happy holidays????

Sorry for the delay in the blog over the past few weeks. Mauri and I have been quite busy and have had a lot on our plates. I will do my best to catch you up...

As you might have seen, I was busy with work over the holidays. Since I am freelance that means when everyone wants off... I work. I was happy to do so and actually get into a bit of a rhythm as I worked 8 times in 12 days to close out the year.

On Christmas eve Mauri's parents came up to stay with us. It was my mother-in-laws first Christmas since her mom passed away so her and Mr. Jimmy spent their first Christmas away from home in decades!! We went to Christmas eve service at the Presbyterian Church on Peachtree in midtown and then enjoyed a nice dinner at... Lobby (surprise, surprise)!

They left Christmas morning to go to Mauri's step-sister's house in Ball Ground to watch their kids open presents.

Meanwhile, Mauri and I opened our gifts when I got home from work on Christmas morning. I got some good stuff... some new 'Seven' jeans, shoes, a belt, fancy sunglasses, and a fancy new universal remote. Needless to say, Santa somehow got me confused and I ended up on the good/employed list. :-)



After that we went down to Newnan to spend Christmas afternoon with Matt, Julia, Gip, Hank, and my mom and dad. When we arrived Mauri and I noticed that mom and dad were...

A. Not enjoying a cocktail
B. Still in their PJ's

Upon further investigation we find out that the kids and Julia gave mom and dad the plague. A nice 'both ends' virus. Well, that was not concern us for then....

We had a great day of hanging out, frying a turkey, and watching the kids play with their presents.



As you already know... we gave Hank and Gip, Kota the Triceratops. It was a big hit!! Hank makes my parents put a blanket over Kota at night for bed and Hank goes outside every day to get magnolia leaves to 'feed' Kota! He is a hoot!!



On Friday after work Mauri and I went to S. Georgia to see her whole family. Mauri's brother, his wife Hannah, Mauri's step-sister, Allison, and her two kids came down to the farm so we could all be together. A great time... when you are not puking!!!

That's right, we got the virus!! We had some nice fried seafood when we arrived on Friday night on the farm. By 3am... I was up tossing fried shrimp, oysters, and hushpuppies!

Luckily, the worst of it was over by morning, but other than some cheese toast... there was no turkey, dressing, etc for me on Saturday. Mauri got the virus too... although it seemed to not be as bad with her. Still, the food intake was about zero. :-( Luckily we got to enjoy some leftovers on Sunday when we were getting back to 'normal.' The only nice thing was watching the Noles whip Wisconsin Saturday afternoon. :-)



Once we were officially deemed sick with 8 other people in the house (including 3 kids) we were in quarantine! We were sprayed down and so was everything we touched. Somehow, no one else got the virus which is a small miracle!



We got back from the farm on Monday in time for bootcamp. That evening was the low point of the holiday season. My cat, Amber, of almost 14 years passed away. :-( She was not sick and other than being old, it was a surprise and quite sad. I will have more on 'Geez' in another entry.

This weekend we took the tree down and we are back to normal around here. Well, as back to normal as you can be with my folks living with us for the next few weeks!!!


--Chris