Hello all,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all around. I was thinking it had been a while since a blog update happened, and thought I would rectify the situation. I am gathering my thoughts for the return of school tomorrow, and the last semester. Unbelievably... Anyway, I am excited and my classes look interesting. I have had a lingthy stretch of time off since just before christmas with only a few clinical days sprinkled in. We spent Christmas and New Year's in Ireland with Ruairi's family. We arrived safely after a semi-harrowing trip including an extra 4 hours of hang=ups on top of a planned 5 hour delay in Frankfurt. We landed in Dublin during 4 hours that the airport was open for business all day. We spent our first several days in Ireland relaxing in Drougheda. The snow on the ground made for a beautiful white christmas, then vanished in a few days time. Since everyone is off for the whole stretch from christmas to New year's, it takes the relaxing and socializing to a whole new level. The Collinses had all four of their children under their roof for christmas for the first time in at least 3 years. I had a wonderful christmas with another branch of my ever growing family (that's on Ruairi's side where something like 5 babies are expected in the next months). We then headed across the country to Westport and Achill for New Years. Ont he evening itself we had a great dinner with many friends and family then did the traditional following of the bands. Each village in Achill has a pipe band and they march and join forces at the church after midnight to ring in the new year. After a day's recovery it was back to Drougheda and then home.
We next visited Eliot and Brooke in NOLA for a few days courtesy of the center of math. While Ruairi worked at the largest math convention on earth, i had lots of quality time with E and B. They put me to work on their home renovation, which is coming along. The front looks fantastic, and the back should eventually help cover the mortgage. We had some great meals, saw some music, and even took a ghost tour of the French Quarter.
Now that we are home again, things have returned to life as normal. The cat quickly forgave us our long absence, and the car has finally been dug out of the snow. We had a great time at the Thompson's last night celebrating both Ruairi and Thaddeus's birthdays. Someone will have to put up the smashing photo of them in their matching sweaters:)
Lastly, Ruairi's 10 year greencard arrived this month, so no more paperwork for the government. For a while anyway... Would love to hear how everyone is, and keep mormoshome the vibrant home of family banter for years to come
Love,
C and R
