Christmas 2014

I'll be honest, I was not looking forward to going to Upstate NY for Christmas.  I had promised my mom to help her downsize her home but I was not prepared for what I encountered.  I'm not going to write a lot about it except that her house is now 6,000 pounds lighter of what my mom's therapist and I call "static" and it is now ready for contractors to work on.   Read on...

During the cleanup I also found 800 pounds of family history that I packed up in large boxes and shipped to Portland for just under $1500!  Yeah... it wasn't expected but the items I found went back 5+ generations and if nobody else cared to document it and archive things properly I guess the task has fallen to me.  I figure that all the generations before me took the time and effort to pass things on so now it is my turn to make sure they are also preserved and passed on.  

Emily and I also had a wonderful dinner at my mom's friend Elayne's place.  Elayne accompanied my mom to our wedding in Hood River in 2013 and had given us a really beautiful hand made quilt.  She had prepared a dinner menu in her kitchen and an amazing crockpot chicken meal for us.  Her house was wonderful and Emily and I were actually pretty jealous of the layout.  It was great to see her and I'm super happy she is a positive influence on my mother.

While in upstate Emily and I also had a chance to catch up with Damon, Denis and Logan at the Mad Max Brewery in Glens Falls which used to be the really shitty club "Tilly's" back in my day.  At least things have changed for the better there!  After working 12 hour days at my mom's house it was a welcome night away with friends.  

On Saturday I dropped Emily off in Lee, Ma at Roses Restaurant, the same place her parents had transferred us to my mom last Sunday after we flew in on a redeye to Granby, CT on Sat.  I was sad to see her go as I really could have used her help but I know she was anxious to spend time with her own family.  So, I headed back to NY for 4 more long days downsizing.  I got help from both Dennis who made runs to good will for us as well as Frank DeNardo who transported boxes and packing peanuts for me in his truck back to my mom's place.  I couldn't have done what I did without their help.  

On Christmas Eve my mom dropped me off at Roses with Emily so I could spend the last few days of the holidays with her family.   I had spent a brief night with my niece Sophie driving through a Christmas light show in Granby with Nick and Jenn but I hadn't yet met Hadley, Julia and Chris' daughter so I was excited to get back to her parents place.  

I'm not going to into too many details about Christmas with the Riggott's.  It was a wonderful, and relaxing time and I loved interacting with the newest members of our family.  As per tradition Patti made her amazing lasagna and on Christmas we had prime rib.  Unfortunately, Patti fell under the weather on Christmas but the family was able to band together and cook the meal regardless.  

There were the usual shots passed around and Emily and I both received great gifts at the exchange.  It was also a pleasure to have a visit from her aunts and see Michael and Carol again whom I think are just amazing!  I wish we could have spent more time there as their home is always so relaxing for us but we had to get back for work and to Mr. Leo who clearly was missing us from the photos our friends sent us.  And we only got one poke from her mom about when we are planning children... ;)