A low-key Christmas at the Rich Family Infirmary

Christmas 2010 will not be remembered with lavish holiday parties, mountains of freshly fallen snow, and the busy Christmas rush. Instead it was celebrated on a much smaller scale….TEXAS style. I completed grad school on Dec 17^th. Packed up the trusty Altima of dream on Dec 18^th and drove to Texas so Burke and I could spend Christmas together. My brother Sam was the perfect wingman for the two-day journey to my new home. After a teary good-bye and a slight melt down with the car packed to the gills, a loaded IPod, and red vines a plenty we left my home of 34 years for the next chapter of my charmed life. Sam and I had a great time rocking out to some shared favorites and with each passing hour I began to feel more relaxed and more excited about all things Texas.

We arrived in Dallas late on Saturday night and were grateful for a few warm embraces from Burke, clean sheets, and a good nights rest. Sam and I both slept in and then spent the day relaxing together. Later that night we took Sam to the airport and sent him back home.  A girl feels pretty lucky knowing she is surrounded by good brothers who love her.

Burke had to work for a few days and I unpacked the car, did some laundry and found a grocery store. I think it was somewhere along isle 7 as I was picking up some life staples when I realized that didn’t feel so hot. By the time I got home, I was pretty sure that I was not feeling good and by the next morning I was confident about that thought. I was clearly sick. Not too surprising when you factor in the crazy few weeks and that sadly Burke had been wresting a killer cold since Thanksgiving. As a result, our Christmas holiday was pretty much spent at home in our pajamas, at the CVS pharmacy or at the doctor’s office. In no way should this post be viewed or read as a big long complaint, rather a documentation of history.

Thanks to the magic of technology we were able to chat and Skype with family and friends, which helped us, feel more connected to our familiar Salt Lake Christmas events.  For both of us, this was our first Christmas on our own. I had grand plans of creating some new family traditions that we would carry with us for the rest of our days. I had researched some great recipes, and intended to locate some holiday-ish events in Dallas…but it was just not in the cards for us this year. We had two little trees and a garland that I had put together post turkey fest on Thanksgiving and I did rally for a bit to make a batch of Christmas cookies but beyond that we were pretty much horizontal with Kleenex in hand for days. Even as we felt pretty crappy…we were pretty happy to just be in the same room without any deadlines, assignments or real life requirements. We made some food, watched movies, slept in and sometime after New Years we both started feeling better. Here are some photo’s documenting Christmas in the Rich family infirmary.