A Move Begins

 Joe and I had a pretty good Christmas yesterday. We woke up, opened our stockings and the presents Joe's parents sent, drank some coffee, and then spent most of our afternoon on our phones.

Thanks to Joe's family, we had plenty of sustenance to get us through our phone marathon: cinnamon rolls from Joe's brother and sister-in-law, meat, cheese, and bread rolls from his aunt Cia and bobbi, and pistachios and venison salami from his parents. It had been way too long since we've had some venison in our fridge. 

After a couple of Christmas naps, Joe made dinner. Look at this face of determination.

"I will saute you parsnips!"

We had rib-eye from the co-op, and Joe topped them with a little Gorgonzola. He also made a delicious pan sauce with sauteed garlic and onions in red wine (not pictured). It was delicious!

Later, we ate the chocolate mousse I made.

It wasn't around for too long.

And then we went back to staring at our cool new oven mitt from Joe's parents.

 

 And on the other side:

Our apartment really is starting to look like the Michigan shrine it should. We've got two paintings of Marquette, an old U.P. license plate, the oven mitt, and a sticker with Marquette's area code on it. No one will confuse us with north-westerners.  

At the end of the night, we agreed that without the company of all our friends and family, it didn't really feel like Christmas. But it was still a good day.

Tomorrow we're off to north Idaho to spend a couple of night in a cabin in the woods! Goodbye Spokane!