I'm dreaming of a gray Christmas

They’ll find us here here, here in the guest room
where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my

-from "Guest Room" by The National

I almost forgot how often the sky is gray in Minnesota. Over the course of ten days, we probably saw the sun for a total of ten minutes. Not that I mind; sunny days are overrated anyway. It would take a lot more than some gloom to ruin our bi-annual binge of food and family. The backdrop of frosted trees on gray sky was actually welcoming; it looked like home.

I had a hard time saying good-bye this time, knowing that everybody will be six months older the next time we see them and at that time we'll only see each set of family for two or so days until our next visit six months later. And then we'll repeat. The whole time we are there we are saying good-bye. I'm afraid of missing out on things and losing touch and realizing there's nothing to talk about anymore. Moving around the country is such a great experience that is giving me tons of perspective, but I don't want it to last the rest of my life. At a certain point we may have to quit waiting for a logical reason to bring us home.

Thanks to our families for the hospitality and the great gifts. We received some camping gear, a sauteuse pan, gift certificates, continued XM radio service, and the list goes on. One of the things R got me is Twin Peaks on DVD (yay!). I'm going to consume it like a large gourmet cookie: slowly, deliberately, and with immense pleasure.

2008... that's starting to sound like the future. Have a good year, everybody.