Christmas

This post is well overdue, but I did want to write a bit about Christmas before too much of this new year goes by! Since Mark's family moved to Missouri early in 2016, we decided to visit them for their first Christmas in their new house, which meant that this Christmas was also the first time we didn't go home to ABQ or see my family. It was pretty strange not to be in ABQ at all, but we also had a lovely time in Springfield.

Before leaving BG, we arranged to video chat with my parents, grandma, and sister to open our gifts, which were so generous! Mark and I have never had a tree at our house with so many presents under it! (I wrapped everything in the Amazon boxes most of it arrived in, so that I wouldn't spoil any surprises; it took up more space that way, so this pile of presents isn't quite as huge as it looks).

In Springfield, we got to see Mark's parents and siblings as well as our niece and nephew (oh, and the two dogs--Buddy and the newest addition to the family, Cody). I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures (and I didn't manage to get copies of anyone else's, either). But we basically all had a good time hanging out and enjoying each other's company. There were delicious meals and holiday goodies, many games of pool and ping pong in the basement, some movies (I saw both Arrival and Rogue One), and, of course, lots of catching up.

There were two specific outings I did manage to get pictures of: Mom treated Katie and me to tea at this adorable tea house downtown. You can see the decorations are totally over the top, and the food was very tasty. I liked the mis-matched china they used for the place settings, and Mom bought me a lovely gray shawl in the gift shop for Christmas.

We also stopped at the Bass Pro Shop, which is special because Springfield, MO is the original location. We have one in the Toledo area, but this one was really over-the-top, plus there were extra decorations out for Christmas. It was also totally packed, so I actually hope to go back again another time to enjoy the atmosphere when it's less crowded. It's kind of like retail store meets theme park meets zoo meets museum. Really weird and fun. Katie indulged me by taking a few pics.

And I did manage to get a couple of pictures of people hanging out together. Here's Mark showing Zach how to record stuff using Mark's fancy new microphones/camera and the audio interface Mark gave Zach for Christmas. Below, Dad and Hannah are checking out specimens using Dad's new microscope.

Since it's been almost a month now, I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting, but we sure did have a great visit. Oh, and the 11ish hour drive was mostly uneventful, though it did snow the last hour on our way home, Mark did a great job getting us back safely. (It's so weird driving through snow at night on the highway--it makes me think of the special effects in sci-fi movies/tv when they go to light/warp speed. :-)

Anyway, it's always great to see family, and we're glad that Mark's parents seem settled in their new house and in Springfield in general.