaysAtOurHome, TheWinthropChronicles,  Rich Faith Rising Unite Linky, Testimony Tuesday,Cheerleaders of Faith,Tell His Story WorthBeyondRubies

Wednesday:

SavvySouthernStyle, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Word Filled Wednesdays, Coffee for Your Heart, MessyMarriage, ThreeWordWednesday,  WriterWednesday

Thursday:

ShareYourStyle, ImpartingGrace, EmbracingChange, HaveADailyCupOfMrsOlson, MyRepurposedLife, ADelightsomeLife, KatherinesCorner,  Thought Provoking Thursday, SincerelyPaulas, ThoughtfulThursday, Tune-inThursday

Friday:

FrenchCountryCottage, TheCharmOfHome, TheDedicatedHouseAnythingBlueFriday, ShabbyliciousFriday, Faith’nFriends,  Dance With Jesus FreshMarketFriday

Saturday:

FunkyJunkInteriors, SaturdaySparks