Plane's Trains and Automobiles- **BEST Christmas EVER***

So I haven’t had a really great Christmas in awhile, and I have grown accustom to spending the morning with my family and then being alone the majority of the day. This year I had plans with my awesome roommate to spend the afternoon eating a Ham Feast and watching a Jane Austin marathon equipped with our 2nd annual showing of Pride and Prejudice! On Monday when I got a message from my mom that our plans where changing because my Dad was joining us, I was a little sad and may or may not have thrown a minor temper tantrum…..

On Christmas Eve we have a family tradition of having a Mexican Fiesta dinner with all the family. As I was in the kitchen of my aunts getting dinner ready, in walked what looked like a homeless man. As my Aunt went to yell at who that was just walking into the house, I did a double take and it was my brother! He just got out of Iraq on his second tour and was supposed to be backpacking Europe with his Girlfriend. The shock and awe of it all, still feels surreal! We have not shared a Christmas together in 5 years, and it meant a lot that he would go through so much planning and sceaming to pull this off.

Cody also brought his girlfriend with him, and I heart her! She is SO adorable, and is the perfect addition to the family! She is a school teacher up in Olympia Washington and makes Cody happy which in turns makes us all happy. I really hope it works out, I would love a Sister  It was quite comical trying to figure out what to get both of them for Christmas when they left to go back to their hotel, when everything closes early!

Christmas morning was great, I surprised my mom with plane tickets for her and me to go to Myrtle Beach, SC to visit our wonderful Aunt Millie. We leave March 25th and come back April 4th. I cannot wait! I have been planning this trip for over 6 months and it was the hardest secret to keep from my mom, EVER! She was not really sure if it was for real or not and she did not pick up the hints very well…. I think after it set in, she is getting more and more exciting! We have a 5 hour layover at JFK on the way there, then will fly into Raleigh, NC, rent a car and drive to the beach. We have not worked out all the details, but we are planning on going up to Richmond to see our other Aunt and hopefully up to Washington DC for the Cherry Blossom festival and Baltimore. It will be a much needed vacation and trust me, we are counting down the days!

We spent all day Saturday as a family and then went to breakfast Sunday morning before my parents and Cody took off on their separate directions. It is always tough to say goodbye, but I am truly grateful for my brother present of coming home. It was a wonderful surprise and some great memories were made. Even though we were forced into watching the 24 hours of a Christmas Story Marathon…. It was a LONG day.