Christmas at the Biltmore 2017

My grandparents gave us a gift of travel for Christmas, so we decided to take a family overnight trip to the Biltmore, as we'd never seen it decorated for Christmas. We didn't realize that Christmas the largest privately owned home in America would be so popular that we would have to book well in advance, so our planned date got pushed out till New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

That all would have been lovely, but it turned out that the dreaded "Arctic blast of cold" would be hitting that very day, putting something like 75% of America below freezing. We packed up all the cold gear--as best as we own in the South--and prepared for a high of 24 and a low of 8, but no precipitation at all.

Squinting due to camera flash

The drive down started out well--and here is where I cue the Gilligan's Island theme music for the 'three hours' tour'. For my sixth baby, for the first time, I thought to bring along his Velcro swaddling thingy and it made him sleep so soundly! (It has slots in it so the baby is all strapped in properly in his seat belts, but also swaddled on top of that.)

David is also old enough at 4-1/2 months to start holding and enjoying toys: he got much enjoyment out of his new corn teether.

We had departed after church and our meal, and should have arrived at our hotel by the children's bedtime.

As we drove along, I was paying attention to something else, but Chris saw accidents start happening in front of us, police appear, and the highway being shut down before our eyes. Within seconds, we were directed off the highway, and I only noticed what was going on when the various police cars were diverting us to surface streets.

Then our van began to weave and glide on the BLACK ICE. The roads had iced over badly and quite suddenly. Chris was discerning which were the best and worst ditches to slide into if he completely lost control. He got us safely into some fast food parking lots and we drifted and weaved, the danger becoming rapidly apparent to us parents but the children were clueless.

We realized we couldn't get back onto the highway, we couldn't even drive down the road. We had no traction.

Chris saw a Hampton Inn a few buildings down and he and I wondered: could our van even get there? Were we facing sleeping overnight in the van?

Chris drove about five miles an hour down the surface street to the hotel and got us pulled up in front of the building safely. He went inside to find 'room at the inn.' The hotel parking lot was empty because people couldn't get there due to the sudden ice, but all the rooms were booked so they couldn't be rented to us either. There was no room at the inn! Chris got our family first on the waiting list and said either we'd be renting a room or we'd be sleeping in our van in their parking lot. Soon the lobby filled with other stranded wayfarers trying to get a room.

Waiting in the van

Meanwhile, I was out in the van with the little ones. Thomas (2) had woken from a nap, and it was past his bedtime, so he was wailing incoherently. I was so desperate that I gave him a lollipop and got out the iPad to let him play a little kid video game.

I texted a holy friend of mine for prayers to please find us lodging. She prayed a 'flying novena' (nine Memorares) and in that moment, Chris came out and told us that the manager had stepped in, found us not one, but two, dirty rooms, and said he was going to get them cleaned within a half hour for our family. Thank the Lord! Thanks to our Blessed Mother!

By ten that night, we were installed in two non-adjoining rooms, so we split up dad with the boys and mom with the girls and baby.

Mary (9) helped me get organized. We got some bottled waters and she set them up: lacking a Sharpie pen to label them with our names, she created a little sign. It's not hard to imagine where she got this desire for organization!

Mama does not want to mix up the waters!

We had to consider that we might even have to stay in this hotel for more than one night if the temperature didn't rise and the black ice remained treacherous. Thankfully, we never leave home without many good books.

One Must Be Prepared.

Half the books we brought for our planned one night in a hotel

Sweet girl helping me with the baby

I can tell you that on that last night of 2017, my husband and I in separate hotel rooms across and down the hall were texting each other, as our children were falling asleep, about how very blessed we are. We had not crashed. We were safe. We were warm. We were in real beds.

Would that we could viscerally feel how blessed we are each and every night.

The next morning, Chris checked the news, he got a report from a long-haul bus driver who had a report from his dispatcher about the state of the pass, and he went out and test drove the roads without us before we decided it was safe to proceed ahead up the mountain the last half hour to the Biltmore instead of driving home directly. As we drove, we saw at least a dozen cars abandoned on the side of the highway, and numerous accidents left behind, and we wondered at just how frightening it would have been to have had to abandon our van and walk with six young children at ten at night in single degree temperatures down the highway. We were so blessed.

We had lunch reservations at the Deerpark Restaurant, which is Biltmore's fancy, white linen table cloth restaurant with an exquisite buffet. This restaurant is so wonderful that it makes Brussel sprouts taste melt-in-your-mouth delicious! It was a real treat for me (for us all, I imagine!) to be somewhere more civilized than our typical fare of my assembly of food (ha!) or chain restaurants.

The family with Baby David on my back

It was a good day at the Biltmore and the crowds were sparse, likely due to the cold. It was 19 degrees while we were there and that was painfully cold. The Biltmore is not heated indoors and we never took off our coats!

Poor Thomas had been shorted a good three hours of overnight sleep, due to the hotel situation, and then had missed his nap, so he was falling apart behaviorally in the Biltmore. He was begging for a "phone" like all his siblings had. I told Chris that I'd happily have us pay that $10 to give him an audio tour device just to make him calm down for the tour--please, please, please! After Thomas got his own 'phone' on which he could push buttons, he was so happy for the rest of the tour.

Thomas very happy on his 'phone'

My favorite room is the library: what a dreamy room! Books floor to ceiling is what I'd like in our own home. Chris says we have too many books: I say we have too few book cases.

The drive home was blessedly uneventful with fast food drive-through, potty stops, and alternating crying between the 2-year-old and the baby, sibling bickering--just like normal. We are so blessed.

Happy New Year to all! We pray for a healthy, happy, holy 2018!