We had a unique holiday season this year---for the first time ever, we were in Amarillo with Kaitlin's family for Thanksgiving. Normally an out of town affair, we were glad to have the chance to spend some time with the O'Connells in Amarillo, and Kaitlin's cousin Shannon and her husband Kyle even made the trip! Adam's parents and oldest brother Jacob were invited to the O'Connell's for dinner as well, making it a giant family affair. It was also a chance to see our best friends Cydney and Brandon, who just came back from a 5 week trip to India. We were glad to be able to give them hugs and hear all their stories. But, since we had taken so much time off this summer, and in October for the wedding, we had to make it a whirlwind trip, and were only there for 3 days. It was just enough time to eat too much, talk a lot, and have Ryan lead a tour of the Palo Duro Caves.
Christmas was a first for us too---our first official married Christmas was also the first without our parents. The O'Connells were off to Hawaii to visit Kaitlin's grandparents for the holidays, and the Owens were in Amarillo to celebrate at home. Adam's sister and her family live an hour away from us, and they invited us to share in the holiday with them. We went the distance to make this Christmas special, and played each others Santa as well making each other save all our gifts that came in the mail. We spent Christmas morning drinking coffee and listening to a Rat Pack Christmas! We had worried Christmas would be less then spectacular since it was a deviation from our norm, but it was quite romantic and very relaxing. Just before noon, we headed over to Cynthia and Mark's to spend the day with them, our niece and nephew Elizabeth & Ethan, and Mark's parents. Needless to say, Santa Claus had made quite an impression on the kids, and the living room! We spent the day learning all the cool tricks the kids new toys could do, and talking with everyone. Even though we live so close, we seem to be lucky if we see each other once a month--a whole day together was really nice. Mark made quite the feast, though we did have to find an Albertons to make an emergency Diet Coke run for Kaitlin (you're shocked, I'm sure).
The weekend before New Years, we were lucky enough to have our friends Cydney and Brandon stay for a couple days before they headed on to party in Austin on the 31st. It looks like it may be quite some time before we're back in Amarillo-which means quite some time before seeing all our closest friends, so it was a great surprise when we learned they'd be coming through. New Years Eve is one of the biggest holidays in the restaurant business--so Kaitlin had to work from 2pm until about 2am. Adam was off to our friends Derek and Cara's New Years Eve Party while Kaitlin was busy running the restaurant and ringing in the New Year with her co-workers and patrons. She did make it in time for one round of 'hellos' before the party was official done! Work work work seems to be our motto for the break, and always on opposite schedules it seems-so the first was a welcomed day off to spend together doing our favorite thing---absolutely nothing!
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