A holiday review ...

Hi all! I hope you all had a great holiday and ate to you're heart's content (although our waist lines may now be complaining!)

The holidays were definately different this year with George gone. The drama was low compared to most years as my aunt had baby 3 months ago so she was the center of attention. Although, my poor father-in-law seems to think it was filled with all sorts of drama and I didn;t have the heart to tell him this was a good year!

I was a bit overwhelmed by my family. They seemed to think that since George was gone, I wouldn't need to spend much time with his family so they called me alomst daily to join them in some sort of activity. I tried to say I was busy but that just turned into guilt from them. It was hard because I was really banking on spending a few of those days in my pjs on the sofa with the puppy.

I wish I could have spend more time with his best friend G and his future bride MD (dude, get her a ring already!) We had a few days of fun and I spent New Years at their house playing drunk Monopoly (you just had to have been there!)

I also had the chance to grab dinner with some friends from college. They too were/are military couples so it was fun to spend an evening with people who understand. We shared stories of then and now and had fun catching up.



One of my closest friends from college was E (left). We would spend countless hours making fun of the rotating door of girlfriends that other cadets brought to the parties, had "girl's beauty time" whenever there was a military ball, and showed the boys who was really in charge when they needed to be reminded. Her husband was deployed for 16 months before leaving the Army, so if anyone knows what I'm going through, that's my girl. On top of it they were stationed in Alaska, so she was "on her own" so to speak, although both of their families are amazingly supportive of them.

I also had the chance to catch up with some old friends from my hometown. It was a complicated relationship. The parents were a substitite for my own parents' lack of support during college, I used to babysit their two girls who are now 12 I think, and I was friends with their older son (even had a crush for a while.) It had been about 4 years sonce I last saw them and now I talk to the younger son more and we realized that all those year (nearly 15) we both had some of the same dreams, goals and sense of adventure and sometimes I regret that we didn't figure it out sooner. I thought he was a great "kid" then, but now realize he has to potiental to be a great friend. Ah, the lessons we learn fro our youth!

There were about 5 Christmas parties in 10 days and I was exhausted. That didn't include my usual CHristmas gift of a small shopping spree (get all the things I need that I can't find here in the near desolate land of Polk). I got a new phone (finally!) because my old one was getting to be a pain with dropped calls, refusing to charge and not ringing. I also picked up a small camera to carry with me so I never miss a photo opportunity.

All in all it was fun, but I am glad to be home. But it's not over. This weekend I am traveling with the pup to Baton ROuge to visit my Dad's side of the family. It's been about 3 years and I am anxious to see my grandparent's, especially my grandfather. I've come to appreciate his quite, serious personality over the past few years and regret not visiting more.

Well, that's the recap of the holiday activities. I had fun hanging out with my brother's girls most of all and look forward to seeing them again this weekend. But now, I guess it's time to start packing again.

Until our next cup of tea ...