Christmas in the Midwest

We’re now on our way back from the Midwest, delayed in Indianapolis due to Chicago snowfall. The holiday break was much needed and very relaxing. We flew into Indianapolis then drove 2 hours to Cincinnati for ~4 days with Karl’s mom and brother. On Christmas morning we drove back to Indiana for ~4 days with Lila’s family (sans Nabeel and Asha who are on their honeymoon in New Zealand).

While in Ohio we went to see “A Christmas Carol,” tried 2 awesome new restaurants, had an open house for Paul’s recently renovated pad, and met Paul’s new girlfriend, Amy. We celebrated Christmas Liebat style – big dinner Christmas Eve, followed by gift exchange. This year was a special gift exchange year – our moms received jewelry from our Asian honeymoon adventures, while Paul received a used camera (doh – need to work on that) that will soon be converted to a speciality infrared version. Paul gave Lila and Karl cooking lessons (a hint???) and mom gave us a beautiful Charlie Harper print and an intertwined heart necklace. Karl gave Lila a stunning sapphire and diamond bracelet to match her engagement ring. Lila needs work on her wife skills as she has yet to do Christmas shopping, despite it being her favorite holiday.

The nicest part of Christmas eve was spending it with the Liebat family together, while still making it to Indiana in time for the Ibrahim-style Christmas celebration. We arrived in Lafayette (a 3hr drive from Cincinnati) in time to finish filling the stockings. For the past decade or so, the Ibrahims have gotten small stocking stuffers as gifts while saving money for big family adventures. Because of the schedules, we did have one change to this year’s celebration – mom cooked. Typically the Ibrahim kids make Christmas dinner complete with handmade menus, but this year mom made an assortment of Arabic food for Christmas dinner and the days that followed.

Other holiday highlights included finishing our wedding thank you cards, much to the relief of our parents who were near disowning us. We also met up with Karl’s cousins in Ohio, and Lila’s childhood friend in Indiana. This was our first Christmas together married, and marked 2 years since we met each other’s families. May there be many more!

November Shanghai Pictures

Some highlights from our Shanghai Preview trip are now posted: http://www.liebat.com/gallery2/v/lila/ .