American Adventure: December 2010

Firstly i hope you all had a very merry christmas, sorry for my lack of communication, but i wasnt able to get access to the internet while i was in the country, and only now have a got round to updating you on what i got up to.

Alisha, my Couchsurfing friend invited me to share Christmas with her this year, but before leaving she warned me she had a large family and i would be busy attending lots of different Christmas's, little did i know that i would end up having four different Christmas's to go to this year, but what a great Christmas i had!!

Alisha is from a north Texas town called Nocona, not far from Oklahoma, a really small place where i was told i would meet some 'real' cowboys. This was true as Alishas dad was a rancher and so were all his brothers, so cowboy boots and hats were definitely the thing to be seen in around here!!

the Christmas meal was very similar to thanksgiving, turkey and ham, accompanied with lots of different rich, buttery, sugary (very unhealthy) sides, no Christmas pudding this year, instead things like pecan pie or cheesecake. Very good, and i was given lots of leftovers to take home with me, (everyone was so kind to me here, it really was amazing the way i was so welcomed to share xmas with people I didnt know, that gives you an idea of the southern hospitality, theres little else like it!!)

On Christmas day, in between the noon and evening Christmas parties, alishas brother took me deer hunting, so we went over to the families land, with his rifle and some beers, and sat in the blind, waiting on deer or some hogs. i could really see the appeal of this, it was great, and lots of these guys had memories of past deer celebrated on their walls, and a fully stocked freezer of deer meat. I was given some deer mince to take home with me so i look forward to eating some of that. While out hunting, I saw 4 doe and 2 bucks, but they werent really big enough to shoot, as the amount you can shoot in a season is limited, they tend to wait for the bigger bucks, with the full set of horns. But I was amazed at how easy it would have been to shoot at and still provide a huge amount of meat.

Finally on boxing day another christmas party, meeting lots of people who had never met an english guy before, so that proved for some interesting questions like 'Do you celebrate christmas in england?' and being asked to repeat lots of words, as you can imagine!!

Now im back in Dallas, back to the city. and looking forward to New Years Eve!