Christmas in Cleveland

We flew out to TN to visit Amy's folks for Christmas this year; it was an enjoyable trip. No problems with the airlines this time around, thank goodness (I still cringe when I remember all the problems we went through last spring getting home from CA).

Not quite as many photos for this blog post as I would have liked-- the auto-focus on my camera was still having "issues". I don't think it ever completely recovered from the time I dropped it on a rock while hiking this summer; it still acts up on a regular basis.  I am happy to say that Santa Claus brought me a new one this winter, which I was able to user later in the month.

Here is Ethan on the couch in his sweats -- he spent pretty much the whole time in this mode, alternating between reading his books and watching the tube. Downtime with a capital "D".

Here is Lydia at the computer copying down a recipe from the internet (what else). This one is for her flourless chocolate cake with raspberry coulis (which is really good, I might add).

The tradition of course is to have a group photo at the front door, so here are some photos from that. Of course it takes a while for the group to get assembled, so there is a "goofing around" period:

Here is the younger generation at the kitchen table:

Lydia was very happy to receive a "cookie press" for Christmas; she wasted no time at all getting started with it, making cheese biscuits after lunch. They were excellent; once people found out how tasty they were, she had to spend quite a while fending people off.

Paul's cousin David (and his wife Nadia and daughter Julie) came over for Christmas dinner. We had quite a meal: Frances cooked both a prime rib roast and a rack of lamb. You should have seen Ethan's face when he heard what was in store for him (he is our resident carnivore).

Here we are getting ready to have dinner (Ethan leading the pack this time):

Other Christmas activities: trying to figure out how to program the new smartphone...

... and getting caught up on reading comic books.

The weather was cool but not cold, and a bit overcast for the most part (with a couple of big rainstorms). When it wasn't raining the weather was terrific for running-- Amy and I had a couple of very nice runs down on the greenway path that is down the hill from the house.

All in all, it was a very nice visit.