Back in A'dam

Hey everyone,

I am back in Amsterdam since the 26th of December. It was so nice to see my family and friends even though I was definitely not there long enough.  The weather in Arizona was beautiful.  It has been below freezing here in Amsterdam for at least the past week I think.  When I landed I believe it was 20F.  I was wearing a tshirt underneath a not very thick jacket.  Luckily I didn't have to ride my bike.  Today there is a very thick fog and it was snowing very lightly when I went out earlier.  There is a thin layer of ice over almost everything.

I got to spend a few days in Washington D.C. visiting all the museums and such and then made it to Arizona without any problems.  I had my aunt and uncle bring my grandma to my favorite restaurant to meet me there when my plane landed (grandma had no idea I was coming) and my best friend picked me up from the airport and brought me over there.  We walked in and I tapped her on the back of her shoulder.  Grandma screamed "Oh my God" and the rest of the restaurant looked around for the bomb (this is not a big place).  So even though I almost gave grandma a heart attack it was awesome and I am sure she won't hold my surprise against me.

Christmas Eve and Christmas day with the family are always wonderful although I somehow seem to get screwed with the White Elephant gift exchange almost every year.  A few years ago I got a boar's head.  Yes, that's right. A boar's head, in a box.  This year I picked a small bag because I needed something that would fit in my suitcase home.  As I opened it it looked like there was a small sandwich bag full of air inside of it.  I assumed they had done this to make the gift bag look fuller.  As I pulled it out, some stuff inside starting crawling around.  Turns out, the bag was full of bugs, live bugs.  Obviously my first reaction was to scream, throw the bag, and run.  After everyone realized what had happened they all laughed but I was not a happy camper.  I ended up letting them go in the front yard to which I received comments like "Did you hug a tree while you were out there?".  The poor bugs had suffered enough though. ;).

My little cousins are getting so big too!  Katie is growing so fast I can barely pick her up anymore, Wyatt is talking up a storm and apparently loves High School Musical, Danielle's baby girl Payton already weighs over 20lbs at 4 months... I am not old at all, but I even remember Alexa and Anneli being born and holding them as babies so I am starting to feel old.  Even my brother made it down for the Christmas eve party anyways.  We don't get to see him often so that was really nice. 

The whole trip wasn't all fun and games.  My aunt Beverly passed away on the 23rd of December.  I was lucky enough to be able to see her in the hospital with my grandmother and say goodbye in person.  It would have killed me to have been here in Holland and not been able to go to the funeral either.  I tried to change my tickets to stay but there were some problems doing that.  I am thankful I got to see her though.  I remember so many good things about her.  Grandma and I used to stay with her every time we went to Show Low.  She always had a few docksies running around and I loved playing with them, she loved the Diamondbacks, she made me the most beautiful scarf (that I just happened to be allergic to, but loved nonetheless), and was just a great woman.  I know many are going to miss her a lot, and I will be among them.  

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas as much as I did and here is to a wonderful 2009 for everyone.  Love you all.

Briana