Mr. Owens and his Sisters~

Gayle, the Manz and Karen

We went to the farm for Christmas, and for the-day-before-my-birthday.  I love going to the farm for holidays- (or most anytime).  This year there were extras- Gayle and her husband and the boys showed up unexpectedly on the 23rd.  For years they lived out west in Seattle or Portland or somewhere, so only visited occasionally in the summer- but now they are re stationed in Florida so it is not that bad of a drive.  So for Christmas there was a full house- Gayle's family, Karen and her husband and Eric (who is in the military and just a bit older than Grendel), Us and Grendel of course.  And the doggs- CoCo, Lacy and Baxter (from Flordia).  Our doggs stayed at home- they smell bad and are to large for any but 'outside' dogg parties. But Santa had brought them bones, so they were more or less content.

Huge feast, of course- ham, field peas, potato salad, okra (yay!), rutabagas (double yay!), sweet potatoes (extra for Grendel), corn... probably something else that I don't remember right off... coconut cake, carrot cake.  For my birthday we had jambalaya, beans, more corn (yay), more okra (double yay again!) and chocolate cake with the *right* kind of icing.  (And I appreciate that- everyone else in the universe may like the whippy kind, but I like the old-school solid sugar thick-as-a-brick kind that is good for decorating). The cake had these lovely blue flowers that looked like silk flowers, but were made of sugar.  I took a picture, but it didn't turn out (still getting used to the camera)... they were beautiful but not-so-tasty.  Probably made of fondant gum or the like, but lovely just the same.  And truth-be-told, I don't need more sugar!

It's funny over there though- as you can see by the picture Mr. Owens and sisters are all tall and skinny and have nice long hair.  What you can't see by the picture is that Mr. Owens and sisters all married 'gingers' who are comparatively short and decidedly well-fed.  While Gayle's boys are in the teenage growing category and therefore don't count, both Eric and Grendel are also well-fed gingers.  Bears and rabbits.  Tall rabbits.  Very tall rabbits.  Very tall rabbits with great hair.  

Day after my birthday, I went to the city and Grendel took me out for Chinese (yay!  And yes, eating is a celebration... which is why I am a well-fed bear) and then to see the Hobbit... in 3D.  I have never been to a 3D movie before and was slightly dubious about wearing layers of glasses, but it all worked.  The movie was very well done (and made everyone appreciate dwarves in a new way), Mr. Owens pays more than a passing resemblance to Gandalf (a younger Gandalf, but the hair/beard are the same, as well as the love of 'grey') and yes, I ducked.  Not sure if 3D is my thing- some parts were a bit odd- but I did like it and it was a new experience.

Today- today is for back to school, back to work, back to non-holiday reality.  It is cold and raining, and that is ok, I have my ducks in a row and am ready to start again more or less.  Actually, as usual, the day before the restart of school after break is the *only* time I have trouble sleeping.  Kept waking up thinking that I slept through my alarm or dreaming that my class was in rebellion... then I would listen to the rain and doze back off... until 3:30.  Then I gave up, got up, did the dishes and made some tea.  It's all good.