To Thanksgiving and Beyond!

I have been remiss about really updating the blog. I suppose that is partly because I have been too busy living to write about the process. That's a nice thing, especially when the holidays are upon us and I might be rather lonely and homesick given less to do with my time. However, lest there is some confusion, I haven't written about the things that we have done that actually matter to me. South of the Border was just a sidebar to recent life, yet it, so far, has gotten nearly all of the blog time. I plan to rectify that here.

Thanksgiving day was a bit different for us this year. We were not able to travel to our various gatherings of immediate family, and our immediate families were not able to come here. That meant we were in for a rather quiet holiday. We'd talked about either going to the rescue mission in Raleigh to help, or just taking a day to vegetate on the couch over turkey TV dinners. Either option sounded fine to me, because I don't have specific expectations for holidays at this point in my life. I mean, we picked up and moved to the opposite coast of the US just under 5 months ago, so life is bound to be altered by that.

I have some wonderful extended family in the area here, but I opted not to say anything to them about our lack of "plans", mainly because I knew we'd be just fine spending a quiet holiday and that the last thing I wanted to do when we chose to move to the area was forever alter the dynamics of my family here and create a sense of obligation to include us in their plans. In the end, my aunt called with an invitation anyway and my cousin hosted a truly lovely dinner that we both enjoyed. I only regret that I had so little to do with its preparation! My extended family were very gracious to us, and, in the end, I am glad we didn't opt to isolate ourselves for the day.

Dinner was early - at noon - so that we could watch the Packers game. (You can take my family out of Wisconsin, but you can't take Wisconsin out of my family.) I'm not much of a football fan, but even I have a "Packer Cracker" (as in nutcracker) that hangs from our tree this time of year and have been known to don a hat shaped like a block of cheese for effect. Sensing that other members of the family wanted to watch the game with somewhat less divided attention, I happily took over book-reading duty for my cousin's adorable youngest son. He, clad in his miniature jersey, sat and read the better part of 26 picture books with me, keeping one ear on the rest of the room, so he could contribute shouts of "Touchdown" and "Brett Favre" when Green Bay scored. That is time well-spent, I'd say.

On Friday, we were off to the Charleston area to visit Jeff and Heather. Daniel and Jeff have been friends since college, and they were in a band together for several years, were roommates for a time and even took ice hockey lessons together. Needless to say, they have a lot of shared history and a lot of interests in common. Jeff is witty, talented and an excellent conversationalist, and a known quantity for us. I knew that his wife Heather was beautiful, but given that we had met her only once outside of their wedding, and that about 4 years ago, I was a little bit nervous about how well we would get along... especially because they had invited us to stay in their home with them. It turns out I had nothing to fear. Heather and I talked easily and had quite a lot in common. She's quirky in a very fun way, and she's every bit as clever and pleasant to be around as Jeff is.

Together, we ate, drank and were quite merry. Dan and Jeff reminisced and talked music, while Heather and I chatted and shopped. In short, our time spent there was great. We didn't want to go back home on Sunday, but work didn't leave us with other options.

Here's where I get mad at myself. I took some pictures of our time there and managed to delete them accidentally. *sigh* At least they are coming to visit us in late December (when the Carolina Hurricanes play the Boston Bruins), so maybe I will get a photographic reprieve.

The Thursday after we got back from Charleston, Daniel's mom came to visit. Hers was a short visit, but very nice. I am not sure how it happened, but we managed to spend most of the time she was here shopping and eating. (I am noticing a trend... and yes, we do occasionally do other things). I've been on deadline this week, so I didn't personally have as much time to spend together as I would have liked, but I think Daniel and his mom had some good opportunities to talk. Among other things, they walked into town together to browse the local antique shop, and we ate together at a very homey buffet restaurant in Fuquay-Varina--the sort of place that has regulars, plastic utensils, Southern "home-cooking" and its own distinctive culture. Fun stuff!

While Daniel and his mom were out shopping, Daniel picked up a mercifully sale-priced HDTV, and we got digital cable hooked up the next day, so we have spent a fair amount of time ogling the pretty new television and acclimating ourselves to the technology of this century. I should explain that this TV came about in a rather strange way: I decided to buy NHL Center Ice cable stations for Dan for Christmas. It turns out that you must have digital cable to get those stations, and that a fair number of the games are broadcast in high-definition. Facts such as these ended up making his Christmas present turn into a relatively major investment and the TV "our" present to each other, because it's a shame to waste HD coverage of sports when you have it available to you. Frankly, though, considering all he unselfishly does to preserve peace in this house, I think Daniel deserves much more than just the ability to watch hockey in HD for 5 months...

It's been a really great couple of weeks. We are very blessed.