Home for the Holidays

After living in Paris for almost 15 months we returned to the United States to spend Christmas with our families. Melanie was in Seattle just a month ago, to help her Mom with some medical stuff, but it was my first trip back to the States since moving to France.

We left Paris on December 19th, arriving in Denver, Colorado after a looooong nine and a half hour flight (with a layover in London). Melanie had an eye doctor appointment in Casper, Wyoming so she flew on ahead, while I spent the night in Denver with Autumn and my parents.

Mom made and painted this nativity scene when I was in grade school. They put it up every year.

I was fairly tired after we got to the house, but I managed to stay up until 10:00 PM. I think this really helped with my jet-lag because it never really bothered me for the rest of the vacation. Mom made a seafood boil for dinner that first night, with shrimp, potatoes, corn, sausages, and other yummy stuff!

I didn't get a picture of Mom's dinner, but it looked a lot like this

The next day, I hopped in our Mazda 623 (which Mom and Dad have been storing in their garage) and Autumn and I drove to Casper. It was quite windy and the warnings kept getting more and more dire as we crossed out of Colorado and into Wyoming: "Warning! Wind gusts of 50+ MPH". Then thirty minutes later: "High Wind Warning! Gusts of 60+ MPH". When we got near Wheatland the sign warned us about gusts up to 80 MPH. (That's about 130 km/h for you non-Americans.)

The high winds blew more than a dozen semi trucks off the road

Despite the buffeting wind, Autumn and I had a great time on our road trip, and I only wish it had lasted longer. We talked about her upcoming wedding (she's getting married in May), her job, my job, and when I told her I frequently listen to the same fifteen Taylor Swift songs over and over again at work Autumn made it her mission to introduce me to some NEW music.

We arrived in Casper just as Melanie was heading out to her eye exam with her brother, Bill, so Autumn and I spent the next couple of hours chatting with Grandma and tasting all the sweet treats she had prepared for us.  Good Lord, it was a veritable cornucopia of Christmas delights: three kinds of fudge, magic cookie bars, mincemeat bars, peanut butter date balls, coconut candy, holly, turtles, and more! So much for my diet. <sigh>

The eye doctor found an issue with one of Melanie's retinas and he recommended that she see a specialist. Turns out it's a good thing she made these appointments because the new doctor found she had a partially detached retina and he recommended immediate surgery! (If the retina had completely detached Melanie would have been forced to get a "cuff" around her eyeball and she'd have spent the next 6 weeks on her stomach.)

Autumn's fiancé, Michael, arrived a few days later and the three of us went into Casper one afternoon to watch "Rogue One", the new Star Wars film. This was kind of amazing because it was playing in the same theater where I saw the original Star Wars movie when I was in High School, back in 1977!

The America theater in Casper, Wyoming. The outside hasn't changed much.

Autumn and Mike, getting ready for the movie to start

As we left the theater, Autumn took a picture of me and the damn thing went viral on the Internet! You can read more about that little adventure in THIS post.

We celebrated Christmas in Wyoming and had Prime Rib for dinner.

I think Mike was hungry. And Dinner was still an hour away!

We were supposed to drive to Denver on the 26th, but we got a lot of snow on Christmas day which threatened our departure.

I took this picture in the afternoon, and it was still snowing when we all went to bed

Melanie thought it would be romantic to take a walk in the snow, but as you can see from my face...

... it was just cold

By noon the next day most of the roads were re-opened and Autumn was able to drive the three of us, carefully, to Denver. (Mike had work so he had to fly back to Seattle.)

Dad and I watched a lot of football while Autumn helped Grandma finish a very tricky wooden puzzle in the basement. Not only were the pieces quite small and intricate, they didn't interlock well, so everything kept sliding around on the polished tabletop.

Autumn said, "Grandma, even if we weren't family I think we'd be good friends!"

The rest of the clan came over on Wednesday to celebrate "second Christmas". We opened gifts, drank lots of spirits, and ate plenty of great food. Grandma made a yummy ham for dinner.

We were opening presents... so I'm not sure why everyone seems so glum in this photo.

Autumn had to return to Seattle before New Years (she and Mike had a party in San Diego), but Melanie and I remained until January 1st.  We watched more football, played some epic games of UNO, and had some delicious dinners, including one at a restaurant called "3 Margaritas". There are not a lot of Mexican places in Paris, so it was glorious!

I ordered a "Coronita", which they make by upending a Corona beer into a margarita. God Bless America!

Mom and Dad, waiting for our food to arrive

We spent a lot of time talking, looking at old photos, and the day Melanie and I left we listened to an old cassette tape of my grandparents talking about their childhoods. Granddad was able to tell stories about his teachers back in grade school, which is really remarkable since I can't even remember who I spent time with this morning.

I think Dad made this photo montage of my Mom for their 50th wedding anniversary

I had expected more jet lag, and before leaving Paris I was absolutely convinced that my "French" would keep slipping out, making me sound like a real douche. But it was almost like my brain clicked over to "American" mode because it all seemed really familiar and I had zero issues re-adjusting. I was kind of worried about driving our car again, after not being behind the wheel for over a year, but even that was fine; it was like I had just driven it the day before.

Anyway, we had a great trip home and we loved spending some quality time with our family! As we will be heading back to Seattle in May for Autumn's wedding we will probably spend our next Christmas in France... or maybe Autumn and Mike will come for a visit and we'll take them to the French Alps, or someplace with lots of snow!