Oh, there's no place like home for the holidays....

After a (thank goodness, direct) red eye flight from WA (Seattle) to WA (D.C.), I arrived safe and blurry into Fairfax VA this morning at ~ 6:30. My mom picked me up and we proceeded to stop at half the stores in the county (it's relatively traffic-free for NOVA today) for next-to-last-minute errands, only to find that Hechts (department store) was the only store open before 8 am. I arrived at my parents' house to find it in its usual pre-holiday craziness: tree half decorated, "Wrapping Station USA" in full force in the dining room, decorations everywhere, holiday cards still unwritten, the Grinch in my dad's chair with Curious George on the couch, fridge bursting, with gift cookies and treats all around. Every time I visit, I learn a lot about why I am the way I am. I was feeling pretty bad about not even having started my holiday cards, until I told my mom about my lack of progress. She's happy that we can spend some time over the next few days writing out cards together, listening to the local classical station's Christmas music, and sharing addresses from our excel label files. We both write newlettes and hand write notes in each card, which is part of the reason they are usually mailed post-Christmas. Tomorrow: more holiday cards, lunch with Dad in downtown D.C., and sightseeing at the National Botanical Gardens. But, no more shopping!! For the first time since I can remember, I'm not making a Christmas Eve mall run. Yeah!!!