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
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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 »
401.8
Most people wouldn't find anything to celebrate in weighing four hundred pounds. But when you're above that and working your way down, and that number is as high as your scale will go, it's a good milestone to cross. I've weighed more than this for at least four years (how long I've had the scale), and it feels good to know that I've dropped whatever weight I've put on during that time. Go »Earth to Cat
What part of get down! are you pretending not to understand? Go »Chatt Story
Kelly and I are home from a brief road trip to Chattanooga. The primary reason for going was the wedding of an old friend of Kelly. The ceremony was beautiful, held on the banks of Fall Creek Falls Lake, with some of the best-written vows I've ever heard, at once personal and profound. Go »Unmitigated Gall
Life gets unpleasant quickly when your gallbladder stops working. TMI alert. I spent all day Friday with sharp pain in my abdomen, diagnosed as spasms from my gallbladder trying to expel a stone. Go »Day 86
The diet continues, but I haven't lost as much as I would like by now. Four pant sizes is something to be proud of, but three of them were lost in January, so you can understand my frustration. I've wound up taking a fourth meal most days, bringing me to ~1200 calories, and so far I've had a lot of trouble going back down to three. Go »
Scott Hardie | January 2, 2017
I have edited the above to add links to photographs.