We’re home from home. Over two weeks, we saw friends and family, ate at all our favorite burrito joints, and put considerable miles back on the truck as we zigged and zagged between our mothers’ two homes and those of our many friends in San Francisco. And after seeing plenty of Christmas trees around Santiago the previous few weeks, it finally felt like the holidays when we stepped off the plane, breathed in that nip in the air, and knew the next people we saw would be our family.
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SFO, I was so happy to see you.
You really outdid yourself this year. |
It being our first official Christmas as marrieds, we were conscious of splitting our time home as equitably as possible. For a little extra time on the road, we got to enjoy two Christmas trees, multiple rounds of home-cooked meals, and two mothers for whom I think we made their year just by coming home. That’s a wonderful thing about leaving–most everyone is so excited to see you! But not quite as excited as you are to see them because while they have been deprived of only you, you have missed all of them. Dearly.
So we did it all. We spent time with two wonderful sets of extended family. We ate our faces off. We caught an Ocean Beach sunset, ice-skated on the Embarcadero, hung out with friends at the SF bar where we met. I got to hold the one-week-old daughter of one of my dearest friends and had some girls’ nights with ladies I’ve known for 4, 7, or 15 years depending on when we first crossed paths. Ryan got to play music with one of his best buddies. And this is all before we celebrated our first anniversary down in Carmel! On the way back, we tasted Squid Ink, the incredible brew launched by Pac Brew Labs (my BF is married to one of the founders). Finally, we rung in 2012 on our layover in Lima, and while the cabin crew didn’t lead a countdown (or pass back any complimentary champagne as I’d hoped), we got to fly over the wide city’s fireworks, which was a fitting way to begin another year abroad.
Here are some December in California highlights:
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| We ice skated… |
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| …and saw the tree! |
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| We felt the love… |
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| …and ate our fave breakfast burritos by our fave beach. |
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| We celebrated with the fam… |
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| …and gathered the cousins… |
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…and saw the Casti girls, who really are family, too.
(Photo courtesy of Kimberley Morris Rosen,
our esteemed holiday hostess for many years running!) |
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| We got a little silly… |
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| …and celebrated un año of marriage! |
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| We had a Hawthorne Girls Reunion… |
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| …and ate many a fine meal. |
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| We enjoyed the sunshine… |
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| …as much as the fog. |
Dear San Francisco and Portola Valley and Novato, we tried to do and see it all. Even still, I feel like we didn’t do enough, didn’t see enough of our friends or spend enough time with those we did see. We needed more time lounging on the sofa, longer coffee chats, and a few more random detours through the city. Is this an expat state-of-mind or am I just over-thinking it? We did try, I promise, to spend quality time with each of you. For those of you we missed this round, we’ll be sure to say ‘hey’ the next time we’re in town. I’ve realized we need at least a month to really say a sufficient hello.
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