Right after surviving the Fayetteville Snowfall of 2013 wherein the town closed down for one full week, on Friday the 13th our faithful friends Shannon and Greg braved the rainy highways and confusing weather forecasts and drove from Texas to spend a cozy weekend with us!  Troy had displayed all 22 Christmas cards he’s made over the years, and Shannon and Greg had received all but two of them. That’s 20 years of friendship (and cards).  Bring on the fun, people! There were presents to be opened, White Russians to be drunk, cookies to be eaten and poor man’s Telestrations to be played (which may be the funnest game ever invented).  We walked (and slipped) around Lake Fayetteville and rode a horse-drawn carriage around the well-lit town square.  We got out the massage table, played Jenga, watched Rudolph, saw a beautiful sunset, invented a ball game, toured the town, drove around looking at Christmas lights on houses, cooked together, ate together, and watched the snow melt away.

In the midst of all the fun, we three Schremmers took a pause to FaceTime with beloved friends back in NYC who had gathered for the annual neighborhood Christmas cookie contest party.  After about 20 delightful minutes we said our goodbyes and shut the laptop with achy lips from smiling and wet eyes from laugh-crying.  I took a moment and thought about all the faithful friends in our lives, whether they be the real golden ones who have a collection of Christmas cards that pre-date Max and Molly (and some of those friendships pre-date Troy and Jonny), or the golden ones we raised babies with in New York City, or these brand new silver ones who didn’t even know Troy could draw.  I love them all!

Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon, we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now!