Date: 2009-01-01
From: New York (Christmas Break)

To: New York (Christmas Break) 
Miles today: 0.0

Happy New Year!! Phil and I just celebrated the beginning of 2009 at our Grandmas house in PA with our family. We have been throughly enjoying our longest break off the trail since the start 4 months ago. We had a great time up in Speculator Newyork at our cabin in middle of the woods with my family and our cousin Stephen. We had about 3 feet of snow on the ground which was fun although I hope its not a little taste of the Smoky Mountains coming up. We had plenty of highlights over our week break. Christmas day, we were still without a christmas tree after our late arrival to the cabin the night before. So a large christmas breakfast feast,phil Steve and I strapped on our snow shoes and tromped out into the woods axes over our shoulders determined to bring home the best christmas tree the woods had to offer. The first couple 6-8 foot pine trees weren't what we were looking for with their skinny trucks and their sparse branches. Then we started looking up higher noticing the top off the big pines was where the perfect christmas tree stood with its thick and dense branches . Stephen finally found our prize 50 foot pine tree and we started hacking away with our axes. I felt like a true lumberjack taking down this huge pine tree standing in snowshoes on top of 3 feet of snow. Phil gave the tree its final blow and with a "TIMBER!" it fell to the ground. We cut the prized top off at about 20 feet and dragged in through the woods back to our cabin. We had to cut it even shorter to about 15 feet because it wouldn't fit though the door. With the help of christmas carols, hot chocolate, and our joyful christmas spirits, our family had a blast decorating the tree with home made ornaments and grandmas gingerbread cookies. It was a christmas tree we will never forget. Another big highlight of our week off was the surprise engagement of my sister to her boyfriend Tim. Since Tim is from England, ruth had no idea of his plane flight over to America and his car ride up to our cabin. We snuck him through the woods to our cabins boat house where Phil and I helped him set up hundreds of candles everywhere and down the trail to the cabin. Ruth was a little curious as she was led down the candle lit walkway to the lit up boathouse to talk to phil about our recent trail journey only to be shocked when TIm stepped out and surprised her with an engagement ring. It was an exciting time for Ruth and the rest of the family at this special occasion. Other highlights this week included cross country skiing, snow shoeing, jeep rides, sledding with my brand new tube I got for christmas that popped on my first run after it hit a patch of ice, pingpong, family games including monopoly- cranium- scategories-taboo, skiing at the local oak mountain, amazing dinners every night, skating on the lake, christmas carols from the same CD played 24/7, and other fun christmas festivities. Like I said, we are at my grandmas right now and we will be hitting the trail January 4th to finish up the final 460 miles after a quick stop in North Carolina tomorrow for our cousins wedding. Hope everyone enjoyed their christmas/ new-years break and we look forward to updating you all on our upcoming weeks on the trail. -Nate