We spent Thanksgiving where we often do: with my Aunt Dottie and Uncle Ronnie in Winchester, Virginia.  We ate a lot of food, read a lot of books, told a lot of stories, did a lot of magic, endured a lot of Arkansas jokes, played a lot of basement pool, took lots of luxurious bubble baths, shopped locally on “Plaid Friday” (as well as our mandatory visit to Target and the like), and enjoyed a walk through the park’s Winter Wonderland lights display as we officially kicked off the Christmas season.  And wouldn’t you know it, our holiday elf Dixen somehow found us in Virginia and began the daily hide and seek tradition that seems like such a good idea until about December 8th.

Once we returned home last night after a grueling drive through the crowded highways of New Jersey and the very backed-up G.W. Bridge, we sat together around the dinner table and reminisced about our lovely time in Virginia.  We began daydreaming about our future in Fayetteville where we will be able to actually park our own car into our own driveway and unload it slowly and easily, as opposed to the stressful illegal double parking of New York City.  Here’s Huck’s fantasy of non-city living: “And when we build a snowman we can use actual coal for the eyes, which is something we’ve never been able to do!”

Here’s hoping for some occasional snow and easy access to coal this time next year …