Ah, home again. Flew in from Houston via Charlotte last night. Houston is not in any way Christmas-ish. White frost is painted onto trees, but folks are wearing tank tops. I think that everybody loves the idea of family and giving and goodwill, and those are associated with Christmas, and Christmas is associated with snow... but it's not happening in that part of Texas any time soon.
I did get a pretty cool sliver of Christmas spirit in Houston, though... my Amphion systems instructor, Michael Ehinger, was actually Santa Claus. No, really.
So I sat next to a former Cherry Point Marine named Melissa, who is wrapping up med school and traveling the States to find a good burn program to fit into. We yammered the Houston to Charleston leg away, which was nice. On the second flight, I saw a bunch of young Marines fresh from Parris Island, including a boot camp platoon Honor Graduate, proudly sporting his dress blues. I made a note to post a coupleof Parris Island Christmastime blog stories. I got to Pittsburgh just after Midnight.
Today, it's been lightly but steadily snowing all day. Petra and the boys are volunteering in the community with our church (Lifestone) today. I've been home playing Wii Sports Resort with the girls. Right now we're watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the classic claymation). As I look out our back door over the frosted rolling hills at all the lit-up houses, with Christmas music playing softly and our home filled with the smell of pine from the Christmas tree behind me, I count myself and my family blessed. I worked through Thanksgiving, and I'm slated to work Christmas, but it's a small price to pay for my family to be where we are today. We are in a good place--geographically, financially, and in every other way imaginable. Blessed and thankful.
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