Trains, Planes and Automobiles.

WOW. It was a whirl-wind couple of weeks traveling across New York State to celebrate the holidays with my loved ones. Living in Amsterdam means this blog is generally all the contact I have with most of my friends and family. Since I was fortunate enough to get home for the holidays, without a plan to return in the near future, I had to make sure to squeeze everyone in withing two short weeks. Thanks to public transportation, safe flights and generous parent drivers, I did it all and managed to make it back to Amsterdam safely. It started with a flight from Amsterdam to Boston then Boston to New York City. Bus from New York City to Binghamton. Car ride from Binghamton to Buffalo. Train ride from Buffalo to Syracuse. Car ride from Syracuse to Cortland. Car ride from Cortland to New York City. Ending with a flight from New York City to Detroit then Detroit to Amsterdam.

Colin and I were both up in the air about returning to America for the holidays. For one, it is unbelievably expensive to fly this time of the year and, selfishly we would like to travel around Europe while we have the opportunity. December marked my sixth month of living abroad in Amsterdam, I knew deep down I was in need of some Americano lovin; and so, I bought my ticket about three weeks before I took off, Colin about four days. Despite our extreme procrastination we found relatively inexpensive tickets. One thing I learned this year is, you cannot put a price on visiting your family for the holidays. Nothing in the world compares to that feeling of being home, sleeping in, lounging on the couch oh and not to forget, eating excessive amounts of food without a pinch of guilt.

 

My family dynamic has changed over the years, we've all gotten a bit older, some a bit grayer, some engaged and some divorced; but for the first time in about four years all of the aunts, uncles and cousins made it to my Aunt Peggy's for our annual Christmas Eve celebration. It was so good to catch up with everyone and be able to laugh about how our lives have panned out over the years. Life is unpredictable and sometimes, you just have to roll with it. I forgot how dry and hilarious my Uncle Tom is, who introduced me to a new term, "sexting," when he asked Lindsay who she was talking to  during dinner, whoops! You can't pick your family and you're stuck with them for life, everyone has their up's and down's but the most important thing to remember is you have to stick together or else, what's the point of having them around?

 

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season as much as I did. So happy I had the chance to see everyone in New York, Binghamton, Buffalo and Cortland, I wish it could have been a bit longer but, thems the breaks, unfortunately. I just returned to Amsterdam after 11 hours of traveling so I will be sleeping for the next few days. I wish everyone the best for the upcoming New Year, something tells me 2010 is going to be a good year.