Stoughton meets Greensboro

Enjoy your stay at Chateau Gordon.

The House of Gordon hosted an out-of-towner for 4 days as Dad Torda flew in from Wisconsin for some after-holiday North Carolina hospitality. Unfortunately, he brought some cold northern climate with him, as our moderate temperatures plummeted from mid-60's highs to consecutive overnight lows of 18 and 19. Brrr... In another of our rather sucky work schedule anomalies, Kimberly was off the entire time whereas Chris was on an 8-day stretch of 8a-4p. Luckily, the nights were still able to run quite late for maximum fun.

So after touchdown and arrival on Thursday, we gathered 'round the obese tree and had a not-yet-unwrapped-Christmas-gifts-sent-from-up-north gift exchange. The loot was divvied up and smiles were all around.

The next brew project was acquired containing an Alaskan Smoked Porter clone ingredient kit. Yum! Hopefully it will honor the original in all its tasty glory.

Kimberly then surprised both her father and her husband with special "Thank you" gifts for supporting her through her vigorous Masters program these past two years. Dad received a fancy Mont Blanc pen set and Chris received a stunning new watch. Wow.

Friday saw the all-day preparation of a 14-pound bird with famous bacon'd stuffing and other side dishes for dinner. Kimberly christened her new Emile Henry pie dish for another of her world-famous white cheddar cheese crust apple pies. Abso-frickin-lutely delicious.

A rousing game of Monopoly ensued afterward, with the real estate mogul Kimberly losing her crown and succumbing to the aggressive vulture tactics of Chris and his expensive Yellow Property empire!

Breakfast and running around occurred during the day for the father-daughter team on Saturday, then at night all 3 revelers traveled over to Winston-Salem to meet our good friends the Aarons at Diamondback Grill for some NFL playoff football (screw you Pittsburgh HAHAHAHA), drinks, dinner, and good times. Time sped by and before we knew it, close to 5 hours were spent occupying table and bar space. We all had another GREAT time at Diamondback.

More running around and breakfast out for Torda and former Torda on Sunday, then at night it was drinks and the TiVo'd GOP/Democratic debate. And plenty of drinks were needed to muddle through the crazy madness that is Republican philosophy. Holy crap, those guys are loony! Thankfully, the Dems followed up with their own brand of loony: windbag Bill Richardson. Just drop out already you worthless sack! Still later, another round of Monopoly was started only to stall late in the wee hours by lack of viable property trading.

Sadly, Monday saw the departure of our guest back to cold Stoughton, WI and the feet of snow still occupying the ground there. Yes, "feet". Of course, the temp here shoots up to 70 once the plane departs. Another fun trip, albeit with some pharmaceutical occupational responsibilities putting a kink in any "entire day" plans.

We leave you with concrete proof of Dad T.'s obssessive quest for cleanliness. Damn those Christmas tree needles and their irresponsible leap from the tree to the floor!
(I'm sure he'll be pleased with that one.)