The State You're In

The State You're In The hours in between
Are a vagabonds dream

It's beautiful,

NORTHERN CAROLINA

Drop you’re favorite ELF quote 🧝⬇️
12/25/2025

Drop you’re favorite ELF quote 🧝⬇️

Christmas lunch was only $122.50, plus the tip.
12/25/2025

Christmas lunch was only $122.50, plus the tip.

HBD JC 🎂
12/25/2025

HBD JC 🎂

A core memory for me was everytime “Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem” by The Judds came on Pops would lean back, grin a littl...
12/25/2025

A core memory for me was everytime “Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem” by The Judds came on Pops would lean back, grin a little, and say, “Them gals sure can sang.”

Didn’t matter if we’d heard it a hundred times. He said it like it was brand new, every time.

He was the man who made Christmas feel like Christmas. He loved Christmas beasue it meant getting all the family together in one place. It meant getting back to basics, to the things that mattered most.

He’d climb up on ladders, wrap lights around the house, the bushes, even the pear trees. He’d string them like he was decorating a Christmas parade float, not just our yard.

Then he’d run speaker wire out to the front porch, set two old speakers out there then ran to the record player inside and let the Christmas music play on repeat like we were hosting a festival and the whole neighborhood was invited.

His favorite song was “Pretty Paper” by Willie Nelson. Pops would shake his head and say,“ That right there is the most beautiful Christmas song ever written.”

And that was it, for him music was a huge part of his life and at Christmas it all braided together like tinsel and trees.

Even now, when either one of those songs comes on, I don’t just hear it.

I hear him.

Clear as day.

And somehow, even all these years later, it still feels like he’s right there on that front porch, lights glowing, speakers humming, and Christmas settling in around us.
inhei

These are 40% cheese, 40% sausage, & 20% Holy Spirit.& no Southern Baptist could ever resist. 😆
12/25/2025

These are 40% cheese, 40% sausage, & 20% Holy Spirit.

& no Southern Baptist could ever resist. 😆

Cherie Christmas!
12/25/2025

Cherie Christmas!

Mornin & Very Merry Christmas To You & Your’n ☕️✨Our littles are all grown now. No Christmas morning squeals. No “don’t ...
12/25/2025

Mornin & Very Merry Christmas To You & Your’n ☕️✨

Our littles are all grown now. No Christmas morning squeals. No “don’t go in the living room until we get up.” No early morning wake up calls after staying up half the night playing assembly elves and Santa.

So do me a favor. Share your little ones
Christmas setups. The trees. The stockings. The toys all lined up. Before they come running in.

Let us soak in a little spark of that old magic and feel a little bit of that Christmas spirit again. 🎄

Jesus Is The Reason For The Season
12/25/2025

Jesus Is The Reason For The Season

Christmas Eve has always bee the main event in our family Back when the gatherings were big, aunts, uncles, cousins, vo...
12/25/2025

Christmas Eve has always bee the main event in our family

Back when the gatherings were big, aunts, uncles, cousins, voices bouncing off every wall, the night felt loud and endless. Then time shifted, like it always does. Houses got quieter. Kids grew up. Schedules changed.

So years ago when our kids were little started a new kind of Christmas Eve tradition.

Simple. At home. Chinese takeout on the couch while we watched A Christmas Story. Chopsticks, paper cartons, and Ralphie in that pink bunny suit. And it became ours.

This year we decided to venture out.

There’s a spot, Red Dragon in Five Points Raleigh everyone keeps swearing by, so we figured, why not? When we pulled up, the line was wrapped out the door, at least 50 deep. For a second I thought we had made a huge mistake.

Turns out, that was just the takeout line.
Inside, they sat us right away.

Almost as fast as we could order a parade of dishes began like they were coming out on a conveyor belt from heaven. Egg drop soup, steamed dumplings, spring rolls, and something I haven’t seen in forever, shrimp toast.

We passed plates, laughed, and reached across the table like a Hallmark Movie. Orange chicken. House boneless duck. Beef and broccoli. Shrimp lo mein. Every bite tasted like it belonged to the night.

Owner Mei-Ling Chu and her staff were moving at full speed, but they still found time to smile, crack jokes, and treat new faces like regulars. On our way out, she stopped, smiled, and wished us all a Merry Christmas like she meant it.

And that’s the thing.
The best Christmas memories are not always the ones that stay exactly the same.

They are the ones that grow with you, shifting and stretching, making room for new places, new people, and new moments, while still holding on to the heart of what made them special in the first place.

Chinese food. Family. Laughter.
A tradition that changed, and somehow got even better. 🥡🥢🎅🏻

12/24/2025

Whats your Families Christmas Eve & Christmas Day tradition…

all one syllable 🎅🏻
12/24/2025

all one syllable 🎅🏻

Christmas, so hot rn. 🎅🏻🌞
12/24/2025

Christmas, so hot rn. 🎅🏻🌞

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