December 23rd, 2003

So here I am in cold, wintry Michigan. It’s actually neither that cold nor that wintry at the moment. Almost 40 for two days now and the snow was falling off the house in big heavy globs, hitting the ground with a splat. It’s snowy enough to make a difference to my eyes and Sophia’s however. The lake is completely white and there’s patches coming through on the ground, but a lot of the landscape is white. I’ve had a nice few days. I read Celestial
Matters, a book I had taken on my last trip, in September, but not succeeded in even cracking open. It was a pretty good book, I enjoyed it. Kurt’s parents are pushing The Da Vinci Code on us and Kurt is reading it right now and I suppose I might read it after he’s done with it.

We had our own little family Christmas before we left. I had only gotten Kurt one present, but it something he really wanted for his music setup. He got me two robes and a gaming book I had been longing for Two-Fisted Tales. He also had Sekret Santar things to unwrap (music dvd’s! He’s very excited). Sophia had Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak from Jerm and Krissi and she
was excited about the whole concept of presents. Not just hers but helping us unwrap ours and giving them out to whomever they were for. This is a good sign. We saved our present for her to open up here, although I don’t know if that was wise, considering how many presents she’ll be getting from her grandmother, grandfather, aunt and uncle. She’s going to be inundated. She’s already been inundated, as last night we had dinner with the extended family and Kurt’s aunts and uncles gave Sophia a present each (a hokey pokey Elmo and a baby doll). She also got more of the coveted beanie babies she loves so much: a tiger and a white french poodle looking thing. There was a whole bag full of them and each child was to pick one, but there were more beanies that children and I found Sophia surrounded by them toward the latter part of the evening. I told her she could
only take two. I have no idea how we’re going to pack all these things to take back. Kurt’s parents are going to have to bring down some of this stuff next time they ride down, I think.

Sophia was reticent at the large family gathering, clinging to me and demanding to be held, but about halfway through the evening she reached her comfort threshhold and was running around and playing with all the other children. All in all, I think it was a great experience for her.

This morning Kurt and I went geocaching, visiting two caches and making finds. We left Sophia behind, as the weather was kind of inhospitable and the terrain at both places a bit rough for a two year old. It was quite a lot of fun.

It’s very relaxing to be away from home and work. Kurt’s parents’ house is so beautiful and so restful. Whenever I come here I think that this is a great place to write and dream about having a place like this to get away to from time to time. Smaller, of course, there house is gargantuan, but still remote and cozy and pleasant. However, then I remember that they have no broadband, and
that our cell phones have no signal here and all those other things that make it great for a vacation but not so great as a place to live and realize that I couldn’t last more than a couple of weeks out here on my own. However, maybe a couple of weeks every three or four months would be a nice thing. Who knows?

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