Christmas on the lake

We had a nice, low-key Christmas in upstate New York. I took lots of nice pictures and we were there for a few days, so to avoid one painfully long blog, I'll break it up into a couple days worth.

The drive up was rainy and yucky, but uneventful, which is good if you all remember back to my ticket episode in North Carolina. We stopped in Binghamton and had a nice lunch with an old friend from my days at the Marietta Daily Journal. Kristen and her hubbie John relocated to New York the weekend after Andy and I moved to Maryland. They just bought their first home and we got the grand tour -- very nice!

Anyway, we arrived in New York just in time for a fantastic jambalaya dinner (one of Andy's dad's specialties). Saturday, Jeanie (Andy's mom) took me on a tour of some local wineries while Andy finished up some last-minute shopping. I have to say, Napa has nothing on the wine in the Finger Lakes. I can't believe it hasn't become mainstream. It's delicious. I brought back a few bottles -- including two of the wines we had at our wedding. Those who attended should remember how good that wine was. That is unless you had too much to remember how good that wine was.

This is the view of the lake from the first winery we stopped to visit, Keuka Springs.

Saturday night we were supposed to head over to Carrie and Chuck's, but one sick kid later, we decided to stay at mom and dad MacAlpine's. Honestly, the steak dinner that night made it a little difficult to be too disappointed about the turnout. No offense, Carrie and Chuck, but you know how good that steak is. We still love you.

And on to Christmas Eve. But you'll have to stay tuned to the next exciting edition of MacAlpine Genuine Drafts to hear more thrilling Christmas in New York details ...