Monday – 27 December 2010
It’s quiet around here. VERY quiet. It’s amazing how “quiet” it is, in fact. I guess that’s just one of the things you notice when you go from having five people in the house to being alone at home.

I had a fantastic Christmas. It was made even better by the fact that I was able to have (most of) my family here — we’re looking at ways to get Kris out here later in the season or this Spring/Summer.  We started some new traditions this year (Christmas Eve spaghetti dinner and Christmas morning mimosas) and incorporated some of our favorites as well. The man in the red suit did me a good turn this year; he brought me:

  • A couple of really nice sweaters
  • A pair of boots (…which I need to send back because they were both for the right foot)
  • An overcoat and scarf
  • A new pair of lounge pants… with the Ravens’ logo on ’em!
  • A couple of passenger platforms for my railroad
  • A LEGO Creator set
  • Buckyballs
  • A “gift certificate” to Dr. Volt’s or The Train Shoppe (Woo!)
  • A Sawz-All
  • A new train set

SaraRules! and I got a couple of very nice gifts as a couple, too.  So, I can honestly say that I had a very good Christmas this year.

Saturday, before heading to SaraRules!’ parents’ place for dinner, I took the family up to Brighton — I figured that since they had come all this way to visit, the least that I could do was take them for a drive up one of the canyons and let them see the mountains. I think that they were taken aback a bit at how truly “big” the mountains are here. They were also a bit surprised when I told them the elevation.

After the drive, we met up with SaraRules’ side of the family for dinner. We had a magnificent feast with all kinds of foods: brisket, ham, borscht, mixed vegetables, roasted root vegetables, breads, potatoes and more! All of it was wonderfully prepared.

Sunday, we got up and took my folks to Music and the Spoken Word. My mother has mentioned many times that she wanted to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but hadn’t been able to get out her to do so. But, with retirement comes time… and, fortunately, we were able to make it in to see this week’s recording.

After the broadcast, we went up to Park City for brunch at Cisero’s. It started to snow shortly after we arrived, but was coming down a little more heavily as we left Park City and headed down Parley’s Canyon. After we got in, we settled in for a relatively quiet afternoon at home. Later in the afternoon, we took my uncle down to the Cathedral of the Madeleine and picked up dinner.

This morning, SaraRules got up for work and I got up to take my family to the airport. It was really nice to have them here for the long weekend; I’m glad that they were able to come out.  (Now, I just have to get Kris out here…) We got everyone to their respective flights on time, although I got a call from my mother a little while ago saying that her plane was grounded because of a “mechanical problem.” I’m waiting to see if/when they get boarded on another plane and how that will affect their connection home.  My uncle, on the other hand, might not get out of Chicago – or at least not to his home airport – thanks to the snowstorm that hit the northeast over the weekend. We’ll see how everything shakes out.

Stray Toasters

It seems as though my parents made it out of here… nearly three hours late.  But, they’re in the air.

Now, it’s time to find some trouble to get into.

Namaste.