What I Did During My Christmas Vacation

It was an AMAZING holiday.     Ian arrived in Omaha on Christmas Eve (this was the short trip for him, in the end!).    The arrivals board said the plane was on time, yet no plane.   After 1/2 hour, I was getting a little worried curious about where the plane was.   I was less concerned when I googled the flight from my phone and saw the flight was running a little late.  🙂

The flight arrived.   People from it started trickling into the terminal.   I watched as some greeters ran hysterically up to the people they were meeting, and thought about what Ian said before:   “The arrivals lounge is the happiest place in the world.”

I spotted Ian approaching the exit from the terminal into the arrivals lounge.    I’m not sure what happened after that… one minute he was not here and the next, we were hugging each other.  

After finding his luggage and the car, we headed off to… Taco Bell (one of the few restaurants open on Christmas Eve).   He has decided he likes chalupas.

Other things:

• We opened loads of presents.   I got a lot of art supplies (pencils, paint, pads, etc), a curry book, a CD, a couple of drawing books and loads of other things. Spoiled?  Yes!
• Harassed FedEx for a special food packet from my brother.  🙂
• We went to Kansas City to visit my brother, SIL, niece and nephew.    We went through downtown Kansas City, ate barbeque (required in Kansas City) and had a big dog wash.   Also, my nephew decided the contour of Ian’s head was just perfect for driving his truck over, especially his eye.    🙂    Too cute!
• I made pancakes.   We ate a bunch of them.
• Ian drove on the Interstate.  We’d warned everyone else to stay off the Interstate, but it was really not necessary.  He’s mastered US highways, and even a few exit/entry ramps.   It was nice to have someone else drive, and he seemed to really enjoy it.
• We spent 5 HOURS at the zoo.   Ian speaks to animals.  They talk back to him.   It was fun to watch his reaction to the zoo.     It was so much fun, and we were terribly exhausted by the end of the day.
• We watched the Queen’s Christmas Message with great interest.
• We went to the Joslyn Art museum, where we spotted plenty of American Indian statues and paintings.    At the end were a few famous works, like Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans) (Degas), Small Country Farm at Bordighera (Un coin de ferme à Bordighera) (Monet), and even a Renoir.
• Visited the Whole Foods Market, where I became a little worried that Ian was seriously contemplating taking up permanent residence within the store.   I love this place, too.   🙂   We ate a panini stuffed with roast beef and gorgonzola and drank coffee and looked around at various grocery items.  It was lovely.
• We toured the Old Market, ate lunch here (thai salad, nom), and went to the mall, which was not so different from the mall in Milton Keynes.
• We cooked lots of wonderful food:  Christmas dinner, English breakfasts, chicken enchiladas, curry… all sorts.   It was all good.    I was mostly the prep cook, but hey, I did a meal or two here and there. 🙂
• We played with dogs (who really enjoy Ian’s dog-friendliness) and snuggled up on the sofa.
• We went ice skating!
• We visited my work, where he received the seal of approval from my friends/coworkers
• Ian and TLK got along famously.
• We taste-tested several types of beer.    I even got to have a Leffe.
• One very jet-lagged Ian returned to the UK, after what seemed like 2 days of travel (thanks to the 5 hour layover in Cincinnati)

I wouldn’t have traded this week for anything in the world.  It was perfect.   It went entirely too quickly.