Sunday, November 15, 2009

Approaching Holiday Season

I am proud to say that I have, in fact, purchased a few Christmas gifts already. With Christmas Day still well over one month away, this is quite an accomplishment for me. I like to live one step at a time, so I'm still on a timeline to be gearing up for Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving, I fear, will be a tough holiday. Last year I spent Thanksgiving with the people who had become part of my DC family. Included in that group was my current roommate Cat, "former roommate" Jenny, and Jenny's mom Laurie. We borrowed a friend's home for the day and made a traditional Thanksgiving feast for 40, though there were only 6 of us around the table. It was a truly memorable occasion. I am so thankful for the beautiful pictures we have from that day.

As many of you may already know, my dear friend Jenny went home to the Lord after a long battle with cancer. She was a wonderful person who will be missed by many during this holiday season. Cooking was always something Jenny found joy in and we had so much fun last November. It was great recalling that memory with a handful of people at Jenny's funeral services. Apparently she had already shared that story with those dear to her. I'm honored to know that she cherished that day as much I do.

Cat will be traveling to Colorado to celebrate Thanksgiving with her immediate family. Father Abraham (as I like to call him) paid for half of her flight home so she was able to fly back on some of the most expensive flight days of the year. I did a quick search today to see what a ticket to Omaha would be...the cheapest was $610 with 1 stop each way, while a non-stop ticket was $1,500. Yep. That's right! One thousand five hundred dollars for the long-weekend, round-trip fare. I could hardly believe it myself. I'm sure you can understand why I won't be making a cameo appearance in the Midwest for some turkey and mashed potatoes.

I'm still uncertain as to where I will be spending the holiday, but I am hopeful that my plans will work themselves out before the big day arrives.

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