Craggy Mountain Line Trolley Ride

Yesterday we took a ride on the Craggy Mountain Trolley Line in Woodfin, NC. Earlier this summer, a fellow mom talked to me about this train ride as we were discussing our little boys' joy in trains. She had told me that this train exists, rides are only $10 and her little boy loved it. I wanted to sign up for a ride, but time escaped me and so the summer passed and we didn't get to go. I did, however, start following them on Facebook and in November, they posted about their "Jingle Bell Trolley Ride" that would take place each Saturday in December. I called and made reservations and we excitedly waited for the date to arrive for our ride.

When we got there parking was easy and there were all kinds of old trains around. Luke loved running on them and exploring. On the train, they had girls reading stories to the children. While we were looking around the trains, my dad talked to the owner of the trolleys and he shared some interesting information. The trolley line started in the 1880's and went from Weaverville into Asheville and was one of the longest trolley lines in the states. Now, all that's left is the one piece that exists in Woodfin. He told my dad that they've tried to get grants to refurbish the line, but grant writers want thousands of dollars to write the grants and there's no guarantee that the grant would come through. How great would it be if the trolley line could be restored from Weaverville to Asheville?

When it came time for our ride, they came around with a basket of jingle bells and all the little children rang their bells throughout the ride. During the ride, we saw pretty sights in the open air car (and PS, yesterday was the perfect day to ride with temps in the 60's!) and listened to Christmas carols along the way. The ride took about 20 minutes or so and at the end they dropped us off at the cars where Santa Claus was sitting.

He was inside one of the cars with Mrs. Claus and Luke got to visit with him for the 2nd time this year. Santa was impressed that Luke had only asked for one toy and said he felt that was an easy request that he could fulfill. Then we went down a few train cars and had cookies and hot chocolate. Luke downed his hot chocolate and talked about how much fun he was having.

I would highly recommend that if you live in the area that you support this great piece of history. If you'd like to read up on the history or find out how to ride on the line you can check out their site here: http://craggymountainline.com/. At $10 a pop it's a steal and a great way to spend your morning supporting a great piece of Asheville history!

This was on the lake yesterday morning... what a beautiful shot.

My aunt Christine came down this week and, unfortunately, we didn't all get to visit because we were at work & school. But, just like Santa Claus, she left all kinds of goodies! 

Pure excitement!

The train book was his favorite!

Baking Weekend

With Thanksgiving being so late in the month, I always feel like we have less time in between the two holidays. Next weekend is booked with train rides and holiday parties and the following weekend we're heading back to VA for Dillon's family Christmas. Between the traveling, parties, and work there's not much time for me to get my holiday baking on. Maybe if I made simple cookies, but I like to make my Hungarian Grandmother's recipe for Kiflis and let me tell ya, it's a whole day ordeal.

Last year, I lost my recipe so I cut and pasted some that I found online and came up with something that resembles my grandmother's. Since I don't have much downtime between now and the big day, yesterday was the day to bake. I always make some for us to snack on and then for Luke's teachers at school.

We've got our decorations up and our presents wrapped. I've ordered the last few things from Amazon today and so hopefully by next week I'm done with gifts. We're also going to take a ride on a train in North Asheville that's decorated for Christmas. I looked into doing the Polar Express, but it's kind of pricey and I may wait until Luke will actually remember riding.

That's really all that's been going on. We did have our first present issue with Luke. For the most part, he's only looked and not touched. Mom and I were in the kitchen cooking and Luke was watching TV. He was being VERY quiet, which should have given it away and then I heard the undeniable riiippp of the paper and he shouted "I see Mickey Mouse!" He had opened up a set of books we had bought him that has a little electronic reader which reads out the story. I waffled back and forth on whether to take it away and re-wrap the gift or to just let him have it. I caved and let him enjoy the books. They probably would have been overlooked on Christmas morning anyways.

 The weather's been nice and I'm ready for a busy week at work. I'm ready for a break and I wish I was getting one longer than just a few days, but our Disney vacation is coming up soon, so we'll just hang in there for a few more weeks!

Here's the Kifli recipe if anyone wants to spend their day making cookies! :)

- 4 cups of all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 lb (2 sticks) of sweet butter
- 2 egg yolks (reserve the whites to baste cookies)
- 16 oz. Sour Cream

Use a pastry cutter/fork to cut butter into the flour and then cut in the sour cream and egg (Add flour or Pam to your hands if the dough is too sticky. I also added in a splash of milk to make the dough easier to handle.)

Cut into 8 sections, hamburger patty shaped and wrap in wax paper. Chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Roll out into circles, cut dough into 1/8s with pizza cutter, add nut filling and roll into crescents.

Brush the top of cookies with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Nut Filling:
1/2 lb finely ground walnuts
1 1/4 C sugar
3 egg whites stiffly beaten
1/4 tsp of cinnamon
Peach/Prune Butter

Mix all ingredients together. My grandma made some of her cookies with only the nut filling (minus the peach butter) and then some with just peach butter. I tried to make it like that last year and it just wasn't as good as if you mixed the filling with the peach butter. I improvised!

Enjoy!

Never wear black when baking...

Or maybe I just bake wrong. Dillon always makes fun of me because when I use flour I always have a hand print on my bum.

Ma was my assistant

A pretty Christmas Scene

Pants on our head and dog by our side...

We had a baby shower for one of my co-workers and my boss bought the baby a pair of Carhartt overalls. They were SO cute so I found a pair for Luke. He wanted them this morning and hated them this evening. If you could see his face in this picture, he would have been screaming and crying. We'll try again another day and if it still doesn't work I guess I'll take them back :P