What do you say to a guy in an airport walking around with an African sword and shield? You say, "Welcome home, Dylan!!"
Yes, I know it's been more than a week, now, already, but I never mentioned much about how cool it was for the four of us to connect, again, after several months and thousands of miles. Tom and I left home around 8:15am to be able to meet Rachel's plane at 10-something at the SF airport. It was just about perfectly timed, as she walked out of baggage claim! The three of us got a quick lunch at Chile's, then hung out at Starbuck's for a couple of hours, until Dylan's flight from London landed, right on time, around 1:15. Just had to look for the skinny guy carrying the shield/sword combo, and about 75# of other, more mundane-looking luggage.
So, there we were, finally! What an interesting chat we had on the 2 1/2 hour trip home! We were exploding with questions about Tanzania, and Maasai, and elephants, but Dylan had been out of touch with Rachel, all that time, as well, and hadn't heard anything about ceramics in Tuscany, Barbary apes in Spain, or Thanksgiving in Zurich! And we got back to the house just as it was getting dark, so that Rachel could just barely see the place from the outside, since she hadn't been here, before. It was quite a ride!
The last few Christmas Eve's, we've done some kind of fondue meal for dinner, usually quite late, after all three Christmas Eve church services. Last year, we tried Asian hot pot, which is where one cooks one's own seafood (in this case) and vegetables in the boiling broth in the middle of the table. Then, there are the rice and noodles around the edges. So, that's what we had for dinner, this year, as well. It's a nice, slow, conversational meal. Here's a shot of us that evening...
So, it was, in short, one of our more memorable Christmas Eves, I'll have to say.
