Holidays

Being Epiphany weekend laurion and I took down our tree and all the trappings (we even got a nice ornament box from The Container Store so we can keep our stuff safe and organized). This was a year of holiday firsts. It's the first time I've had a full sized real tree that I can remember (last year we had a mini potted one and my mom doesn't seem to understand that the hemlocks we used to get from her parents' woods before I was 3 really didn't stick in my memory). It was lovely and piney (and safe from our cats on our 3 season porch), but it didn't quite feel like Christmas to not assemble the tree. I can get used to it though.

This is my 4th christmas with laurion and the second since we started living together, it was also the first one we actual got to spend together. Both of our families really want us for Christmas and while we compromise for other holidays we'd been splitting up for this one. This year we put our collective feet down and insisted on spending it together, this caused more than a little pain, but we worked out a solution that seemed to satisfy everyone (unfortunately it'll have to change next year). It was lovely to wake up together with our cats and exchange gifts. We spent Christmas Eve with my nuclear family and went to services with them. We spent Christmas day with his dad's side and then went down to CT for a few days of visiting with his nuclear family, it was really nice.

This was also the first year we spent New Year's Eve together, I opted to stay in and share laurion's traditional gaming party with him, it was a small, but really fun party. New Year's Day both of our parents came over for my family's tradition of lasagna. We play some games including letting my parents learn pinochle by observation (direct teaching didn't work), it really reminded me how incredibly lucky I am.

Now I'm back in school for a long semester of various pathologies, but I think I'm ready. I'm really enjoying it and i'm more sure than ever that it's what i want to do.