Thursday, March 26, 2009

Christmas vacation, installment 3






After leaving Kansas, we travelled to see my family. I had met Christopher's family when they came to visit in Uganda in 2007, but he had never met any of my family. And meet the family he did. Now, I must preface this family meeting business with a small note on the SIZE of my extended family. It's huge. We're Irish. I meet new people I am somehow related to everytime I visit.

We got in late as our flights were cancelled/delayed (seemed to be a running theme of the vacation) and I got off the plane with reindeer ears that blinked and Christopher with his maple leaf hat. I can't really explain how overwhelming it was to actually see my family's faces after 2 years of being apart. My first thought was, holy crap, Cody is huge! It seems my youngest brother grew up while I was gone...a reminder of the length of my absence.

First thing we did was get some fast food (another running theme of the vacation) and coffee to warm us up. Again, that side of the world is COLD! We arrived home around one in the morning without our luggage, as it was unfortunately lost. Christopher and I were sick over the lost luggage as we had brought half of Africa home to give to my family and friends but the airline promised to deliver the luggage later.

Over the course of the week, we had visits from so many family members it was exhausting and great! Poor Christopher, everytime the house would empty out at the end of the day I'd see him go downstairs to the basement to get a cold beer. He was a trooper, there were a lot of people to meet!

We went out to my Aunt and Uncle's place for New Year's Eve to watch USA play Canada in hockey. The Americans among us tried to rally our team, but a USA victory was not to be. Let's face it, Canadians know hockey! By the end of the night, even Christopher was wearing a Canada hat. Traitor.

The final chapter in Christmas vacation 2008 witll come soon...

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