Home for Christmas

On Tuesday, December 21, I flew home for Christmas. The flights were rather uneventful, except for the annoying girl behind me who wouldn't shut up about how she moved from Alabama to San Diego to start a church. She clearly did not pick up on social clues, either, because it was pretty obvious the person next to her wanted nothing to do with that conversation. After a stop in El Paso, then a layover in Dallas, I was on my flight to Birmingham. My dad came to pick me up at the airport, and brought Layla with him! I missed my little girl.

I didn't do any Christmas shopping in San Diego, because I didn't want to check any luggage, so I had to do all my Christmas shopping last minute in Birmingham. I hate Birmingham Christmas traffic; it's miserable. With two days to get all my shopping done, I thought I did a pretty good job. All my family was taken care of, and I could get my friend's gifts after the holiday when I saw them next.

Went to the Christmas party at BJ & Ruby's house, and convinced Callie to go along with me. Sorry, Callie, now you'll be expected to be at all future parties. Just ask my mom. We got there a little late, right as some people were leaving. The first thing Janna said to me was, "You smell the same!" So, that was nice. At least I got to see the Hagemans & Heards for a minute. After BJ reprimanded me for not updating my blog while I didn't have Internet service, he made me a drink. I wanted vodka, but they didn't have any juice for mixers, so I decided to come up with my own concoction: vodka & Kool Aid Jammers tropical punch. And it was good. For my refill, I upped the ante to whipped cream vodka & said Kool Aid Jammer. Delicious. Christmas morning, I didn't have a headache from the alcohol as much as I did from the copious amounts of sugar I drank.

Next on the adventure list was having a reunion with Audra & Callie. Lunch started at 1:30, and we left around 5. We had so much to catch up on, and ok, gossiping about people we went to high school with. Some of them we found on twitter, too! Anyone from c/o '02 reading this?

The next day Callie & I met up with Coach Hogan, our jv volleyball coach. It was amazing seeing her, and she looks exactly the same! When we played for her, she was pregnant with her 2nd daughter (and still playing on the court with us), and now that daughter is in 7th grade! How wacky! It was so good to catch up with her, and I really hope we get to make that a regular reunion.

I got to see a lot of people, but I also missed some folks. I'm really bummed about that. Layla is flying with me to San Diego, and she's never flown before. I'm quite nervous about it. Hopefully she's getting some sleep down in cargo, and will be happy to see me when I pick her up in San Diego!

The weather is supposed to be awesome in San Diego this week, so I'm thinking of taking Layla to the beach. If I do, I'll definitely take pictures.

I won't be home for a while, so I'll really try to stay on top of updating this thing. Love you & miss you all so much!