A Christmas Break (from Ann Arbor)

Christmas break didn't exactly start off on the right foot. Patrick's and my flight home was scheduled for December 23rd at 5 pm. December 22nd it snowed about 6 or 7 inches. Thinking that I would never get out of this god-forsaken state, I guess you could say I went a little manic. I was shaking and dizzy. I wanted to leave for the airport 4 hours early because I was afraid that the traffic would be so bad we would miss our flight. Fortunately, Patrick was able to calm me down a little bit and we made it to the airport in one piece. Our flight leaving Detroit was only delayed about 45 minutes- and I was starting to feel hopeful that we wouldn't spend Christmas in an airport. We arrived in Dallas thinking that we would have to sprint to the gate to make our connection. It turned out that our flight in Dallas had been delayed an hour. So we settle down to wait. We didn't get on the bloody plane until almost five hours later. The plane we were supposed to be on was late and then the crew we were supposed to have was late. Everyone was late. Finally, we arrive in Albuquerque at 12:30 am (NM time). When, wonder of wonders, they lose our luggage. We had packed one bag for both of us and it had all our clothing and a couple of gifts for Patrick's mom and my dad. No one knew where our bag was, but they assured us that it was probably on a later flight from Dallas and would be in to Albuquerque on the flight arriving at 2 am. We decided to leave and have them deliver it to us. We go to Frontier because both Patrick and I are starving on top of being really angry about the bag and the delays. With full tummies, we head up to Santa Fe and go to bed.
Christmas Eve morning I wake up-only to put the same, dirty clothing back on. We call the airline and still no bag. I decide to go to Target to get some t-shirts, socks, underwear, toiletries and a pair of really comfortable flannel lounging pants (which Patrick hates). I got home and took the best shower in the world.
We saw my dad, siblings and nephew on Christmas Eve and had a nice dinner. Scott is still the cutest baby ever! He has big brown eyes and the longest eyelashes I have ever seen. Joanie's pregnancy seems to be going well. The baby is due May 16th, but we think she will have a caesarian on the 10th. She has finally settled on a name for the baby boy - Oliver Michael Casalino. Oli for short. Enough said.
Christmas morning at around 2:30 am, our bag was finally delivered. Maybe Santa really does exist. In keeping with the Christmas spirit, Patrick left a bag of cookies for the delivery person, which I am sure they appreciated. We spent Christmas morning with Patrick's family and Christmas afternoon/evening with mine. My mom has been really helpful in helping us look for a home in Albuquerque. We actually spent a majority of our time in Moriarty looking at MLS listings. We found two that we liked enough to go look at, but didn't like the area they were in - the student ghetto. Now we are looking at the Petroglyph area of Albuquerque, at some new developments that are being built out there. If you go to this link: http://www.longfordhomes.com/albuquerque/sundoro/index.html
you will see the area we want to build our home. The one I love is the 335, but our budget will really determine what we can afford.
The rest of our break went by very fast. We saw Phantom of the Opera and Meet the Fockers, both of which we enjoyed a great deal. We ate. A lot. And I didn't exercise at all. Ick.
We also planned a trip to DC for Spring Break. Lois wants to go to the new Native American museum and we are meeting her there for a couple of days before we head down to NC to see Katie and Gemma.
Neither Patrick or I wanted to get back on that plane to come back to Ann Arbor. But we did. More's the pity. Work has been uneventful for me, but Adam has had to deal with some of his staff being a bit prickish. Oh hell, a lot prickish. I am just looking forward to the day I can pack up my apartment and get the hell out of here. Five months never felt so long. But! School starts on Monday, so hopefully that will encourage the semester to go by faster. Microbiology here I come!