Xmas in TX - Dec 2011

Josie (finally warming up to Keith) and Margaret

Well, the move is complete, we have updated all our accounts to show our new address, so now it is time to head off again.  We are meeting the gang in Jamaica for a few days, but we have a stop in Texas first to spend Christmas with Keith's family.

We flew out to DFW at 7:30am on Dec 24th - we opted for the Saturday not knowing Shawna's logistics for the previous week ahead of time.  Keith's parents picked us up at 11am at DFW and we headed straight back to the house for lunch.  It was a relaxing afternoon - mostly spent wrapping all the gifts that Keith had shipped straight to the house in Colleyville.  That evening we went to Peter and Jenn's for dinner and a bottle of wine and to see the godchildren.  In particular, though, we were to drink the Jeroboam bottle of 1997 Kenwood Vineyards, Jack London Cabernet (3 liters) that they had given us for our wedding with the commitment to drink together on our 10th anniversary year.  They picked 1997 as that was the year they were married.  Shockingly the bottle lasted really well - it tasted great once Peter decanted it.  We left their house at about 11pm to head back to Keith's parents' place.

Josie and the 'gift' we gave her

The next morning (Christmas) we crawled out of bed at 9:30am.  We were originally to meet Patrick at White Rock Lake for a run at 9am but changed plans once we knew it was to be cold and rainy - instead we met him at Starbucks on Airport Freeway and Central at 11:15am - much more human!  After a couple of hours of chatting, we headed back to the house since Graham/Margaret and family were to show up at 1:30pm.

Lily and Owen

We kicked off the gift giving with an early 70th birthday present for Keith's dad - a family trip to Napa valley with a house for 4 nights and dinner at the French Laundry - we'll head there over Labor Day 2012.  We then moved to gifts for Lily/Owen/Josie so that they could have something to play with while the rest of us opened gifts.  Josie decided that she was scared of Keith (again - the same thing happened 18 months ago when we saw her in CO).  After about an hour of not even looking at Keith, she finally got over the fear.  A couple of the gifts helped round out our basement: a dartboard, and ping pong table/nets/paddles.  Graham gave us dinner/overnight at the Palomar (his new restaurant) and Keith got some snow shoes that we can use in CO.  Once gifts were exchanged, we were joined by Marissa and her family: Matt, Jim, Joy, and Sandra.  We all ate Christmas dinner, with the "kids table" in the hallway.  For dinner, we had turkey, roast potatoes, carrots, and asparagus, followed by yummo steamed pudding for dessert.

Keith's Dad, Dick

Monday and Tuesday saw us both working - while we both had the week off we needed to catch up a bit.  We also got a couple of workouts in at the local gym and saw the new Sherlock Holmes, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and War Horse movies. 

Move to Denver - Dec 2011

 

Move from Raleigh House

Well, time for the big move to our new house in Denver (Wash Park area).  Since Shawna was knee-deep in the new job, Keith got to babysit the house as the movers packed and loaded the trucks.  We really did not have much to prepare for the move: just do laundry (after the Xmas party and slumber party on Dec 3rd) and empty the fridge by donating everything to John and JoAnna. 

In Raleigh, everything worked like clockwork on Monday Dec 5th: Keith dropped Shawna at the airport for Hartford, picked up the rental car, Budd Van Lines showed up at 7:30am, the car movers showed up at 8am, and the specialty packers (for washer/dryer, TV, and pool table) arrived at 10am.  The house quickly went from immaculate to a war zone within an hour as the floors were prepped and boxes brought in.  Thank goodness Shawna was not at home to witness the packing - with paper used instead of Shawna's preferred bubble wrap, it could have been an argument!

It took the movers two days to pack up the whole house - longer than expected considering we don't have any children!  Wednesday was spent packing the truck though it flowed over to a few hours Thursday morning - the rain on Wed slowed the team down.  Keith stayed at the house Monday night but freeloaded off John/Jo on Tues and Wed nights. 

With the remaining few days in Raleigh, Keith made the most of it.  On Tuesday night, Keith/John/Jo went to Sullivan's Steakhouse and on Wed night, Keith/Keith A/John/Jo went to Satisfactions to watch the Duke game.  Thursday was a quick breakfast with Jen at Starbucks and lunch with Steph at Pei Wei before heading to the airport for the weekend in Louisiana.

Purple Bedroom - Unhappy Shawna!

On Monday, December 12th, we arrived at the new house in Denver at 6:30am - Shawna had only spent 15 minutes in the house when we bought it, so it was fun for her to see it again.  The new interior paint job was done while we were in Bhutan, so neither of us had seen the finished product.  We had arranged for the paint to generally be the same color scheme as in Raleigh - so imagine our surprise when we saw that our bedroom was painted purple!  And...not some cool color of purple, but instead some bright, princess-purple.  Yuck!  Eventually we realized that we had given the painter the wrong number.  To save money on a re-paint, Keith tried to convince Shawna that the color would grow on her - but Shawna would have none of it!

The movers showed up at 8am ready to go.  It only took 1 day to unload the truck, with Shawna working from home on her cell.  On Monday night, we got the bedroom and office set up, and on Tuesday, the movers came back to unpack - meaning take stuff out of boxes and put everything on a flat surface.  The house looked like a tornado hit it.  At the same time, we had coordinated all the vendors to arrive: Comcast cable/telephone/internet, ADT security alarm, Geek Squad to set up the stereo, and the guy to shut down the sprinkler system.  In addition, the cars showed up - so a LOT was accomplished.

Move into New House in Denver

We spent the rest of the nights that week setting up the house (we still had to work during the day), but by Saturday morning we were generally unpacked.  That meant that we could spend the weekend working on the details - and were 100% complete with the move by Sunday at 10pm.  Hooray!

Xmas in LA - Dec 2011

We were supposed to be in Louisiana for Thanksgiving but with the trip to Bhutan we were unable to make it.  So, we used the weekend that our entire household belongings were in transit between Raleigh and Denver to make a weekend trip to Moreauville to celebrate Xmas early.

Shawna was flying from Hartford and Keith from Raleigh, but we coordinated our flights to meet in Atlanta to get a flight to Alexandria.  Keith arrived a bit early so we had a "romantic" dinner in Atlanta airport at Phillips Seafood.  We landed in LA at about 9:30 which got us to Shawna's mom's house by 10:45pm.

Friday was a work day, so we worked from the kitchen table with "dueling laptops" while each of us were cranking away on email or conference calls.  After a full day of work, we both went for a walk before Nicole and Hunter showed up for gumbo.

Saturday started with coffee before an hour walk.  We quickly showered after, as Jim and Barbara arrived at 9:30 to spend the morning and then have lunch with us at the Family Grill in Simmesport.  Shawna and I split the catfish platter which was pretty good.  The only downfall is that the silverware was disgusting - both of us had to return it as it arrived with fresh food and grease from the previous user. 

Shawna and Nicole

The afternoon was relaxing, with Jean/Ashley/Bertie Lee arriving at 4pm for dinner and gift exchange.  Nicole also joined us for dinner.  We chatted first before heading to the dining room for roast pork, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and eggplant/shrimp casserole followed by pineapple cake for dessert.  Of course, it would not be a Louisiana holiday meal without a few casserole dishes!  After dinner, we all opened gifts together.

Shawna with her grandmother and mom

Sunday was an easy day.  We went for a walk and then had lunch before we headed back to the airport to fly to Denver.

Xmas Party - Dec 2011

 Wow - our last Christmas Party in Raleigh!  We have held a Christmas Party every year for the last 6 years with our friends - it was fantastic to have over Kim/Jonathan, Keith/Kate (plus Phoebe/Ruby), John/JoAnna, Phil/Joyce, Steve/Amy, Brandon (Teresa was away at work), Julie, Steph/Jason and Kim/Tom (plus Kaley/Ryan/Riley).

Kim and Tom drove up from Charlotte with the kids, getting to Durham at about 1pm.  We met them there for a run around the WaDuke before grabbing lunch at Fosters.  It was great to do that a final time before we leave - and we also had to blow some time since we had a couple of house showings that afternoon.

Riley, Phoebe, Ryan

For our Christmas parties, we usually bring out the good china and crystal (when else would we ever use it) and do all the dishes ourselves.  This year we decided to admit defeat at the hands of the pending move so asked everyone to bring side dishes and also used paper plates and plastic-ware (our moms would be embarrassed).  In retrospect, these were both great moves - there was no way we could have done everything that day.  It was also a huge help to have Tom around to help get a few things ready in the house.

Dinner was delicious: Keith roasted a turkey that ended up quite juicy - we did this the "upside down" version with the breast down to keep it moist.  Shawna made the stuffed pork tenderloin like the year before, and we also made a huge pitcher of red sangria.  Kim made a sweet potato dish, John made the scalloped potatoes with mushrooms, Kate brought a salad, Kim/Jonathan brought their technicolor jello salad (served as a side, salad, OR dessert!), Brandon brought chips and a dip, Steve brought shrimp, Steph brought stuffed meat and cheeses, and Joyce brought a fantastic apple crisp with ice cream.

Yummo - Dinner!

We did the normal white elephant gift exchange (both gifts and re-gifts) once Julie arrived from a previous party, and spent the night chatting.  Thankfully only one of the shake weights from last year made a repeat showing.  This year the theme seemed to be clothing items or kitchen ware.

Steve, Amy, Brandon

The Snarrs and Artins stayed the night and it was a bit of a slumber party with the kids.  The next morning, we had coffee and bagels together before everyone headed off to go home.

It was a great way to spend our last evening with such amazing friends.  We will miss hosting in NC but know that we will still share many memories with them on trips, coming back to visit and of course hosting them in CO!