There's no place like home

There were even more festivities since my last post.

I'm telling you, this rotation of outpatient surgery is really sitting well with me. I have time to do things like intramural volleyball, rock climbing, go to holiday parties, movie nights with friends, bake cookies for the holiday treat baskets we give to the nurses in the hospital, and frolick in the snow!

Holiday cookies for the nurses being assembled!

A very cozy movie night with friends. Not all of us can stay awake past 9!

After Tom's office party, I had TWO office parties of my own that we attended. One hosted at the Barrington Country Club, just down the road from one of our favorite beaches to frequent during the summer. I managed to take no good photos of the event, but got several quite blurry shots of the group of chief residents trying to hold the host, Dr. Beitle, up in front of the Christmas tree.

The second was in the private home of one of my attending physicians (pictured on the far left of this image below). 

It's got a reputation of being quite a hoot, partially because it includes a belly dancer that twirls, shakes and jingles her way through the crowds :). The attending, Dr. Cermik has a tradition of hosting a holiday party complete with a Turkish meal and belly dancers.

Tom, of course, had to show off his moves with the belly dancer

We ended up with a smattering of head-dresses and silk belts with metal coins on them circulating the room and helping us all get in a little bit more of a festive move.

There was a great showing of residents and it's safe to say a good time was had by all.

It's a popular pose among our residency groups, particularly for the (few) men in the residency

This all came on the evening after our first snow of the year.

It was a gorgeously white blanket of fresh snow. It's amazing how it always makes me feel like we're getting a fresh start when the world is coated with snow. That is, until it melts and turns into a brown slushy mess.

But, what was glorious about this snow was the fact that we were able to play in it on my day off and then it all melted away by the next morning for work so I didn't have to battle the roads on my commute ;).

We tested out our sledding hill and we're excited to try it out again this winter.

 

Christmas came and went already, it's hard to believe it. We regret in many ways that we didn't fly home to be with family but, of course, we didn't know until mid-October what my holiday schedule was even going to be.

We had a very pleasant and quiet Christmas. Our home was snug and cozy (although it didn't really need to be considering it was 45 degrees and sunny on Christmas day!). Our tree was outfitted with another ornament to commemorate our time in Rhode Island -- a miniature Awful Awful!

On Christmas Eve we cashed in on the secret-santa present I got from a co-resident: passes to a rock climbing gym! We had never been and I will say it was quite fun!

I was incredibly uncoordinated at first and only got slightly better as the day passed ;)

A pose of mine you'll see all-too-often if we climb together as I express frustration about my failure along the route!

My co-resident, Fei, joined us as well. She is close to half the height of Tom so we both say that's the reason she schooled us at climbing abilities.

Our arms were sore but it was fun to get out and do something non-traditional on Christmas Eve. We didn't document it but I also got the chance to do another traditional activity: put together a puzzle on Christmas. Thanks to Tom for keeping the old-lady side of me alive and well :)

My co-resident Chi-Fong had to work overnight on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so she joined us after her shift and came over on Christmas morning for breakfast since her wife and adorable baby were up with Karen's parents. 

We dined on a favorite of mine; overnight carmel sticky buns! The smell of them rising in the morning was one of the best ways to wake up.

We opened gifts, and once again, felt spoiled and truly blessed by all that we have in material possessions and in love and family.

Tom and I tried our hands at some Christmas treats that we brought with us to Tom's boss's place for Christmas dinner. Aren't they cute?

We said it was like we "planted trees" for Christmas. All surprisingly easy to do, but really tasty and cute if I do say so myself.

We were welcomed into Tom's boss's house (I'll call him Bill even though I still think of him as Senator Conley). Bill and his wife, Norma, took us in with open arms and we dined like royalty!

Unfortunately I didn't take photos of the crew, but I was relieved when I walked in and found that everyone was still in their pajamas and we were able to be casual and just relax around the Christmas tree while Bill's son Brady played the guitar. 

We also stopped by a coordinated light display in the neighborhood that was too good to capture in a still photo, but you can use your imagination based on the photo of what the show was like :)

 

What a delightful family to get to share Christmas with. It will never be any substitute to my own family, but it was so kind of them to let us crash their party.

Now we have one final work week (and a short one at that) before we're off to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl and the Huskies playing Alabama. Tom is insanely excited for it!

We have plenty of new Husky gear to don while we travel and while at the game.

We intend on thoroughly enjoying ourselves because as soon as we return it's seriously a grinding stone waiting for us. Tom has begun his preparation for the bar exam that he is slated to take in mid-February and I'm back to some pretty intense rotations (both in terms of hours spent in the hospital and the content of what I'm doing every day).

I've been so incredibly grateful for this final month of 2016. It's been a reprieve from the daily grind where I've been able to get little pieces of myself back that were fading a bit because of the schedule, stress, and heavy load that is residency.

We'll see how the second half of the year shapes up, but Tom and I are both feeling a little more motivated to take on 2017 with new vigor. We may not love Rhode Island, but we can certainly learn to love little bits of it, and to push ourselves to become more involved in the community and of course to be better learners and spouses to each other.

The adage that there's no place like home still rings true. While we both wanted to be in our traditional "homes" back in the Northwest for Christmas, Tom and I found ourselves gratefully reflective as we snuggled by our fake fireplace on the TV on Christmas night. And, we also have a more snuggly living room thanks to the newest addition - a loveseat! Now we can have more than 3 people over and we all don't have to sit on the same couch!

We send our love to you all at the end of 2016. It's certainly been a big year what with graduating from graduate school and moving across the country. I'm sure even bigger years are to follow but in a lot of ways it's kind of hard to imagine a bigger year than this one.

Sending lots of love and Happy Holidays from Rhode Island!