merry christmas!

during the past few weeks - we did a good job of building up the christmas spirit in our apartment in trieste.  we've had a cute little tree set up since the beginning of the month and the number of ornaments slowly increased to a grand total of: 4. and then V made tons of sugar cookies for her students!  things were exciting.

now, i'm back in the states with my family and it's good to be here.  spending time with my family is great -- i arrived successfully into dc wednesday afternoon (the 23rd) and then i got to roanoke around 7 and it has been non-stop since then!

reunited with nancypants

a little pre-church christmas eve baking, in our matching aprons

our christmas tree!

and then, we woke up this morning to a white christmas!  i can't remember the last time we've had a white christmas here (have we had one in the past 23 years?) but it has been beautiful!  it has snowed all day and is supposed to keep snowing through the night. so fun! 

i've already been able to see some friends and am making plans to see so many more in the next few days and then maybe a trip to nyc? and then richmond! for an epic new years eve reunion before returning to bella italia on 5 gennaio.  it's going to go by so quickly, i can already tell. 

i hope you're having a very merry christmas wherever you may be! 

buon natale! xxx! 

ps: in the next few days as i'm relaxing, i'll be catching up on some backlogged blog posts from this past month -- lots to share, so stay tuned.