A holiday retrospective

It was a good Christmas this year. No one got sick, no one went into premature labor, and we had a good long visit with my stepson. It was the first time we'd had an actual Christmas with him, by ourselves--I think all his previous Christmases were spent at my in-laws' in Missouri.

To cut down on the travel this year, we spent a week at home in Providence, and another week with my family in Virginia. I spent the entire week in Providence working, as did my husband, so my stepson didn't do much besides play video games all day. DH took him to see a play one night, and they both enjoyed that. We opened presents on Christmas Eve, I worked that night, and the next morning we drove to Virginia.

Highlights from the week:

1. Shooting lessons. My dad, who has enough weaponry and gun knowledge to fend off the zombie apocalypse, got us all out on a skeet range for a first gun lesson. Me, DH, and Stepson. Yes, folks, I shot a gun. For the first time in my life. And I got the second skeet. My stepson was a little more leery of the whole thing, but he loved the BB gun in the backyard. We may get him a BB gun for Christmas next year.

2. The family, natch. My sister is pregnant, my two nieces met each other for the first time, and we spent several days with the extended family in the mountains. Unfortunately, my grandmother has been in poor health for some months; I'm afraid this may very well have been her last Christmas with us. There were no shenanigans from her this year--no racial epithets, no funny stories, no getting drunk on hooch.

3. After much debate, we decided our future family compound will be located in Austin, TX. We needed some place near a tech center and gaming center both (so my husband and brother-in-law can find jobs), but also a place where land is cheap and it's warm. We debated the upper Rockies (Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado) simply because it's so beautiful, but ultimately those would have been too cold. There's too much traffic around Atlanta and DC, I'm not a huge fan of Raleigh/Durham, and it's not New Orleans is either a tech center or a gaming center. Austin was the only place that fit the bill. So we'll summer in the upper Rockies instead.

Now, after spending the week eating and drinking, playing cards with my uncles and giggling with my baby nieces, I'm ready for a day or two of reading and relaxing before going back into my crazy work schedule on Tuesday. I've eaten more junk food this week than I usually eat in a year, and I need a couple of big salads to make up for it.