Girl's Weekend at Christmas Inn

On Thursday night I went to Mom and Greg's house - we were getting prepared for our girl's trip to Pigeon Forge.  Before we left Greg took us all to Logan's for dinner.

We got an early start that next morning.  We were all up by 6:00 and taking our "starting" picture by 7:15ish.

After our starting picture we all hopped in the car.  Preggers sat in the front and I sat in the backseat with my blanket (just in case preggers froze me out). Our first stop was in Sparta where we all bought polar fleece lined leggings.  I have them on now - they are are so comfortable.

Next we stopped at the big mall in Knoxville, where mom found a shirt at Ann Taylor and I bought some body splash.  Then we went on a scavenger hunt for lunch.  We ended up stopping at "Zoe's Kitchen" were I had a salad that Emily though tasted like dirt.

Next it was on to Pigeon Forge.  We arrived at The Christmas Inn a little after check in time.  It is the most wonderful place! I couldn't believe how Christmassy it is.

 Our room - with the most comfortable beds imaginable.

 The Installation at the 3rd Floor Elevator

 The Nativity Scene above the check-in desk.

 The big Santa in the grand lobby next to clock.

 My favorite installation - the polar bears.

 What I am sure would be the boys' favorite installation if they had come.

The "Gingerbread house" installation.

After getting acquainted with the hotel we walked across the street to the shops to look for Christmas ornaments. We spent close to an hour in the store.  Mom and I got a burlap owl while Em decided to wait to get her ornament.  Next we went right next door to the candy shop to buy a little bit of fudge.  After that we went to the outlet mall in Sevierville.  I got a few shirts at Ann Taylor, Em got a shirt at J.Crew and I bought three pairs of shoes for Sam (with his birthday money from Nana) at Stride Rite (he looks so cute in them). Finn got a pair too.

After shopping we got some dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.  We split a dinner for two of Parmesan crusted chicken.  On the way home we stopped for ice cream at Marble Slab.

Once back at the Inn, we went downstairs to watch the clock chime.  On the hour, Santa comes out (instead of a coo coo) and the children (who look like Hummels) chime the hour.  Then the enormous bells on each side play Christmas songs. Next we got cookies and hot apple cider from the lobby.  We ate a lot on this trip.

Next we went back to the room to go to sleep. We ended up watching TLC.  I fell asleep quite easily while Mom tried her very best to get every single bit of light out of the room.

We slept until 8:00 (our time) the next morning. It was actually 9:00 their time.  Breakfast closed at 10:00 so we rushed around to get ready for breakfast.

Proof that I am a very sound sleeper. Let no man ever call me vein. 

Breakfast was really impressive.  Mom and I had omelets from the omelet bar while Em carbo loaded on biscuits/gravy and donuts.  There was also a very diverse cheese tray.  I think that mom ended up taking home at least two (2) pounds of cheese - hidden in a disposable coffee cup. In Mom's defense - it was very difficult to lop of a small slide of the Gouda (the cheese was not precut) and Gouda is good-a. 

After breakfast we went back to the room to research what we wanted to do the rest of the day. 

After nixing the Titanic Museum and the Wax Museum, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to watch a movie.  Well, as it turns out the website lied and the movie was not showing at the time we thought it was showing. We decided instead to go back to the Christmas store to get Em's ornament.  She got a "black bear" ornament. 

Since we were on a shopping kick we stopped at TJMaxx where mom got some pillows for her living room and I used by gift card from Christmas to get some open toed booties. 

Then we went to the best place of all - the Apple Barn where we sampled the local's finest.  We had a great time at the Apple Barn and we all left with a souvenir. 

After the Apple Barn we hopped back in the car and headed home. We stopped in Knoxville for lunch at Salsaritas where we ran into some of the most obnoxious traffic I have seen in a long time. Then we stopped in Sparta to see Granny and Papa. 

We arrived back in Manchester a little before 7:00 p.m. We were tired by the end, but I think that we can all agree that we had a great time.  Thank you Mom for such a great trip.  Let's do it again next year.