The holiday hustle and bustle has come to an end and we settle back into our non-holiday lives at least until next week. Suzy and I had a wonderful Christmas in Greenville, SC with Rusty’s family. Gwen and Pepper Miller had invited us for Christmas after spending Thanksgiving in Durham at Rusty and Meg’s. We looked forward to more good times as the parents of the soon to be married (5 months from today).
Greenville is about 4 hours west of Durham (including a Waffle House stop). After being greeted by Pepper and Gwen in her reindeer horns, we were quickly made to feel at home. I think Gwen had been cooking since Thanksgiving. She admitted to have been decorating since then. Every room was a splendor with Christmas decoration and trimmings, and food was overflowing the refrigerator and freezer when we tried to squeeze in a few of the things we had baked and presented.
Gwen and Pepper’s Dixie, a border collie that crossed the border, was a bit shocked when we all pulled up with three more dogs. Jet, Barley and David, all black labs and all in the holiday spirit more then took over the floor area and up to two feet into the air. Thank goodness the counters were 32” or we would have gone hungry. The dogs got along famously, the three older dogs sharing the spot light with the puppy David. The proud puppy parents, Meg and Russ, were more than modest when their young pup showed off his ability to chew and attempt to eat anything that he could find if no one was looking.
We did some last minute shopping and sightseeing in downtown Greenville, which is beautifully restored and decorated for the holidays. Christmas Eve found us at the 5 p.m. service at the church where Gwen is the organist. It was a nice service and we returned to a lasagna dinner, starting a new tradition. Christmas day found a couple of inches of rain descending on Greenville but we were all snug in Gwen and Pepper’s living room, eating and opening and eating. We sandwiched in a few good walks to stimulate the appetites. A Christmas day dinner set the bar pretty high for future gastromic (new word) achievements. A great run in Paris Mountain State Park capped our visit. It almost capped my endurance as Meg and Rusty convinced me to follow them on the way back to the truck which turned out to be NOT the way back but the way to the bottom of the mountain (the truck was parked on top). I will have to come up with Explorer names for them so they can join Columbus, Magellan, Vasgo de Gama and Ponce de Leon (Tom, Steve, Les, and Dave).
So its on to a new year this week. Cheers
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