home again - with a few christmas trip highlights

The festivities are over, the friends have been visited with, and the family has been waved goodbye to. We took a red-eye flight home last night, arriving back in Brooklyn early this morning. I've taken a much needed nap, have made my errand to the post office to retrieve our mail, and have unpacked our bags, and I think that now I finally have a few moments to sit down and share some highlights with you of our Christmas trip.

- I think -- no, I know -- that the absolute best part of this vacation is that my entire family was all together at home for the holidays for the first time in more years than I can keep track of. I don't know if I can even describe how fantastic it was to get to sit down and ALL eat dinner together; to gather in the family room chatting, playing a game, or watching a movie; to all get to spend a beautiful Christmas morning together in the living room around the fresh-smelling and weighted down with ornaments tree. I finally got to sit down and get to know my two sisters-in-law, Amanda and Chelsea Sr., better. Everyone got to meet (and coo over and play with) Garrett. It was really, really hard to have to say goodbye.

- It's been a few years since I got to participate in the our family Christmas Eve Extravaganza, but nothing much changed in my absence - except, perhaps, that our nay-tivity was a lot more reverent this year and also Blake, Garrett, and I, probably because it was convenient, got to play the Holy Family (Garrett deserves an Oscar for his utter adorableness in his portrayal of the sleeping baby Jesus). We still ate clam chowder, we still did the Nutcracker dance and the "Merry Christmas Polka," and we still exhibited our meager talents. We even, by way of a webcam, got to include my cousin Julie and her husband, Ethan, who couldn't join us from their home in Texas due to the first little addition to their family scheduled to arrive in February (and who, by the looks of things, has turned my cousin into a glowing and darling expecting mama).

- On the Saturday before Christmas we got to participate in the sealing of Blake's sister, Kimberly, to her now-husband, David, in the Manti Temple. It was all beautiful (bride, ceremony, clear blue day), but bitterly cold. Garrett didn't so much like have to be outside for the post-ceremony pictures, and I'm still wondering why I had to trek up AND down that treacherously icy set of stairs with my big, awkwardly sleeping bundle of baby (it was close, but we survived). The day before the wedding the two families joined together for a fabulous dinner at the Chef's Table, where I pretty much scarfed down the most delicious (and not to mention my very first) duck dinner ever. So good! And the blackberry lemonade and chocolate hazelnut mousse dessert that came with it? Divine. It was a whirlwind visit with Blake's family, who drove up from Texas to marry their daughter off, and while it was wonderful to see them all, I wish our time together could have been longer (and not to mention less wedding-stressed).

- In spite of the mini-blizzard that suddenly churned up that evening, I thought I had a pretty good turnout for my little blog party. It was great to see old friends and their spouse and infant additions, as well as to meet some blog friends for the very first time. Thanks, guys, for coming! It was also equally as great to get to visit with a few of you who couldn't make to the get-together. I really feel blessed to belong to such a varied and kind circle of friends.

- Garrett was an Angel Baby once again on our flight home. He slept the entire way. I don't think I could be more proud.

And I think that's all I'm going to write about our trip because, let's be honest with ourselves: the pictures are so much better.

It's strange to be back, and I have to admit, I was a little nervous to return from Life In Provo With Family and Cars, to Life in Brooklyn, Just the Three of Us, On Foot. But after venturing out for a few post-vacation errands in gorgeous un-December-like weather, I'm feeling confident again that I can, in fact, go back to real life.