Christmas Travels

Keeper and I have just returned from a 2-week jaunt around the northeast. We flew into BWI late Friday night on the 19th and spent a whole week at my parents' house. I got some quality running (training for the upcoming 1/2!) done with Joy & Andrew which included 2 x Triple Crown, 1 long run of 14 miles, and some 5-6 mile neighborhood runs thrown in there. Our nephew/ godson got baptized at my home church on Sunday, December 21st. His eyes were wide open and watching everyone during the service and no tears were shed! What a cutie!

On Monday Keeper and I accompanied Jen and the little BB out to Somerset, PA to meet up for lunch with some friends who were visiting family in Ohio. Somerset was pretty much exactly in between us and in fairness to everyone, that's where we chose to meet. There wasn't much out there except a funny smell when we got out of the car...very mysterious.

We enjoyed the usual Christmas Eve festivities with my family. We had a big early Christmas Eve dinner with my immediate family (including husbands & boyfriends), then off to church for the Christmas Eve service. Jill was in the Christmas play and she was fantastic! We loved it. After church, we headed up to my grandparents' house in Hanover for some late night goodies and visting with aunt, uncle, cousins, and their significant others. Christmas day was my long run and then the WHOLE family came up to my parents' house. We had delicious food and it was so good to catch up with everyone I hadn't seen since last Christmas!

On the 26th, Keeper and I headed up to Boston to visit his side of the family for a few days. We picked up Corbin at a train station in NY, then went to his oldest brother's house in Winchester. We were so excited to play with our neice and nephews for a few days. They are awesome! We also got a quality visit in with Keeper's mother, who was visting from Florida. We did Christmas dinner with the Yimoyines on Saturday the 27th, then on Sunday I got a (short) run through Winchester in and Keeper and I headed into Boston to sightsee for a few hours.

We headed back to PA on Monday with a stop in NJ to visit and have dinner with Keeper's cousins and their kids. We had so much fun with them! We got to Jen's house late Monday night and stayed there until New Year's Eve. Keeper took a night off from my family to head into Brooklyn to visit an old friend and hang out with his brother again, while I stayed at Jen's and got to grab dinner and some shopping with my college roommate. Fun! I also got to spend quality time with the little BB.

We got back to my parents' house for New Year's Eve. We did our take-out Chinese food feast, followed by some games of Apples to Apples and a round of Master Detective Clue. Then, for the first time since college, I got up to my grandparents' house for New Year's day. We had pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes as well as a great visit with my dad's side of the family. Our last night on the east coast was spent packing and playing some games in front of the fire in my parents' basement. So cozy! We returned to AZ yesterday afternoon, despite a brief delay in Chicago.