kate and geoff: And There Was Christmas

It came and went pretty quickly. We missed the big ole blizzard that shut down NYC, but did get a light dusting down in south Georgia, which has maybe happened twice in 30 years. I took a lot more pictures of the snow, but forgot to upload them today. Will try and post later. There was family, there was food, there was Clay's (special whiskey) Christmas Punch and there were pretty intense games of Monolopy - one that will even go down in history.

(Please imagine the following paragraph read by the guy who narrates the timeless holiday film, A Christmas Story.)

It was nearly 1am. Clay's special Christmas punch was melting in everyone's glasses. My brother was dominating the game as usual, had picked off Geoff and I in rapid succession and owned nearly every property on the board. He was about to beat poor cousin Clarke, who owned one measley monopoly, nearly all of which were morgaged to keep him in the game while he languished in jail. The Free Parking pot had grown considerably. No one had landed on it for nearly the whole game. We realized there was a fortune in there. Clarke's final chance to roll doubles and get out jail came. He shook the dice, gave it a special magic "Hail Mary" blow and....BOOOOOOM! DOUBLE FIVES! As soon as those dice hit the board, I screamed, forgetting it was 1am and my aunt and uncle were sleeping in the next room. Clay's face sank. Clarke appeared to be in shock. Double fives! Liberation from jail, a trip to Free Parking to collect All.That.Money and the game took a turn. Despite all of Clay's scrambling and wheeling and deeling that occured afterwards to emerge the victor (and it was impressive), Clarke won that night. And underdogs the world over rejoiced. He stood a little taller the next day. No longer could we be held down by they tyranny of Clay having a monopoly on winning Monopoly. There was equality. There was hope. There was Double Fives!

There wasn't much that could top that epic game.

There was, however, a family jam session.

I forgot to bring our stockings so Mom stitched Geoff's name on the back of the one I had when I was a kid. So we shared. And even though it's crocheted, and therefore stretches to become the world's largest stocking, it didn't fit everything. And it kind of looks like it has a tumor in this picture.

The blizzard did affect us getting home though. Even though the blizzard was over, our travel day was over 24 hours instead of a 2.5 hour plane ride. It was Planes, Planes and Automobiles. After attempting to leave Savannah at 12noon, we eventually got out of Atlanta at 8pm on a flight to DC, rented a car, drove a few hours, got a hotel room near the Delaware border and drove the rest of the way the next morning. Turned the rental car in at Laguardia, where (thankfully!) our luggage was waiting patiently and hailed a cab home. Have never been happier to be home in my life.

Some scenes from our epic journey...

The Savannah Airport - where it all began