Christmas seems like a very distant memory- hard to believe it hasn't even been a month!
We had a very nice Christmas this year. The nice weather certainly helped! The Wednesday night before Christmas, Matthew and I had "our" Christmas - we exchanged gifts and went to our first movie (Sherlock Holmes) at the Cinedine. It was fun to do something different and spend some alone time together before all the traveling madness.
We then left town on Thursday morning, and on our way east we stopped in Greenfield, Iowa to spend an hour or so with the infamous Bill Huff! It was great seeing him... he lives in D.C. so I don't see him much anymore. It was really nice catching up and reminiscing about college and whatnot.
From there, we headed to Cedar Rapids where I got to meet the lovely little miss Eden Jubilee, who was born to Aroea and Kevin on December 5. She was sweet as could be. They have a new house, and a wonderful God-story of how they came upon it. It's a great place for them - a lot more room for their growing family. Eden's doting older brothers had a great time wrestling with "Mr. Van Zante" and Aroea and I were able to share great conversation while Kevin and Matt played some board games. Then we had some Papa John's and played some Ticket to Ride. I couldn't think of a better way to usher in the Christmas weekend. I'm so blessed to have that family in my life!
Then on Friday morning was the start of the Palof's great Ohio Christmas adventure. All seven of us packed into a minivan and hit the road for Cleveland. The trip went remarkably smoothly. Great weather, good traffic, and we made great time. Matthew and Kevin did nearly all of the driving, which I think my dad appreciated! We got to the Cleveland area by dinner time and ate some yummy Thai food with my Aunt Linda and cousins Teddy and Hillary (Uncle Joe stayed home to get ready for the festivities).
Christmas Eve day, my Uncle Gary and his family and my Uncle Dale and his family came over for the big Christmas meal. It was good seeing my cousins and a good time was had by all.
The whole family (Natalie's baby bump and all!)
Me with my cousins Hillary and Abby.
Sisters!
My sisters and me with cousins Ted and Hillary.
Uncle Joe got out his guitar and he and Matt took turns playing Christmas carols.
And we also went to a nearby Christmas lights exhibit. We've visited this cul de sac a few times over the years, and they always go all out.
Matthew was really in his element at the Prekops' house - they're big into board games. A lot of our visit was spent with all of us in various clusters playing various games, mostly different versions of Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, but also a trivia game, Pictionary, and things like that. It was all great fun.
On Monday, we ventured into downtown Cleveland, where Uncle Joe gave us a bit of a tour. Neither Kevin nor Matt had ever been in Cleveland itself, so I think Joe enjoyed playing tour guide. We went to the Tower City shopping center for awhile, and then wandered over to our restaurant, a place called the Green House Tavern. The food was amazing. It was probably one of the tastiest meals I've ever had. It's a very organically minded place. My steak was amazing, Matt's halibut was good, the appetizers were great, and we sampled some chicken that Joe ordered and it was all very yummy. After dinner, we went to a place called the Corner Alley and bowled a couple of games. It was a very fun night and good end to the trip.
We drove back all day Tuesday and then had our own Christmas at my parent's house before we all headed out in different directions on Wednesday.
I was sick for a few days when I got back, but was back to normal by New Year's Eve. We had a good time out at Red Lobster with the Sanfords (this has become a tradition over the past four years or so), and then Matt and I saw the movie The Descendants. We were home by 11:30, just in time to watch the ball drop.
The New Year started out great with a visit from Ann and Ben and their new little guy, Julian. They live in Wisconsin now, so I don't get to see them as often as when they lived in Iowa City, so I was glad that we were able to steal them away from Ann's family for a night of dinner, baby cuddles, and... you guessed it... Ticket to Ride. :-)
Since then, 2012 has been good so far. The unseasonably warm weather has been wonderful, and it's been nice to just be home and reconnect with friends and get back into the swing of things at work and at home.
Oh, and among my New Year's goals: write about Europe! It's coming soon... I promise. Stay tuned!
