together & alone

being just us together for christmas, i was worried we would feel alone. i am sure that is a strange concept: together & alone at the same time. holidays for me are chaotic & somewhat noisy & i always have the "where do we have to be next?" concern running through the back of my mind. we didn't have any of that this year, but we certainly weren't alone. 

on christmas eve we had friends over for dinner. one couple we have known for some time, but have become closer with in the last month since they had their daughter. it has been nice to spend more time with them & realize how much we have in common. laura is a nurse in the ER at the hospital where i will be doing my internship this spring, so i am counting on her for a bit of guidance. james & brandon teleski together all winter long & climb in the summer, plus they are both geology grad students. with adorable hadley now in the picture, we have fun just sitting around watching her sleep.

we also had another ski/climbing friend from the geology department over for dinner, who i didn't know too well, but had a great time hanging out with. we had lots of snacks, then a roast for dinner, egg nog, & GF apple-crisp. it was a great night! even though family is irreplaceable, good friends make the missing more bearable.

a few tries with the timer on the camera.
we had to have an annual posed photo in front of the tree, right?

brandon looking sleepy after the festivities died down.

harvey boy also looking sleepy under the tree.

one of my nativity sets. this one is from mexico &
although not breakable, it has domino-like results if you
accidently bump one of the wise men.

this picture is blurry, but thank goodness for
technology which kept us talking with family
{& texting with brothers} all day long.

my mom sent harvey a leather stuffed buffalo for his christmas gift.
he is obsessed! first thing in the morning, "where is the buffalo?"
as soon as he is back in the house, "where is the buffalo?"
of course, we call it woofie after my brother's
childhood invisible friend who was also a buffalo.

an especially fun game for harvey is showing woofie to oliver
{tiff's dog who is staying with us for a few weeks}
& then running into the other room before oliver tries to take it.
oliver is over the game, but you can imagine that harvey
will get a few more miles out of it.

brandon & i are pretty sure everyone felt bad that we weren't going to be home so they went overboard with our gifts. we felt utterly spoiled!!! we called everyone & checked to see how they liked their gifts & send our love. i didn't feel lonely, but i would have liked to see people's faces when they opened their gifts.

christmas morning was beautiful. the trees were covered in hoarfrost, the sky was clear, the foot of snow on the ground was sparkling, & the sun was shining. it was incredibly cold, but gorgeous.

 

after brandon made a yummy breakfast {GF pumpkin loaf}, we suited up for a ski. he insisted on going around turtle rock out at vedauwoo. this is a great place to hike & some fun mountain-biking terrain; it is NOT a good place to cross-country ski. i was pretty frustrated that we couldn't go to the groomed 20+ miles of nordic trails just down the road because "everyone else would be there" & spent the entire ski agitated. at one point i just started crying. here it was beautiful outside without a breeze on christmas morning & i am alone in the woods crying. brandon was irritated with me for being so, let's just say, "upset" & i was fed up. my skis were off most of the morning because beneath the couple of inches of snow that remained there were slabs of granite that i was certain would hurt if i feel on. we got back to the car, i told him i never wanted to ski there again, & then i regained my sanity. 

after that we went to james' & laura's for christmas ham. we brought tamales & hung out for a long time, mostly watching the baby sleep again. going to bed last night we felt fortunate for a wonderful christmas, filled with a bit of extra emotion, lots of people {& critters} we love, & each other. we didn't feel alone, but we sure missed our folks & siblings. 

oliver is an excellent guest. he loves to go for a
ski & come home to sleep the rest of the day away.