Christmas Eve in Virginia

We have arrived at our Christmas destination and the trip was lovely. We left Wednesday afternoon and the wipers were never off until we arrived Friday evening. We were a soggy group, tromping around the hills of eastern Ohio looking at cattle but the company was pleasant and the conversation rich. The farmer and his family are lovely homey people who we connected with when we met them earlier this year and it was a pleasure to pick up our acquaintance again now.

Yesterday the group of us, In-Laws, Sister, BIL, and niece went into the city (DC) and saw the American Indian museum, the Air and Space Museum, and saw the movie "Night in the Museum" in Imax at the museum. What a great day.

No jackets all day. We saw a Christmas show on the mall that was in support of the armed forces and the Santa Claus was great. Bushy white eyebrows and a plush gorgeous costume. It looked like it was created at the North Pole.

We waited in line for the movie for an hour and made friends of two couples each with small children. We thought that they were friends because their kids played and ran around together but they had just met as well. Is it Christmas that relaxes our privacy walls and allows us to connect with strangers? The children have that natural ability and it seems that we put up our firewalls as we grow. Too bad for us.

Today, the girls (MIL, SIL, niece and I) did a little last minute shopping and everyone found what they wanted. Now we're relaxing at home. After this post, I'm going to work again on the socks. Nearing the toes! Hope I can get them done in time.

Finished the Andromeda Strain and am looking forward to seeing the movie. The technology that is mentioned in the book is fairly common now but I wonder how much was known back then when the book was written.

I'm listening to "In the Company of Cheerful Ladies." The series is one of the most charming and wise set of books I have ever listened to. I enjoy the serenity, simplicity, and kindness of the books as well as the "silliness"...that's what my MIL says. Which is rather ironic since she is currently enjoying my book "Redwall", a book about mice who live in an abbey and have adventures. Now that's silly.

Merry Christmas.