Snuggly Christmas

Christmas was fabulous this year. Usually I have the split-heart duality thing going on, as I'm so happy to be home with family celebrating our traditions, and yet I know that B is someplace very different that, well, I'm not. This year, I combined both my loves and had B come to Florence for a week of what can only be described as wonderful merriment (how's that for an over-sell?).

I took a solid two weeks off work this year, so we got started early with me spending a weekend in Atlanta to welcome B home. He slept a lot and we hung out doing real-people things like putting up lights, buying gifts for our families, and decorating the tree before we headed out for Birmingham on Monday.

We drove straight to the mall, where B and I split up for a little last-minute shopping for each other (tough to do when you're sharing a car and a life for a few weeks!) before crawling our way home through holiday Wal-Mart traffic. Seriously... two hours from Atlanta to Birmingham and one hour from the Summit to my apartment. Seriously? We broke out the snacks and had a car picnic while we waited the lights out. You'd be surprised how unmessy chicken salad, hummus, and fruit can be when you're really hungry.

Monday night was fabulous-- a few friends B met this summer during his clerkship took us out for a fun dinner at Botega Cafe. We had to wait for about an hour but, for some reason, waiting around a bar with good drinks and happy people is way easier than creeping along in my Murano. We didn't get home until hours later and it was worth every minute. I can't wait to hang out with those guys again this summer when we're back for a month.

We got up early the next day and picked up my Grandma for the trip up to Florence. B was the super champ and packed the car while she and I avoided the rain ("I'd hate to have your mother have to set my hair!" she warned me.). He even managed to get the (roughly) 42 dozen cookies she and my mom ordered from a local bakery in without crumbling a one. Brilliant, that one.

We set off for the trip home, arriving just in time for lunch before I headed out to my dentist office. I dread going to the dentist for lots of reasons, but for one, they've been asking me when I might get engaged. Ah ha! Take that. I brought B with me and, as I suspected, while they had me trapped back in the chair, the ladies and my dentist all went out to meet him! I think B enjoyed the unexpected attention, especially because he was just reading ESPN and waiting for me. Oy.

Christmas itself was fabulous. We did limited gifts this year, which was definitely the way to go. Less fuss over shopping and wrapping, more time to enjoy breakfast, make Grandma J's rolls, and just snuggle and look at the tree while Christmas music plays. At least that's what normal people would do. Me? I danced happily to the new soundtrack (Hairspray!) B got me. He tolerates my love of musicals. He must love me. Who else would be ok being woken up on Christmas morning (or almost any morning) with the mostly-sung first verse of "Good Morning Baltimore!"?

Having B at the house on Christmas morning was amazing. Really no words. We went over and saw some of the kiddos the night before and of course they came over for Christmas dinner, and it was just wonderful. While they played with their dolls and Wall-E robots, we read up on our new Bose radio (thanks Mom and Dad!) and recovered from food coma.

Plus I got notes for next year, or at least for the future... Watching A Christmas Story (at least once) is critical, so it's a good thing it loops for 24 hours on TBS starting on Christmas Eve at 7. Seriously. We got that one, but missed out on a favorite of B's. Mom and I had asked what he liked and thought we had it covered (both Moms do beef tenderloins, for example), but Christmas morning he mentioned how much he loved the chocolate croissants his family always had. Mom and I both threw our hands up and laughed and B laughed along with us. I don't know that he even knew that was a tradition to him, just that he'd always had them.

We had fun talking about what our own traditions might be. He kept up a favorite of his family's, which is getting an ornament each year, so he got us one of gingerbread cookies packed up in a box and ready to ship, symbolic of our last long-distance year! He was a champ--I know it has to be hard to be away for Christmas and I know I'll find out for myself soon enough, but he was there and happy and wonderful the whole time. Christmas has always been wonderful, but this year it felt so full I thought I might just burst. What could be better?