home for the holidays

i've been meaning to write this for a while. it's been a long time since i last wrote. i went home on december 18th. it was great - what more can i say? it's hard to remember how much you miss home when there are so many distractions. like paris. :)

anyway, brad picked me up at the airport and i'm pretty sure i fell in love with him all over again the moment i saw him. don't care if that's trite or cheesy. i was so happy to see him and so tired from all the travel. it felt like i was melting into my seat - but that could have been the heated seats. i like to think it was brad though.

christmas was wonderful. i was right smack in the middle of a viscious cold (thank you stagnant airplane air) so my memories are a little vague through my nyquil clouds. brad and i spent christmas eve with his family at their annual party. we both spent the night at my parents' house and did the christmas morning, opening presents, big breakfast thing with my family. then we went to his parents' house for christmas dinner. i ended the night with my parents and my cousin, katie, at my aunt janet's house. that was great since our christmas party got snowed out the weekend before. i got to see some of my extended family. (i love janet - she's the BEST!)

andrew and i had our fourth annual new years party this year. there were too many people last year but we narrowed down the guest list and it worked out perfectly. with only a few essential people missing (dan...jenn...you party POOPERS! and amanda, we missed you!! yay babies!), all the right people were there. in the morning, after cleaning the first floor before bed at 4am, we woke up to mashed potatoes in the sink and drama passed out on the living room floor wrapped in about 18 beach towels. there were people asleep on every surface of the first floor. all in all, a successful new years party. bonjour 2009!

i only had a few more days before my flight back to paris. i spent a weekend in boston with uncle mike's family. i tried to see nana mae but she's in the hospital and wasn't feeling up to visitors. what else...i really just hung out and spent time with brad and my family. i was SO happy to have so much time with katie. i miss her so much already. i can't wait to see her in paris in a couple of months. she's going to LOVE it.

leaving again was less dificult this time. i think i was ready to come back actually. it's weird to think of home as a vacation destination. i really don't like living out of a suitcase so i was happy to unpack and settle back in. i think i'm one of the few of my friends who didn't have a really hard time coming back. not to say i don't miss everyone at home. i just know i'll see them all again soon. brad is coming in february and katie in march. i'll be home again in may or june. i'm taking all of this in while it lasts. i can't spend time regretting my decisions or dwelling on what i've left behind. i was never good at this before but i guess i've grown up a little since the last time.

anyway, here are the photo albums of my time at home. i've discovered that this is much easier than uploading a million pictures one at a time on blogger. happy new year everyone! xo

christmas
new years
everything else