Santa sans snapshots

In my attempts to catch up on my blog, I feel like I should at least address my Christmas and New Year's activities. Unfortunately, I was not much in the picture-taking mood this year, so there aren't any photos to post.

As usual, I drove to my parents' house for Christmas. The mood there was a bit more somber than in the past couple of years. Personally, I was still suffering from a cold, so my energy level was way down. However the biggest factor for the family, in general, was the absence of my sister and her family. Not having a kids running around (when you remember how fun it was the year before when they were there) kinda puts a damper on things. It was also weird to be one of only two children on Christmas morning. Overall, things went well, just nothing too exciting. While I was home, I was glad that I got to see both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles, and most of my cousins (and some of their kids, too).

The more exciting portion of my holidays came closer to the end of the year. Friends from college recently moved to Tennessee (from Albuquerque, NM) and hosted a bunch of us for New Year's. While we were there, we got catch up a little over meals and rousing games of "Ticket to Ride." We also visited the lot where Dawn and Jon will soon be building their dream home. The majority of our time, however; was spent with the Wii...there was a round or two of bowling, but for the most part we were rocking it out with "Guitar Hero" (which I am apparently not one) or looking ridiculous while playing "WarioWare: Smooth Moves." BTW, this game is best played after the "threshold of stupidity" (i.e. 2am).

While it was great to just hang out and play games with friends I hadn't seen in a while, it did take a bit of adjusting. I'm not much of a "gamer" myself, so it was strange to be thrown back into a setting (that I haven't been in much since college) where everything revolved around a video game system. In some ways I felt cheated in conversation, but then again, I also gained a lot of new and funny experiences that I will remember for years to come.

The most exciting, however not so enjoyable, part of my trip was the return to PA. Leaving directly from Knoxville, I took a different route home than I had ever driven before. With my trusty GPS (aka "Heidi") leading the way, I set off for a trek through the mountains of West Virginia. Let me take this time to recommend that you NOT plan to drive this route during a snow storm!!! Dawn and Jon did call a few hours into my trip to suggest that I revise my plans and take the "long way" through Virgina to avoid potential weather issues. (Why we didn't think to look at the weather BEFORE I left, will always be a mystery to me.) Unfortunately, I had just made the turn north and thought that it "wouldn't be too bad"--WRONG!!! After a few hours of driving in near white-out conditions on streets that were getting worse and worse to drive on, I finally decided to stay overnight in a hotel. It was about midnight at this time and I was still hours away and the weather was not letting up. The next morning , the roads were mostly clear and the driving was much nicer. I got to my house about 3pm and proceeded to unload the car and reconnect with the kitties, who (fortunately) stayed home this year and missed out on my big adventure.