Aren't the holidays fun.... and busy.... and a bit crazy, and a little bit of every thing else? Mine sure have been. The days leading up to Christmas were busy just being around Rima's place. There were trees to cut down and additional brush to be piled up into stacks. There is even now still a lot of branches and stuff to be put into slash piles for burning later on, as well as 2-3 trees still on the ground waiting to be cut up into firewood.
    Rima's last day at her old job was on Christmas Eve day. Unfortunately she was home so late that night that we didn't get much of a chance to celebrate, other than watching a couple of additional episodes of the Big Bang theory off of last years DVD. We will have to go out and really celebrate some time once we get back into a new routine.
    We had one of her kids and his family over for dinner on Christmas day, so we were both up early cooking and getting ready for them to show up. We baked a beautiful pork shoulder roast that came out of the oven smelling so wonderful that we couldn't help picking little bits and pieces off to sample. That recipe has really worked for us, other than coming out way to salty on the outside, even after we cut the amount of salt rubbed into it before cooking by half. I think we can take it down even further next time, and have it come out of the oven even tastier.
   We also did mashed potatoes and gravy of course, as well as slicing some winter squash into rings and baking them and making up a whole pan full of candied carrots. Add in a pan of hot cornbread and some wine to drink and it was a pretty satisfying meal.
    They all stayed for a couple of hours and it was fun to take Brynn outside to feed carrots to the horses. For a two year old she is absolutely fearless as far as holding up food for them to take. What gets me is that the horses seem to understand she is really young and small and seem to be extra careful around her.
   They all left later in the early evening and we had a couple of hours to clean up and have some down time before some guests showed up for the night. David and Kerrin are dance friends of ours and they were wanting a place to stay over night on their way to the CDH, Contra Dance Holiday, dance in Morgantown on the 26th.
   It was a lot of fun seeing them again, as they have been pretty much in Australia since we had last seen them in Charleston last April or May. So they had wonderful tales to tell us and we all sat around drinking wine and tea and listening to stories from their adventure until we were all ready to fall asleep.
    We were all up pretty early yesterday morning, but not obnoxiously early, thank god. We hung out at home eating breakfast and packing stuff up for our next adventure. We finally all got away from the house around 10:45 a.m. and headed off for Morgantown.
    Rima and I first made a stop in Floyd to drop off trash and to stop by the post office for a package of cookies she was sure had been mailed to her. Success in both of those endeavors as well as in stopping at the local 7-11 so I could pick up a cold drink for the road. Rima was driving and some how while I was inside the store her cup of hot tea managed to spill into one of the cup holders the truck has built in between the seats. It would not of been  a problem except that I had dumped my phone and ear bud in there before going inside. The bottom line is that both went for a good swim and it looks like they are both going to be none functioning from here on out. I'll give it another day or two of drying everything out, but it looks like I'll be looking for a new set of each in the next week or so.
    Our drive the rest of the way to Morgantown WV was uneventful after that, with the miles gliding by at the rate of about a mile a minute. We arrived right after 5:00 p.m. and went in to check in with the sponsors of the event Warren and Terry Doyle. My second surprise of the day was that one of my checks to Warren had never shown up, so I still needed to come up with an extra $150. Lucky for me I had brought the check book along so that was soon taken care of and we could unload all of our dance stuff and head off for dinner.
    Nothing beats walking into a room of 200+ people and seeing all of the happy smiling faces that you know. It can still be a little awkward to run into someone you know, but can't place their name, but it all gets sorted out and by the end of the week you will know every ones name again and maybe even know a few more. This year there are people from 33 states and several other countries attending the dance, and it is surprising how many of them I recognize from past dances somewhere in the U.S. It is one of the true benefits to taking up contra dancing.
   The other one of course is the actual dancing. That started right at 8:00, but first there was an hour long concert in the Library featuring the Eddy Sisters. Two sisters who have been dancing and playing and singing pretty much their whole life. They sang several soulful, poignant and just plain funny songs while accompanying thier selves on fiddle, guitar and banjo. The voices and harmonies are enough to make you cry at times they are so beautiful. It is always interesting to me how many  talented people there out there in the world who will never be as famous as some of the people who have made it big, but who sing and play every bit as well as any one you can think of. It was a wonderful 50 minutes of my life.
   But dancing came next and it was the Great Bear Trio, my favorite band at the moment, with Sara doing the calling. Right from the start we had 4 full lines of hot, sweaty dancers, and by the second dance, windows and doors were being opened up to the ravages of the cold outdoor temperatures. It is so much fun, that words just can't describe it. We danced for nearly two hours before taking a break for some well earned snacks. I had only one break other than that where I had to go drink a big cup of water and Gatorade just to rehydrate a little bit.
      Perpetual e-Motion took over musical duties after the break and Terry Doyle did the calling. I danced 3-4 dances to them before I just had to sit down again. Every part of me seemed to be pleasantly sore.... well maybe my feet actually hurt a little bit, but it all felt good and you could still hear the music in the ballroom and see the dancers through the doorway.
   The dancing was over at midnight and a few people hung around afterwards talking and drinking some wine in the fat and comfy library chairs outside the dance floor. But even I had to quit pretty early as I was very tired by then.
   A quick shower back at the room and then into bed for a wonderful couple of hours of sleep. I always sleep well at these kinds of dances. The physicality dehydrates me enough that I don't have to get up much at night, and I am so tired that I just sort of pass out for the night. A couple of ibuprophen before hand, and I even wake up feeling pretty good.
    Normally I don't dance many of the dances during the day, and certainly none of them before noon, but GBT were playing again for the morning session so it was hard to resist the call. Managed to do about an hours worth and then went and talked to friends out in the other room. Soon enough it was time for lunch and after that a two hour nap.
    It is just about dinner time right now, and like usual I am hungry once again. Rima, I am sure, has been off dancing some of the afternoon dances, but she is younger.... and probably more fit too. Tonight there will be another concert after dinner and then another 4 hour evening dance. If that still isn't enough there will be a techno contra starting at midnight and going until...... Those are done with canned music and a DJ that plays the tunes and does the calling. They can be quite fun and vigorous, but by then my feet are pretty much toast.  Will just have to see though.


brk*