Holiday Update, part 1

We're back from year 3 of the multi-family tri-timezone Christmas vacation, after a good (but short) visit to snowy Denver and a nice time in Durham. We still have lots of work to do to get settled into our new place, and going back to work today was somewhat of a shock, so I'll make our updates quick. Maybe we'll add more fun details later.

Denver was a whirlwind of playing in the snow, playing with kiddos, eating delicious goodies, and catching up with Kate's siblings. A couple highlights were the family foosball matchups, snowball fights, the delicous meals, late-night chats, the Broncos' last second victory (that allowed us to get to the Christmas Eve church service on time!), and of course the gingerbread house madness. The picture pretty much sums up the chaos of this event. There's probably about 6 of every possible type of candy crammed onto about 30 square inches of gingerbread there. Think Willy Wonka meets Jackson Pollock.

Unfortunately our visit was shorter than planned, due to the blizzard. We hope to make it out to all the various places Ebels (and Meshinchis) may be soon - to San Diego to see Ted/Jee/kids and Susan, to Denver to see Mark/Catherine and the soon-to-be newest nephew, and to Seattle to see Beth/Soheil and the girls/Connor. So many places, so little time! Anyways, we had a great 2 short days in Denver before heading further east to NC.