Week with the 'Rents'

My parents spent Christmas and New Years with me in the south and what a week it was. We spent several days shopping for new furniture for my new house and moving the furniture that I have to another area of the house, most went upstairs to create a new living area in my bonus room. I even moved the TV and stereo upstairs to the bonus room and this is now my favorite room in the house! Yesterday, my La-Z-Boy recliner was delivered and this completed the bonus room. The rest of the furniture should be arriving by the end of the month.

During our shopping sprees, we found time to do some geocaching. We found 12 in total (14 attempts) near my home and there are still numerous more to find. The weather was nice for several days so we wanted to spend time outside and this was a perfect way to soak up the sunshine, get some exercise, and see parts of my city that I didn't know existed.

I have always enjoyed driving around and looking at Christmas lights in neighborhoods and towns. So one night we ventured out to look at the Christmas lights in the Nashville area. I think we saw 3 homes with lights! Guess putting lights on houses or trees are not that popular in the south.

And for those of you who really know us Reagans know we love to play games (board, card, etc.). We played Blink and Mad Gab several nights and laughed our heads off. Boy, are my parents competitive! We even made it to the movie theater and saw We Are Marshall. Excellent film and true story about the tragedy of the Marshall University football team and what happened to the town of Huntington, West Virginia. A must see movie.

I have learned a southern New Year's tradition. Eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is a southern tradition which is observed by many southerners. It's a tradition to eat black-eyed peas and turnip greens on New Year's Day. The peas represent copper and the greens are dollars. Southerners say each pea you eat equals one dollar's worth of earning, and each portion of turnip greens equals $1,000. This is to bring good luck and prosperity. I think it will just help clean out the digestive system! I didn't partake in this tradition this year, but I may have to next year. Some things will just take time getting used to.