My big Deale Christmas

I decided to take a little trip this Christmas. I am not a big fan of Christmas. It always makes me cry for some reason or another. So, getting out of town gets me out of feeling depressed. This year I had decided to see family in Washington State. It's my normal getaway, so it was an easy/fast decision. Well, then I decided...I didn't feel like the norm! I wanted to go somewhere new. Somewhere fun. Somewhere where I could still say I spent time with family (and not seem so weird) but also relax and not have to feel social if I didn't want to. So, I emailed one of my mom's cousins. She has around 15 of them aside from her 4 brothers and sister. My mom is the youngest of her generation in the family, so I opted to email the oldest. I actually have always had an interest in talking to her more anyway because I knew that she would have some great stories. Eventhough she was one of my mom's cousins, she grew up around the same time as my youngest great aunt. We have a large family that seems to have many overlapping generations.

My mom's cousin, Betty-Carol, owns a B&B in Maryland. My plan was to get there, relax, read, watch movies, and socialize a bit at night. I didn't intend to interrupt any part of their daily life. I honestly had only met BC like 3 times in my life, so I had no idea what she was really like (i.e., social, pleasant, mean). I have to say, the second I stepped into the car when she and her wife, Marti, picked me up at the airport I was immediately comfortable. On the 45 minute drive to the house we were chatting about family gossip and all. It was really a great feeling. That feeling continued through the week. I learned numerous things about our family. My grandmother was the second youngest in the family of 7 children, so I knew very little about her three much older brothers. Growing up it always seemed like the family was separated between the 3 boys and the 4 girls in the family. BC's father was the second oldest...about 15 years older.

Aside from learning a lot about the family, I enjoyed a lot of time eating new foods, visiting new places, feeding Tundra swans, and enjoying the sights right from the warm inside (though it really wasn't that bad weather-wise). The first meal I had when I got there was "Turducken". I is made in the South and BC and Marti had actually brought it up from New Orleans on their last trip. It's a deboned, layered meat of turkey, stuffing, duck, stuffing, chicken, stuffing, then put back together to look something like a turkey again and cooked. Really, it was excellent and I want to go to New Orleans just to have it again. Other foods that I tried and enjoyed...crab cakes (which besides paella, I had never really had seafood) and a family recipe cheese spread with pimento and tabasco. I, in turn, gave them my(/Kelly's really) FAMOUSLY DELICIOUS Pumpkin Pancake recipe for their B&B guests.

I didn't really do too much relaxing. Of the 3 full days there I spent one day actually reading and watching movies. Well, it was most of one day. The other days were spent with some amazingly kind friends of theirs that drove us around so I could see some sights. One friend of their's lived in an area that would have Tundra Swans migrate in the winter. They were seriously in her back yard. (Pics below) Oh, and all the houses around there are pretty much waterfront. With incredible people (mainly BC and Marti), yummy food, gorgeous sites, a required "cocktail" hour every evening, and such a relaxing way of life, I will definitely be spending more time there. I feel like I fit in so well.

First 3 photos courtesy of http://www.purpleroofs.com/creekside-md.html