Christmas 2016
by Scott Hardie on December 30, 2016
After a hectic househunt and move, it was nice to have a family vacation to take a break from everything. The whole visit had already been planned back in the summer, and we had spent six months saving up plenty of money to pay for it, so all we had to do was relax and enjoy it. Kelly's father Russ and brother Andy, and Andy's boyfriend Joe flew in for a week.
Among the highlights: Breaking in our (very cold) new swimming pool. Watching an alligator show and chimpanzee show and big cat show. Zipping through clusters of mangrove trees in an airboat. Watching a fire dancer at a Hawaiian dinner show. Taking flight in a hang-gliding simulator. Eating Amish food and Mongolian food and German food and Polynesian food and fancy custom-made donuts.
My favorite part had to be Christmas dinner. We invited over Joe's father and stepmother and her mother, as well as my mother and her partner. Luckily, our new dining set easily sat ten people at the very busy table. Growing up, my family's Christmases were fairly quiet and sedate and formal, so having a big family Christmas with plenty of food and noise and laughter among strangers was a delight. We also took a page from Kelly's family traditions and stuffed a stocking for each guest with treats and small gifts, and I was in heaven getting so many smiles from people as they discovered what I had tucked away just for them.
I am so incredibly lucky! So many people are suffering these days (one of Andy's friends passed away while Andy was here), ill or miserable or fearful of the future. I don't know what I did to deserve this bounty of good fortune in my life lately, but I intend to enjoy it while it lasts. Bad luck has been around before and could return at any time.
I hope that everyone else in my life had a good holiday season and will enjoy a happy, prosperous, and safe new year.
Three Replies to Christmas 2016
Matthew Preston | January 3, 2017
Very nice! It looks like it was great holiday spent with family. Much like you I am extremely grateful for my good fortune of late and haven't taken any of it for granted. Here's to a prosperous 2017!
Lori Lancaster | January 19, 2017
[hidden by author request]
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Parting Thought
I read in the news today that a British businessman will get to visit space in 2009 on his frequent-flyer miles alone. (link) I bet this gives David Phillips a damn good idea. (link) Go »Det är inte så farligt
Yesterday, Kelly and I joined friends who had free passes to shop at the new Ikea store in Tampa before it opens to the public. It was our my first time in one of those stores, and it was every bit the harrowing shopping marathon I'd heard it was. For a store that boasts so frequently about how efficient everything is, having you proceed through the store in one long winding line for four hours sure doesn't feel that way, but every store has ways of getting you to buy more than you came for and Ikea has come up with a unique one. Go »R.I.P. Nicole
You know those memes about how 2020 just keeps getting worse by the month? I didn't like them before because it's been such a very awful and depressing year that I'm not in the mood to joke about it. And now I really don't like them, because for me, June has indeed managed to be even worse: My friend Nicole died suddenly of a stroke on Friday. Go »She Can Really Whip a Donkey's Ass with a Belt
I hate the Black-Eyed Peas. You hate the Black-Eyed Peas. But Alanis Morissette really hates the Black-Eyed Peas. Go »Over and Out
"How's the week treating you?" "Like I slept with its wife." I've had better weeks. Go »
Scott Hardie | January 2, 2017
I have edited the above to add links to photographs.