Once Upon a December

So prior to finals week I basically had a month of exams, then finals week came and Jeffrey and I had three days to take 5 finals each. Then we needed to pack up for a much, much needed Christmas break vacation. Oh glory. It was fabulous. Everyone kept exclaiming, "This is soooo great!". And it was. It might have been the best vacation ever.

We started out at my parents' house, where nostalgia overwhelmed me as soon as I stepped off the plane in Cleveland. I hadn't been home in a year and a half, and so home had never felt more like home. I love my parents' house. I love my old room. I love how my mom has the whole house decorated for Christmas, and how she never forgets to put flowers in my wall vases to welcome me home. Everything about going home felt so special, peaceful, and rejuvenating.

After a week at home, the family all went down to the Outer Banks and due to some unexpected weather, we had a lot of time to do the things we never get around to doing in the summer because we're too busy frolicking on the beach. So we visited 4 lighthouses, took a ferry to Ockracoke Island, the last stand for the pirate Blackbeard, watched movies in the theater room without feeling one bit guilty about missing sunshine, flew kites, jumped from the hot tub to the icy pool and back to the hot tub again, searched for shells at all hours of the day and night, and drank many, many mochafauxpucino's in the ship watch.

Since when I look at blogs I'm always looking for the pictures, I've decided to provide you with a photo essay from the greatest vacation yet.

bon apetit!

Cutting down the Christmas Tree!

{this was a first for Jeffrey and Robyn}

Black and White

{ the girls}

Christmas Eve

{we saw thousands of Nativities, this one is made of newspaper[!]; traditional chimes playing}

Christmas Day

{big presents this year: a semi-automatic .22 for Jefe, a big shiny nice camera for me}

The Outer Banks!

{the night of our arrival; usually the trip takes us 10 hours, with the wild weather it took 14!}

First day at the Beach

Family Pictures at the Currituck Light house

Ice Breakers-as the days got warmer the ice on the bay melted back farther and farther, and so one day we decided to take the paddle boat out and see how far into the ice we could paddle. Let's talk about how that turned out to be a major workout...my buns and thighs are still feeling the gratitude.

The Most Glorious Sunsets

As another brief overview of a 2-week vacation where we did more things than I could possible list, let alone be expected to remember with the sort of memory I'm dealing with these days here are some other great highlights:

• Met my best girls at Beans Cafe for breakfast. Two hours later we all realized we were still sitting around chatting.
• "The game of....Things"-it's so fun! you have to try it out; it's a new family favorite
• Ocracoke Island-the cutest, sleepest little southern island. We found an adorable art gallery, drank orange cream sodas, visited the lighthouse and milled around almost the enitre island.
• Climbed to the top of the Currituck Lighthouse-over 200 stairs!-and looked out on the wild blue yonder
• Rode bikes to the beach
• Went shell collecting at night. The tide was so low there were sandbars exposed and we found tons of "rare" shells like angel's wings, baby's ears, conchs, huge clam shells, and bunches of mini shells

(and yes, in case you're wondering, we all wore the same Outer Banks sweatshirts ALL week long-with pride)