Christmas Vacation Recap



Jacob, George, and Henry

 I'm nearing the end of my 2-week hiatus from work over the Christmas/New Year holiday break, so it's time to tell the story!

George and Henry's cousin, Jacob, came to visit from Boston, so we had an impromptu games night at our apartment on Christmas Eve. (George, ever the comedian, still makes the bunny ears behind family members in pictures! That aside, this is the best picture I got of the three of them.)

Moravian Lovefeast at Watts St. Baptist

Before the guys came over, George and I went to a Moravian Lovefeast at Watts St. Baptist Church in Durham. I hadn't been to a Moravian Lovefeast since college, so it was a delight to attend one this Christmas Eve! (It was my first time in Watts St. Baptist, and it's a lovely sanctuary.) We sang lots of familiar Christmas hymns, had coffee and buns as a congregation, then everyone lit their beeswax candles and the sanctuary lights were dimmed for the final hymn or two. It was a really nice experience, and I would recommend it to others next year.





Christmas Dinner at Il Palio, Chapel Hill

On Christmas Day, we gathered at Il Palio, a nice restaurant in the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill, for lunch. It was great to have family together, and it was the first time in several years I've been with my parents for Christmas. Uncle Marion came over from Goldsboro, too! The food was fabulous, and the service was top notch, too! If you're looking for special occasion dining, Il Palio should be on your list!

Christmas 26 Snow Behind Apartment

It started snowing on Christmas night, and by the next morning, this was the view outside our apartment! I think this was the first time I've ever seen "live" snow for Christmas! It was beautiful. We still have some on the ground, but it's melting away and the roads around here are much better.

In other news, I signed up for the Tobacco Road Half Marathon (March 20) a couple of days ago, and it's been nice to spend some extra time at the gym, as a result. :)

Happy New Year!

George and I had a fun time bringing in the New Year with his family in Cary last night. (Relatives from New Zealand and Boston were also in town.) His mom had lobster for everyone, but set aside some fish cooked healthfully for me. Afterward, several of us played a game called Apples to Apples, that's a lot of fun. Every round, someone is the judge, and the judge picks an adjective from the card pile. The rest of the players, each with seven cards in hand, put down a card with a noun that goes with that adjective. To get points, the judge has to pick your noun card out of the group as the best. The judging is a bit subjective, so it helps to know the other players, as everyone takes turns being a judge. Sometimes you don't have any good matches in your hand, so you have to go with something random; sometimes going in the opposite direction makes it funny and wins you the point. This was a fun time last night, as various family members came by the table to watch or visit and laugh with us while we played, anc a couple of people even joined in on occasion.

This afternoon, George's brothers and cousins came over, and we played Zombie Fluxx, followed by another round of Apples to Apples. Fluxx is a card game where the rules change throughout the game, based on cards played by the different players. I'd played before, but never the Zombie version!

Weekend happenings

Yesterday George and I went by our new apartment complex to get some more info and see where, exactly, our apartment is going to be. It was fun to see. We also found the nature trail, walked along for a bit and enjoyed the bench swing and gazebo.

Last night we went to the minister's house for a night of grilling and games. It was something I bid on at the annual auction earlier this year. We got to meet some people we didn't know before, and it was a good time! Glad we went.

Fun party

George and I had a fun party last night, with 5 guests in all--a nice size for my apartment. Amy, Steph, Melissa, Mitch, and his finacee Katherine were there. (I'd never met Katherine, so it was nice to meet her.) We played a couple of games, Imaginiff and Scrabble. Imaginiff was a new game for me, and a fun one.

I tried three new recipes for the party, a salsa with interesting ingredients (including black-eyed peas), vegetarian chili, and an easy pimento cheese (few ingredients and easy to spiff up). I also got a veggie tray, and George got fruit, Ruby Tuesday sampler plates, nuts, chocolate, and drinks. It turned out to be quite a spread, with a good bit left over. I was glad we had enough food, though!

Getting more social

George and I decided to try to organize a games night/afternoon this weekend at my place, so here's great motivation to get my place in order. I'm also thinking about what kind of food to serve, being on the Rice Diet! At least this way I have some control over the food and can make sure there's something I can eat. I'll do a veggie tray for sure, maybe cook some (veggie) chili. Sweets, dunno. (Maybe fruit?) Chips, dunno. Drinks--sodas, alcohol? Maybe some wine. I want to keep it low key and not about the food, but I want to be a good hostess as well!

At any rate, I'm looking forward to having some people over and being a host/hostess along with George! I think it'll be fun!