For a combination of reasons, I decided to drive to Florida for the holidays this year. A brilliant choice until it came to actually pushing the gas pedal for 16 hours each way. Courtesy of Craigslist rideshare, I had the company of Rupak for the journey South. Around Georgia I realized just how little that we "blended". But we journeyed on and were eventually welcomed into Florida.
After a quick visit in Gainesville with buddy and woman extraordinaire, Sara, I made it to Pine Island on Christmas Eve. The family came out to the house for our traditional potato pancakes with horseradish and sour cream, kielbasa, and honey-baked ham. Before you scratch your head over latkes on Christmas Eve...it's a Polish holiday thing passed down on my maternal grandfather's side. But first, we took a few minutes to admire one of dad's little pet projects - this '46 Dodge from my late great great uncle Cliff.
and sampled a few wines. This is my uncle Shawn who came in from Kauai. He's an amazing chef and a wine connoisseur, two things that contributed to many amazing meals over my week stay. Everyone has funny moments over the holidays with so much family time, luckily ours are lubricated with a good amount of wine!
Everyone and everything is fair game in my family. With my brother's girlfriend, Sara, joining us, I was spared a lot of the wrath. But there was great enjoyment and a parade of comments when I accidentally sat on the sticker from the staff-led tour of the Capital from the other day.
Another job well done! Time to tucker out and await the fatty in red. Except this genius who decided to do an entirely homemade Christmas. I retreated back into Santa's workshop and fiddled away through most of the night.
And then began day two of the holiday festivities. Ringo was pretty stoked to partake in the morning events.
Mom got the tennis racket she had been drooling over - deemed "the conquerer." If we hadn't convinced her otherwise, she might have gone straight to the courts after the presents were done, as it was nearly impossible to extract the racket from her hand the whole morning.
Dad got an unexpected little toy - a Nikon D60! Now we're camera twins : )
My proudest moment was when I got a legitimate smile (and excitement) over the belt that I made Eric. Music has always been his thing. For as long as I can remember he's always been donned in Doc Martens, a pyramid stud belt, and some Hellcat or Epitath band blasting in the background. Over the years I've made him band tshirts (Operation Ivy and company aren't exactly plastered onto tshirts everywhere). This year I made a belt with the logos from about a dozen of his favorite bands.
OK, he was also pretty stoked about the chicken whose legs spread as it pooped out an egg when you squeezed it.
Mom liked the sweater that I made her - cotton in a perrywinkle color; raglan-style 1/3 sleeve with a cable down the sleeves.
and Dad the hat that I made him. This was with a hand-dyed merino wool by woolarina in Maryland.
And Sara the anthropologie-inspired caplet in eggshell.
Ringo showed off his special holiday outfit, and then we headed in to my grandparents' to continue the festivities.
Christmas morning always starts with a champagne toast. Then Shawn made an amazing quiche for breakfast and mom a yummy gingerbread cake to snack on.
The presents continued.
to the tune of dueling clicks as Dad and I snapped away
Overall everyone had a lovely Christmas! (More photos to come to sum up all of the homemade holiday gifts.)
Happy Anniversary!
Holidays always extend into a third day, as the 26th is the wedding anniversary of my maternal grandparents. So we glammed up for another fun night at Bistro 41 in celebration.
Dad and my mom's brother, Shawn. 
I'm subconsciously sabotaging this post. As it's a few weeks overdue and I still don't have my shit together to have all of the photos actually downloaded from the camera and uploaded to flickr. Well, at some point over the holiday I was able to read a tiny bit and do some catch-up posting (obviously not enough). Like so many attached to their blackberries, I was attached at the hip to my computer, trying to stay linked in with what was happening in DC (no daily blogs and the express and the post? what's a girl to do??)
Happy Holidays!Happy Birthday Rich!
Happy New Year!
Happy Birthday Ben!
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