Well, through the determination of my mother, Eric and I managed to make it home for Christmas!!! And by home, I mean Virginia. :) We got there on Christmas Eve (plane tickets were $100 cheaper to fly on Christmas Eve!!) around 2pm and a few hours after we got home, my mom and I did our traditional shopping while Eric was held hostage by my youngest 2 siblings. We got back from the store and left almost immediately after for my grandma's house for our traditional Christmas Eve stuff. Jasion and Tashia and their kids were there -- and so was Tashia's chicken salad. :D I cannot tell you how much I missed not having that last Christmas Eve! We visited, read different Christmas stories, the original story in Luke, and then sang a bunch of songs. Eric had everyone in earshot laughing when he sang his Elvis impersonation of Blue Christmas, accompanied by Jason. My mom said "he sounds exactly like him!" all the younger cousins were giggling the entire time.
Since Christmas was on Sunday this year, we had church before any stocking opening or present opening. My parents normally have church at 8am (yuck!) but because it's Christmas and there is only Sacrament Meeting on Christmas, they pushed it to 9 (thank you!). Quantico ward had an absolutely fantastic Christmas program! But then again, anything with Gerald Fowkes' cello playing is bound to be fantastic. Haha jk there was more to it than that.... but I am most definitely a sucker for any good cello playing. Rachel also sang a solo and it sounded great! I think it may have even been the first time I heard her sing a solo since she was maybe 12! Unfortunately, all of her high school choir concerts were while I was in Utah - even the Christmas concerts were well before I went home for Christmas. So it was fun to finally see her perform!
The next week consisted of lots of quality time with the family. We spent a good majority of the time playing games and stuff. I had fully intended on donating my hair again (it was plenty long enough), but the first thing my mom and sister said as I got off the plane was "Your hair is so long!!! and so pretty!! You CAN'T cut it!" So Rachel convinced me to try a new look/cut instead. She cut off about 4 inches and added a lot of layers. I still have no idea what to do with it though, and it usually just ends up in a ponytail. (I am a retard when it comes to hair - all the way down, or all the way up is about the extent of my abilities).
The fateful day came and we had to go home. Thursday evening my mother, littlest sister, Logan, Eric, and I piled into the car and headed to Reagan. We said our goodbyes, Eric and I went in to check in and as we do, the guy helping us says, "Oh... it looks like your flight has been overbooked and we are looking for volunteers to give up their seats. We will put you on the next available flight and you each will get a $400 voucher toward flying with us at a later date. Are you guys interested?" DUH! We snagged those vouchers, called my mom (who had stopped with the kids to watch the planes land and take off) and she hurriedly came and picked us back up!
Our initial flight was to leave at 6pm Thursday, and we were rescheduled for 6am the next morning... and for that 12 hour difference, we got $800 worth of plane tickets!! Why can't that happen every time!? :P So we enjoyed one more evening of fun and games - and Rachel's amazing sesame chicken. Mmm.
Anyway, we're back home now and back to real life. Meh. Although, the one nice thing about being back is that we may actually get some substantial sleep tonight, since I feel like I haven't slept in a week! haha.
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