Happy Holidays

Hey y'all!

I know, it's been a long time since the last post. I apologize. There have been some cool things that happened, so let me fill you in (the quick version):

• my best friend since 4th grade (Jim Bob Perkins) came to visit. He is looking at law schools up here and it is my fervent prayer that he will feel led up here. Andrew and I enjoyed showing him what it would be like to live here. I'll spare all the great stories. Who would have thought, 3 of the famous 5 (you know who you are) would be in NYC?!?

• Chelsea and I attended a going away party for one of our friends who was going back to Alabama. Little did we know the house we were going to was a world famous commodities trader's house (Jim Rogers) The story behind this beautiful house is amazing...you should Google him if you get a chance. He and his wife took a 3 year trip around the world in a Mercedes! The house was bought for $107k in the 70's and is now selling for $15Million!!! That is a great return on investment folks. It had 6 stories (including a full wine cellar) 5 kitchens, 8 working fire places, simply AMAZING! It was a pleasure to see such a breathtaking home.

• My family decided to come up for Thanksgiving. I must say this has been the highlight of my time in NYC. Although Chelsea and I had to work the first couple of nights they were here, we still managed to get a lot in. One of the coolest things was seeing The Color Purple musical (I know that's not the most masculine thing to say, but those actors can SING). Some more highlights of that trip included: Macy's Day Parade in the 40 degree rain - Tyler turkey, family, friends, football - Mom making mashed potatoes on the floor of my room AND Chelsea spilling sweet potatoes on her floor (the two were not related) - pizza at John's - walking SoHo - seeing all the windows on 5th Ave and running into the family we lived down the street from when we were growing up (that's right, on 5th Ave during the holidays...maybe you don't understand how insanely busy it is, but it HAD to be an act of God!) - and who could forget the famous trip to the grocery store. My parents realized why I eat out so often in this city. Needless to say, I enjoyed every minute of their trip and I was sad it had to end. JUST REMEMBER, you too could enjoy some of these things if you come visit me!

Those are the big things that have happened. It is so hard to capture my experience in words, but yet I try.

As anticipated, I have started to read and ponder more. I'm telling you it's the weather! One of the greatest joys right now is to see the giving spirit of others. We are doing a project right now at church where we're setting up a charity toy store for families to come "shop" for free. Being apart of a giving body has impacted my soul and it feels amazing. We are also doing a similar project at work where children have hand written letters to Santa asking for toys. We had about 20 kids and people were literally fighting over who would get to be their Santa. It was a humbling sight.

Well the Tea Spot (my favorite place to come and ponder this thing called life) is about to close, so I need to sign off for now. But, you can be expecting more frequent postings since it is 33 degrees and only getting colder. I will visit the 'ol Tea Spot more and more in the months to come, so keep checking back.

Hope all is well. I love you all! Drop me a note/e-mail tdwatlington@yahoo.com. I am eager to hear how life is going for each of you, so please fill me in.

Much love