Home for Christmas

The stars were aligned for us to have a fantastic trip home at Christmas...we got a direct flight for a great price, NATO was closed so Keith had the time off, and we had friends willing to watch Bailey. The trip itself flew by; there is just no way for us to see everyone we want to see in just a week. My parents were gracious enough to let us crash at their place, and since they are storing our bedroom set in their basement we has a very familiar place to sleep. Possibly the best part of staying at their house was that they are taking care of Pumpkin for us, so we had our furry friend curling up with us most nights. Despite hectic Christmas schedules we were able to coordinate with several people, mostly over lunches and dinners.

On one of our first days, friends had organized a group dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. After a full year being deprived of Mexican food out here, we were quite excited. Several of our friends brought their beautiful new family additions, and we chatted away the evening over margaritas and burritos. Sadly we forgot our camera on this night, so we'll be relying on them to keep us supplied with baby photos. We had three or four other meals with friends, coworkers, and ex-coworkers during the week. Unfortunately there were still many people that we missed due to holiday travel schedules, but it was great to catch up with as many people as we did.

On the 23rd, Keith's mom drove up from Norfolk and stayed with my parents through Christmas. It was really great to be able to have our families together on Christmas. Other than a few shopping trips for some last minute gifts, we took it easy. The whole family took a trip to the church on Christmas Eve to watch our nephew's Christmas play. It was a cute and wonderful version of a Christmas story. Then, on Christmas day we had a blast watching my dad put on every piece of clothing he received...all at the same time. The rest of the day was spent preparing and enjoying the Christmas feast.

We spent our remaining days back home visiting friends when possible. Wendy was kind enough to bring Maya and her mother by a few times, so we got to spend a while with them. It was amazing how much she'd grown already. Our nephew Brandon also stopped by and hung out with us a bit, and we even took a trip to our old home that my brother Tom now owns. He introduced us to Rock Band, and the three of us and his roommate spent the evening playing and singing (apparently poorly as the game told us) away. We were also able to fill another craving with a trip to China Garden in Rosalyn for Dim Sum! It was exactly as we remembered, maybe even better :)

Several people asked us if we noticed anything different now that we've been away for awhile. We were both pretty blown away by the traffic, not that we didn't know it was bad, but it really stood out how crazy the drivers are there. Here, slow traffic truly stays to the right, it is illegal to pass on the right and you can't sit in the left lane, and people follow the traffic rules. I guess I've gotten used to it, that it was a shock to the system to be back with people swerving in and out of lanes, people going 55 in the left lane, and 90 in an exit lane. On a positive note, we loved going to see a movie. It's amazing to have so many theater choices, and movies without all the subtitles on it. I do wish we could add one feature that some of the theaters here have, pre-seating selection. When you buy your tickets you pick your seats, which reduces waiting in lines only to race and elbow others out of the way to save seats for your friends getting popcorn. Nonetheless, it was great to see a movie back home. Another great part about being home was being able to shop on a Sunday! We both needed to run some errands and almost forgot that we could do some of it on Sunday. And who doesn't love a 24 CVS? Ahhh..... the land of Convenience! Our other observation was no big surprise, but we were both pretty overwhelmed with the portions of food! The US really does bigger, sometimes better, but always bigger! It was not hard to feel a little sick after all the meals out with friends.

Anyway, after an uneventful but long flight back to Belgium, we had 5 days to recover from the jet lag and acclimate to the sub-zero temperatures here before Keith went back to work on the 5th. Despite not being able to see everyone that we wanted, it was still a fantastic trip home.