It never feels like Christmas till I'm home in Idaho. Sure, I put up a good front between Thanksgiving and Christmas: tolerate the songs, plan my gift-giving, wear lots of seasonal colors, plan parties. But I really don't feel Christmasy until I'm home next to my own tree with the Carpenters Christmas album playing comfortingly in the background.
That means this year the Christmas season lasted about 26 hours. I arrived home around 10pm on December 24. But they were a nice 26 hours.
I've never missed a Christmas at home. I know eventually I'll spend it somewhere else. All the more reason to keep coming back while I can. Especially when there are people like this to spend it with:
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| She stole my camera and took this of herself. She doesn't actually have a double chin. |
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| Polishing the silver. Might be my first Christmas dinner not eaten with plastic utensils. |
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| He's learning how to play. He entertained us with half of one song all break. |
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| We went bowling, per usual |
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| Oh, hello. |
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| Grandma is not punching her. It just looks like that. |
Strangely, I didn't get any picture of Danny. Sorry, dude. You'll just have to trust me that he was there too.
