Christmas at the Balsam Mountain Inn

We arrived in Sylva late Tuesday night after a long day of driving and were warmly welcomed into a house full of family. Also staying at the Graning house were Rolf's Aunt Rachel and Uncle Harald (Dode & Doda), Grandpa Farrell, and youngest sister Rachel. His brother Charlie and girlfriend Lillian were staying just down the mountain with his sister Evie and Sebastien who now live in Sylva on the same road has Rolf's parents. Ben and Jess and their two boys Caden and Abram also live in Sylva and so do Jess' mom and dad who moved their this summer from New Jersey along with her Grammie. All total for almost every meal we had 19 people!! Pretty crazy, huh?

We started off the festivities on Wednesday night with a wonderful dinner at the Balsam Mountain Inn hosted by Grandpa Farrell as a Christmas present to us all. We had a great meal and did a really fun White Elephant gift exchange. Rolf scored a new Carhartt hat and I got pumpkin bread mix that we ate the next morning for breakfast.

Trying to keep an overtired toddler happy at a fancy dinner doesn't make it easy to take many pictures but here are a few:

You can tell he is up to something!

George and Uncle Harald serenading everyone with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" after dinner.