Well, Where Do We Start?

We've got hundreds of pictures on our camera (thanks to my THREE new 4GB CF cards!!!), a mini-DVD's worth of video footage, stacks and stacks of stuff (both new gifts and old finds) all throughout the living room, nearly 2,000 more miles on my gem of a car, and some great memories of time well-spent with family.

I wanted to be home so badly once we finished our hour and a half detour on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, simply because I was tired of the car. All week I had been waking up and reorienting myself to being somewhere else, somewhere different. Then last night when we crawled into bed after opening up a week's worth of Christmas cards, exchanging the last of our own gifts, and cooking up some DELICIOUS crab cakes my sister-in-law sent us back with, I got kind of sad. Not that we were home, of course. But that we were so far away from my family that we had spent a good stretch of days with.

There were some surprising moments of sentimentality throughout the week in the form of gifts from Mom and watching old home videos and sorting through a lot of my old stuff at Dad's. Stuff that's getting boxed up (or that I confiscated to bring back with me) to make my bedroom more of a guestroom. Which I understand, completely. I guess it's just we're so used to everything happening quickly when we go to visit my family and yet, even in just a short amount of days, everything felt a little less visit-like and a little more normal.

I think Cliff had a great first-introduction to spending the actual holiday of Christmas with my family. Christmas Eve morning we woke up, had one of my favorite breakfasts (breakfast casserole), and exchanged gifts with Mom and Marcus. Then we packed up, hit the road for about three and a half hours, and went straight to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas Eve celebrations with everyone. Everyone being Cliff and me, my grandparents, Dad and Sue, my ten aunts and uncles, my thirteen cousins, and two guests. Yes, that's thirty-one people (in case you were counting).

Then Christmas morning we woke up and exchanged gifts with Dad, Sue, and Sue's parents who stayed the night with us. We another favorite breakfast of mine, and a speciality of my dad's - Eggs Benedict, and toasted to a bittersweet morning of quiet with mimosas. It was a good morning and then a great night at Sue's brother, my uncle Steve's house, with plenty of company there as well. Company being Cliff and me, Dad and Sue, and my (step, just for clarity's sake): grandparents, brother and sister-in-law, niece and nephew, five aunts and uncles, six cousins (plus one future-in-law), and three cousins, once removed. And again, that's twenty-five. Whew, right? (p.s. I found this great site about labeling cousins "once-removed", "second", "twice-removed", etc. It really helps when you've got a big family!)

Friday we had the fortune of driving out to my sister's dad's house about forty-five minutes away to visit while her while she was staying with them (on her first Christmas break from COLLEGE!). She wasn't at Mom's (evidently) while we were there, so I have to say that having Bob, Jodi, and Owen not too far from Dad's is rather convenient in instances such as this! We had lunch, exchanged gifts, and had a great visit thanks to everyone's hospitality...

Friday Uncle Steve had everyone back over for a Texas Hold'em Night in his basement, a game which Cliff plays none-too-often and was really not too excited about throwing away $10 for. Don't get me wrong, he enjoys it - a lot. It's just he hasn't played in, oh, two years and wasn't feeling like this would be his big night. But he was a trooper; he borrowed a couple of bucks from me (to make his $10), zipped up his jacket up to his chin, and put on my sunglasses. And what do you know... he won! Cliff took first, Dad took second, and my cousin Andrew took third. And now it looks like maybe someone who was so insistent on buying a poker set a few years back, might actually get some use out of it!

Saturday was a day for coffee and breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, cleaning out the room and watching old videos, and a family get-together at Aunt Margy and Uncle Dave's new house in New Market (complete with dinner from a surprisingly great BBQ joint in MD called CarterQue).

As with last Sunday, yesterday was our travel day. Long, windy, and a little rainy... but beautiful, safe, and enjoyable. I think we finished with LOTR somewhere around Knoxville and then talked about anything and everything we could think of until we pulled into the parking lot in front of our apartment.

And though I was a little sad, I smiled as we made about five trips back and forth from the car to our little home thinking that anywhere with Cliff is as close to home as I'll ever get. I'm so thankful for that.