Shokufeh is... home

A Belated Holiday Recap

I'm about to fall over from fatigue, even though it's not 10 pm yet. But it's been a week since I've been back home, and well over two weeks since I wrote, so I must write my requisite recap so that I might once again get into the swing of blogging.

Our time on the mainland was great! Highlights include:
* Hanging with the majority of our immediate family members, some of whom we hadn't seen since our wedding
* Getting reacquainted with our nieces - at 2.5, almost 5, and 6.5 years old, they've changed a great deal since I left 16 months ago
* Seeing how tickled my dad seemed at having all of his children with him for his birthday
* Bonding with Meisa, my hip cousin
* Brunching with the other lay-c.com ladies, and getting to meet Suz for the first time
* Reuniting with a number of friends at the home of the gracious Kari, and getting to meet Cinnamon and Andrew for the first time
* Experiencing just the right amount of snow, and just the right amount of cold, for just the right amount of time
* Doing everything on my to-do list, without buying too much (though there is something embarassing about going to a store two days before Christmas and answering, "No," when the salesperson asks, "Is this a gift?")
* Stepping out of my day-to-day life for a while, having a wonderful time, yet happy to come home when it was all over (and feeling like it was indeed home to which I was returning)