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For as long as I can remember, Christmas has been a big deal in my family. I come back home to southwest Virginia for the holiday season and we all gather to have big dinners with family and friends. Of course, there’s also lots of shopping and gift buying. This year however, there were less presents under the tree and somehow, for me at least, I still had an amazing Christmas. As I get older, I’ve realized something. Experiences are far more valuable than most “things”. Let me share with you what experiences made this Christmas so special and maybe you’ll understand why I feel this way.
Small Town Chats
One of the places that I have to eat at when I go home to Virginia is, Joey’s Country Kitchen. Now, this isn’t some large, extravagant restaurant or one that even has a host. The closest person to a restaurant “host” will probably be one of the waitresses greeting you from behind the counter or an old friend waving you down to come and sit with them. For me, that’s perfectly fine.
The Country Kitchen is one of my favorite places to eat when I go home and the reason why is because of the people and the atmosphere. Not only can you can eat a good meal there, but I also get see old friends, catch up on the latest gossip, and even read the newspaper. Yes, an actual newspaper!
Chatting with my sister, dad, and anyone who else who decides to sit down and talk with us is always something I look forward to. And I got to do that during this Christmas season. I even saw some people from high school that I hadn’t seen in so long!
After eating at the Country Kitchen, my sister, dad, and I decided that we might as well go up to the local barber shop, Lloyd’s Barber Shop, too. But not for a haircut though. No, at this barber shop you catch up on the latest news and gossip, hear a joke or two (usually from my dad or the barber), and if you’re really lucky, some good ol’ fashioned, live music. Oh, and yes, if you need to, you can get a haircut there too.
I love listening to the locals.
Wine Time
I have to be honest, I’m surprised that my hometown has a winery. You see, it’s in the Bible Belt of the United States. Therefore, you’ll see churches on every street but I can only think of about three places that you’d consider a “bar” near my hometown. And one of those “bars” is actually just an Applebee’s!
So, when my sister and I discovered that you could do wine tasting at the Rural Retreat Winery, we knew we had to try it out! We discovered that we both really liked a mulled wine that they offered or could be made on your own so we bought the supplies and made it ourselves in a crockpot.
If you want to make the mulled wine yourself, all you really need is a bottle of nice, red wine (we used this sweet, red wine from the Rural Retreat Winery, of course, but you can use whatever kind you like), a regular container of grape juice, and this awesome spice. If you’re interested in the exact recipe, I’ll share it at the end of this post.
We had so much fun trying the different wines and then ultimately making our own! It’s little moments like these that made my Christmas vacation so fun and memorable. But that wasn’t all I did while at home for the holidays.
Browse and Dine
My sister and I also did a bit of “shopping” I guess you could call it, but in reality, we just ate food and browsed through several little shops!
The first Saturday that I arrived home for the holidays, my sister and I went to Marion, Virginia to browse the small shops on Main Street and eat at The Wooden Pickle Food & Spirits. The Wooden Pickle was also just recently named, “The Best Small-Town Bar” in the state of Virginia by thrillist.com! It isn’t just a bar though.
The Wooden Pickle also has some amazing food. My sister loves their Mac-N-Cheese dinner but it’s a little too spicy for me. On this particular visit, I decided to go with their lunch special which was a half sandwich of your choice (I got the delicious grilled cheese) and the soup of the day. The soup of the day happened to be a lobster bisque and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it! Lunch there was amazing!
A musical Experience
After shopping and hanging out with my sister, the rest of my family and I got together to go see the show, “Hollywood Christmas”, at the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre, on the Sunday before Christmas. I haven’t been there since I was probably in middle school and I must say, I enjoyed every second of it!
The actors, costumes, props, the food, everything was awesome and not to mention, the singing! My goodness, the singing was fabulous! It was such a special treat for me and my family to experience together and it’s definitively something I’ll remember forever. It just reiterates the fact that we don’t need so many material things just more experiences.
A Christmas Play
The Christmas entertainment didn’t end at the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre though. After watching the amazing show there, my family and I all loaded up in the cars and headed toward my dad’s church. There, we witnessed another fabulous Christmas play! Spending the whole day with loved ones laughing and enjoying the shows meant more to me than presents under a tree. The Christmas magic didn’t stop with a couple of plays though.
Carols by Candlelight
Christmas Eve presented its own special charm to me this year. I was able to experience two events in which I had never gotten to experience before. That was surprising for me since they both involved the local community and their churches.
The first event took place the evening of Christmas Eve. My dad and I went to a small, picturesque, country church for a candlelight service. The service included a short message about Christmas, communion, and my favorite event of the night, singing Christmas carols by candlelight. Each person was given a candle upon entrance to the church that evening. At the end of the service, each candle was lit by sharing the small flame from one candle to the next.
Then, the lights were shut off and the only light in the church was from the candles that each person held. As we began to sing the Christmas carols from the old hymn books of the church, I couldn’t help but look around and take in such a peaceful and magical moment. I couldn’t help myself. This moment needed to be captured. I ended up taking a few pictures and videos which I later shared on my Instagram stories.
Hot Hymn Books
Let me just interject here for a moment to tell you a quick story about having to capture that moment of the candle lighting ceremony. I was going to use my phone to take the pictures and video with, however it was in my purse which was under the church pew. So, I tell my dad, who is also holding onto the hymn book we were sharing, what I’m going to do. I bend down to get my phone from my purse while still holding my candle up above my head and upright so it wouldn’t catch anything on fire or drip wax. But when I come back up, I look back at my candle flame and realize that it was awfully close to the hymn book that my dad is holding!
Yep. I almost caught the hymn book on fire at the candlelight service.
Luckily, I noticed just before it made contact with the hymn book and was able to save the book and myself from embarrassment. My dad never even noticed the disaster that almost happened until asked him why he didn’t move the hymn book away from the flame! He told me that he was too worried about accidently catching the woman’s hair on fire that was standing in front of him to notice my flame to hymn book incident!
I will admit, I didn’t even feel like going that evening but if I hadn’t, I would have missed on a moment that I will cherish forever now. And I would have also not had the funny moment that my dad and I shared when we almost caught the hymn book on fire at a candlelight service. It was such a simple act of community and celebration but again, it’s something I will never forget.
The Christmas Eve events didn’t end there though.
A Barn Service
Right after the candlelight service, my sister and I went to a barn service, which is something I had never been to. A barn service is basically where a Christmas message is given in an actual barn and there is a live nativity scene, usually with livestock animals. The barn atmosphere helps you understand how it may have truly been during the birth of Jesus.
There was also singing from locals, one being my third grade teacher. I loved hearing her sing. Also, one of the musicians there was the local barber. Remember me telling you about him and his shop earlier? Well, he’s not just a barber. He’s a musician as well, and a very good, and well known one in the area!
While it was very cold in the barn and during the service, the special and funny memories that my sister and I made that night will be another experience that I will now always have to cherish.
As you now know, this Christmas season presented me with a lot of experiences, most of which, were new. This showed me that you don’t have to have “all the things” to be happy. You just have to have the right people to surround yourself and experience life with.
What experiences have you had lately that made you reevaluate life and what truly matters? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Oh, and if you would like the recipe to the mulled wine, here it is:
Mulled Wine Recipe:
Ingredients:
- One bottle of sweet, red wine (we used this one)
- ½ a 64oz bottle of grape juice
- ½ a box of Aspen Mulling Cider Spices Mix
Instructions:
- Pour all ingredients into a crockpot on a low heat setting
- Stir ingredients until well mixed
- Leave mixture until it is hot
- Enjoy your mulled wine!
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