December 2018

We've been looking forward to all of the usual things that make December so great: tasty foods, festivities, vacation time, family time and the spirit of Christmas present.

On Potlucks

Like 62% of office workers in the U.S., I usually eat lunch at my desk. To break out of this routine on occasion, I suggested a monthly potluck lunch to my division at work. The idea had a lot of support, as other people probably just need an excuse to eat away from their desk too. December was our second potluck, and we included a white elephant gift exchange and donation box for the student pantry. It turned out to be a fun event for the twenty or so co-workers who came. They may not know this, but for a few years I was in charge of a monthly potluck for my singles group at church in Arizona (our church group here in New York also does a monthly potluck, but I have no responsibility over that). So, potlucks continue to be recurring part of my life, and I'm ok with that.

Yuletide Festivities

Once we pulled the decorations out of the basement, and bought a tree to decorate, the Christmas spirit began to build with each day on the advent calendar. Our first Christmas season in New York had many of the traditional elements: pine trees, winter coats and occasional blankets of snow. To add to that, we did some other things to celebrate, like sending and receiving Christmas cards from friends and family, baking cinnamon rolls to share with friends and neighbors (like last year), attending a few Christmas get-togethers and hosting a small one of our own. And on Christmas Eve, we took a drive up to a small town on the northern tip of one of the Finger Lakes called Skaneateles (pronounced "Skinny Atlas"). It's basically a few streets lined with boutique shops and peppered with carolers and actors dressed in Dickens-era garb that spread Christmas cheer. We walked the streets pushing a stroller through light snow and dropped into a few shops to warm up along the way, including Doug's Fish Fry, where we had the most incredible apple fritters. We've learned about some other local Christmas activities along the way this month that we'll have to add to our list for next year. Christmas morning was fairly low key for us this year - Alex doesn't really get it yet, and so we unwrapped mostly practical items we need like long underwear. The most exciting Christmas gift for us arrived at the Scranton airport at 2:30 pm that day: a visit from Becky's family.

Visit from the Burdens

Becky's mom, Debbie, and brother, Nate, were our first visitors to stay with us since we moved here, and we enjoyed their company for the holidays. I won't try to argue that Binghamton is the most exciting place to visit, but it does have some epic old-school mansions. We visited the Phelps Mansion - a large civil war-era house that has been preserved and decorated for Christmas; and the Roberson Museum and Science Center, which is another old house that has been preserved and includes various exhibits, such as an elaborate model train setup loosely based on the layout of the local area that Alex really enjoyed watching. On one of the warmer days, I took Alex on a hike with me at the state park (which was lovely), while Becky and her family went skiing at Greek Peak. I later took everyone else on the same hike on New Years Day since being active is what people do on that day. We also enjoyed playing various board games together, bowling, movies and several delicious meals together.

Home Finding

After putting offers on a few houses that didn't work out for one reason or another, it looks like we've now found a place to settle into without a month to spare on our current lease contract. Like most of the houses in the area, it is an older one from the 1960s, but it was recently renovated to some extent, so the kitchen and bathrooms are new. So is the hot water system, which also heats the house through the baseboards. One thing that definitely isn't new is the roof. So, we negotiated a credit upon purchase for the cost to have the roof repaired and reshingled, which we'll need to do asap. There is no such thing as a perfect house, especially with our budget and the age of houses in this area. But we hope this one will meet our needs for years to come. At this point, we've done the inspection and just need to see if the deal holds up with the banks prior to closing. More on this next month, when hopefully we'll have a new address and a lot more to say.

As always, here is a link to a Google Photos album with more photos and videos of our December activities. Thanks to Debbie for taking some of these photos.