Happy Holidays!

Great news - my dad was discharged from the Mayo Clinic yesterday! They made sure he could keep food down (nausea necessitated an IV being inserted and that is no fun) and checked his levels. Everything looked good. So happy that this happened before Christmas! My parents are required to stay in Jacksonville for at least two more weeks so the clinic can monitor Dad's recovery, but being out of the hospital is HUGE!

I am currently in the throes of honeymoon planning. We booked a 9-day trip to Hawaii (YES!) for late February and splurged on miles to get a direct flight from Anchorage to Maui. I know it seems like so far away (2 months) but I prefer to plan way ahead for trips and the short notice is making me a bit nervous. Most of the accomodations I have looked into are already full! But we may stay for a few days in one location, drive down to Hana for a night and then book a different hotel/condo after that. Also doing my research on rental cars and fun activities like snorkel cruises, fishing trips and the road to Hana.

The temperature right now really bites. I try not to be a Negative Nelly about the weather because it is my choice to live in a northern state like Alaska. But COME ON, below zero or single digit temps for 3-4 weeks straight? It's too cold to do outside activities and even going grocery shopping is a miserable experience.

Not sure if I mentioned that I am part of a supper/wine club with some folks from work. There are 9 of us now and we get together monthly at one of our homes to decompress from work and basically have a really entertaining evening. Everyone is required to either bring a bottle of wine or dish that corresponds to the theme we have all decided on at the previous meeting. I love this group! We talk (gossip), play games, win prizes, stuff ourselves with amazing food and drink copious amounts of wine. I'm organizing two field trips in January for my fellow club-goers: a snowshoeing expedition and a night at the Beer & Barleywine Festival.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone. This has been an eventful year in more ways than one, but we are always grateful for the blessings (big and small) that come our way. Holiday love to you all.