The Dogs of Christmas

It's officially Christmastime! With less than a week left, I've packed up and headed home to the coast, hence the blogging hiatus. So far we've eaten some delicious food (think French toast, homemade chicken tortilla soup and curried chicken), braved the crowds for some last minute Christmas shopping (even though I'm just giving free Shutterfly cards this year because of my lack of funds) and had a beer or two with my cousins and aunt downtown. We've also had lots of sweets and a couple morning runs, one on which we saw a girl in a pink coat standing in the woods--quite creepy. Fun times though. Oh, and we also have five dogs packed into our house. Chaotic? Yes. Extremely entertaining? Hellz yes. (Except when Sawyer gets up at 7 a.m. and wakes all the other dogs.) I don't have my card reader with me right now, but here are a few photos I have on hand of our the four-legged members of our family. Please keep in mind that I am sharing a twin bed with three of them.

It's baby Sawyer's first time visiting his grandmother. So far he has enjoyed chicken broth and the sauteed ground beef on his food, courtesy of my madre.

Izzy, my brother's fiance's adorable Boston terrier. Sawyer and Izzy are bff.



My brothr's dog Rosco Bosco the gentle giant.



Joli, the Fun Police. If anyone has a toy, she takes it and rips it up. If anyone is playing, she jumps in and tries to start a fight. We just pick her up because she's a small-yet-rotund rat terrier. She was a birthday gift to me when I was 17, but I think it's safe to say she is my mom's dog now even though she always sleeps with me and we love each other.

Coco (on the left) with Joli. I don't have a picture of just Coco because she's so sweet and always behaving and I apparently just photograph bad dogs. Also, no one in our family is quite sure if she spells her name Coco or Cocoa. Because it's her choice, obviously. Coco is Joli's bff even though Joli is kind of mean to her.

So that's what I've been up to! It's nice to be home. Nurse A is still up in North Mississippi working, so we won't get to see him until Christmas Eve. Then we'll pack up the car and Sawyer, Andrew and I will head off to North Carolina to spend the week after Christmas with his family in Highlands, NC. Safe travels everyone, and happy holidays!

Surprise Travels

Everyone's posts about snow have gotten me revved up for the holidays even though it's a nice 57 degrees here in Mississippi. Besides an upcoming trip to celebrate Thanksgiving in the beautiful Alabama wilderness (well, not quite wilderness, but we're visiting my brother who lives/works in the woods at a camp) and then a quick trip home, the holidays bring another element of excitement.

Why, you ask? Because I married (dated?) into an awesome holiday tradition: instead of gifts, Nurse A's mom and dad take the fam on a Christmas trip!

The destination is secret for as long as possible, but now that everyone has to take off work and drive from different areas we usually find out ahead of time.

The first year, my sophomore year of college and the second year Andrew and I were dating, we went to New York. It was amazing, and it was my first trip to NYC. This one was a legitimate surprise--we didn't get to open our plane tickets until we got to the airport. We saw the Producers on Broadway, explored the city and ate lots of delicious food. I bought a poster at the MET that I have yet to frame.

The next year was another huge first for me. We occasionally get a thin layer of snow in Oxford, but this was a sight I had not yet seen firsthand:

Nurse A in front of our cabin in Winter Park, Colorado

Lots of snow! Lots and lots of snow! Snow so powdery we couldn't even make a snowman. We skied one day and I loved it, but I didn't want to push my luck on the slopes another day as I fear death by ski, so Nurse A and I took a horse and carriage ride which was more our speed. This trip was fun too, but my feet froze on our snowmobiling trip. Like for real froze. There was ice in my boots and everything and it was quite terrifying because we were on top of the mountain. I still enjoyed it though, especially when feeling came back to my feet.

The fateful snowmobiling trip.

Our third trip was to New Orleans, much closer to home for me and a lot less travel time. We stayed at the Hotel Monteleone, ate lots of oysters and took a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. Andrew and I were in charge of making the barbecue shrimp (which oddly required no barbecue sauce) and tried to cut the amount of butter the recipe called for (like four sticks) in half. The instructor caught onto us and about an hour later we were feasting on gloriously life-shortening deliciousness.

Carousel bar in Hotel Monteleone. It spins, which is fun until you have one too many glasses of wine.

Look at all that butter!

Last year we went on a Caribbean Carnival cruise which was my very first. It was a lot of fun, though the first day I had to adjust to the sea. I tend to have a problem with riding on big boats (not small ones), but usually a few hours watching the waves helps. We cruised to Cozumel, where Andrew bought tequila with a worm in the bottom. The weather was gorgeous and it was hard to believe it was Christmastime.

Andrew being eaten by the vine at the Mayan ruins. Have you see/read (or in our case listened to on tape) The Ruins? I wouldn't recommend it, but it inspired our picture.

Pretty water.

The whole group.

A few weeks ago when Andrew's family came to tailgate, his mom revealed our Christmas 2010 destination! We're spending the week after Christmas in Highlands, NC. Andrew's parents love Highlands and we're looking forward to a relaxing week of reading, hiking and, of course, eating. Oh, and lots of wine drinking. And maybe some snow. Have you ever been to Highlands? Any recommendations on things to do?