I'll Be Home For Christmas! (And I'm Bringing Patrick With Me!)

Hey guys!

I have some super exciting news! It's been in the works for a while now, but as you can probably tell from the title, I'll be home for Christmas!

I made the decision this past summer to skip my usual 6-month visit home so that I could save the airline points for two tickets home for one trip. That's right, Patrick is finally coming with me! (Cue the laughter of the Californians that know Patrick, because he will most likely have to deal with ice and snow)

Patrick still has yet to meet my family (except for my mother, my best friend's mom, and my other best friend who came with me on the roadtrip to California). The intention was to have him meet them just before our wedding that we had planned for last May, however we didn't end up going through with that event so we had to figure out a way to get him to Michigan with me.

Some of you may know that I fly using the airline miles that Patrick racks up when he flies all over the place for work (so that we aren't paying out of pocket for my plane tickets). This is useful because, as a general rule, all plane tickets cost the same number of points (it just depends on the distance you go) and the price does not depend on the time of year. I say this because it is a key reason why I didn't come home this summer-- that way we could use points for both tickets home for Christmas and not have to pay out of pocket for a holiday ticket, which is quite pricey. Last time I looked at trying to come home for the holidays, the ticket was nearly $1,000. Just for one person.

So when will I be back? My flight gets in pretty late in the day on Thursday, December 17th, 2015 and, because Patrick is travelling not from home but from another state (that he will have been working in), he arrives a couple of days later. Both of us leave quite early on Thursday, December 31st, 2015, so basically I have from the 18th through the 30th to spend time with family and friends.

********I do want to make a very important note: PLEASE NO GIFTS. This is because Patrick and I will not be able to fit extra stuff in our luggage on the way home and we don't want to have to pay to ship anything anyone might want to give us. If you absolutely insist on a gift, please ship it (or have it shipped) to our place in Oregon (just ask me for the address) so that we can open it when we get home and not have to worry about it on the way back. Travelling during the holidays is already going to be stressful and the possibility of having to probably buy an entire suitcase when we get there in order to bring stuff back with us on the plane is a whole situation that we would rather not have to deal with. Getting to see you is a gift in itself! Please don't get us a gift assuming that you'll be the only one and that it will definitely fit in our luggage-- if everyone thinks that way, we'll end up with the whole suitcase thing and I needn't have even said any of this, you know what I mean?********

On our schedule so far is Christmas Eve with my dad's family, Christmas Day with my mom's family, and a trip to Frankenmuth (because Patrick needs to experience Bronner's and Zehnder's, don't you think?). Patrick does have to work for three days towards the end of our trip, however those days are reserved for things that Patrick wouldn't necessarily like to do with me, such as a sleepover with my sisters! I'm also going to need a Jet's deep dish pizza with light sauce, extra cheese, and bacon, with side of Jet's bread and a lot of ranch. Like, enough ranch for at least ten people (but obviously just for me). :P

I'm beyond excited and actually quite emotional because I haven't spent the Christmas holidays with my family in two years (not to say that our Christmases here aren't awesome-- Check out Christmas 2013 and Christmas 2014!), but it will be nice to finally get together with the people I haven't been able to see because I normally only see them around the holidays.

So that's it! That's the plan! If you'd like to schedule something with us or if you've been dying to meet my boyfriend, then fiance, and now husband, please let me know and we can plan a lunch or dinner or something!

Michigan, I'll see you in 65 days!