Except that I think it is far too cold to grow a pear tree in Vermont. However my mom did have some pear-apples in our house that I never did try. But I am fairly sure that they were not grown in the frozen wonder that is Vermont.
Thank goodness the negative degree wind chills waited to arrive after we left.
After 24 hours in the car (12 up, 12 back – I SWEAR I used to do it in 9. No, really!), 5 full days of visiting and gifting and playing games and enough eating to make me want to quit cold turkey, we are home.
My parents bought H and I our flights for our honeymoon – 7 glorious days in Aruba. They are also gifting us their time share for that time. They seriously, seriously rock.
H LOVED his new Macbook and is playing with it now that we are back home with our wireless network. He was very surprised.
Mom and Dad enjoyed all of the gifts that we brought for them, and of course we all blamed each other for spending too much, which of course we all did, but wouldn’t have it any other way.
H gave me 5 private dance lessons to prep for the wedding – how cute is that? I was very shocked and very excited. We’re totally going to rock the reception! Mostly, he probably wants me to learn to follow rather than lead!
It was a fantastic visit. Full of lots of home time and just hanging out with my family. And playing games (which is what my family does and something I need to do more often down here!). But this year was different though, too.
My parents put up limited decorations, for fear that the puppies would eat them as they have most everything else in the house. Are we the only ones who usually decorate the bathroom? This year there were no bathroom decorations. I won’t lie, I missed them.
And my brother wasn’t there. T has landed himself in an unfortunate position once again. Translation: my brother is in jail. Again - oh how that makes my heart ache to write. We did get to go see him last night. The jail he is in right now doesn’t allow any physical contact (whereas previous places have allowed a hug hello and a hug good-bye). That was painful. It was hard to watch my mom talk to him on the phone on Christmas day and know the highlight of his Christmas was bacon for breakfast – of which they only bought 40 pounds. My brother can easily eat a pound on his own! This was his most disappointing news yesterday. The lack of bacon. What a kid.
It gets harder and harder to leave Vermont and my parents every visit. My mom asked if it is because I appreciate them more now. No. I’ve always appreciated them, more than they can believe. And it’s because of this fact, that I miss being away from them so much. I mean, the woman made muffins last night so we could take them with us on the drive! I wish we lived closer, and not just for the muffins. With Dad’s health scare in November (he is doing AMAZING by the way and ready to go back to work!), and my little brother in his own trouble, I just wish I could physically be there more.
I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. I had a WONDERFUL holiday. I had a fantastic visit with my family and H, 24 hours in the car and all. I’m just a silly girl who sometimes wishes she were still 9 years old and the most important thing she had to do this week was to mail her new Cabbage Patch Kid’s birth certificate to Xavier Roberts (gotta make it legal!) and assemble the Barbie Dream House.
::sigh::
Instead I suppose I will just work on assembling this real life of mine, which despite the lack of bathroom decorations and brothers at the holidays is generally pretty dreamy in its own right.
*I’m tired. And sappy. And sooo in need of a workout. Watch for serotonin fueled gibberish in the near future*
