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. 

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.