A Christmas Visit Home

This may be a bit late, but better late than never, eh?

Hal and I are so tricky. In his new hire paperwork for his new job, it said new hires aren't allowed to take time off for Christmas their first year, so we told everyone we wouldn't be coming home for the holidays. Only to find out after he started hi job, that his specific office would be closed from Christmas to New Years and we was welcome to take additional time off.

Hollah.

Oh, except he kept telling out families we weren't coming when they kept forgetting, and we bought our tickets in secret.

Cause we're awesome like that.

I wish I had recorded some of the reactions from my family. Hal's family knew we were coming by the time we made it there, but we were able to keep up the surprise with my family, and it was awesome. I highly recommend it, if you ever get the chance.

We had such a blast at home. It literally flew by. It's hard to live away and only come home once or twice a year because then you have to split up your time and try to see everyone, and give everyone equal amounts of time. That was not favorite. But it was still worth it.

It snowed overnight on Christmas Eve. Perfect to wake up to a white Christmas. It was the perfect gift. Well, except for Christ being born. That's the real perfect gift. This was second perfect.

 We got to spend so much time with family and nieces and nephews which is always a favorite. Taking selfies with kids is the best.

 My sister brought wee babe Lillian home with her and my dad gave her a baby blessing while we were there. We were so lucky that the baby blessing overlapped with our time there. The one downfall to surprising your family, no one thinks to tell you about events like that.

We were so lucky that our friends Meagan and Charles actually wanted to pick us up and take us to the airport. Especially because both flights were late at night. It snowed all day the day we left, and we kept hoping our flight would get canceled. Then we remembered Salt Lake actually knows how to live with snow, so our flight wasn't canceled. I forgot to take a single picture in the snow, so we attempted one at the airport as it was still snowing. You might not be able to see the snow, but the picture turned out pretty good anyway.

 It was so good to go home for a visit and see as many people as we could while we were there, and to bask in the snow and the beauty that is the Salt Lake area, and the wonderful mountains that we really miss; but it was so good to go home; and to realize we really have finally established our lives out here. I think our kitties were happy to see us too.