Ah, home.

Where have I been in the last six weeks? Let's see: Hartford, CT; Gaithersburg, MD; Washington, DC; Lancaster, PA; Westfield, NJ; a weekend at home; and then onto Morristown, NJ.
We have celebrated Xan's 13th birthday, had a Hannukah party (any excuse to eat latkes), got very surprised by the 'coolness' of downtown Lancaster, Xan took a willow branch making furniture workshop and made a friend a table, got a ticket for a headlight being out (and now the other one is out---go figure!); we have home-schooled a lot in the car, and Michael's back has gone out and he came down to Morristown anyway. Which brings me to the almost present.
We had the big family pow-wow "does he or doesn't he come to Morristown". We need this show. We need the money. He is the one who always stablizes the panels and focuses the lights. So we need him for that. So we book a last minute hotel so that we can be near the show instead of staying about 40 minutes away with our dear friends. He comes. We leave on Thursday morning and about 15 miles into our drive we hit the snow storm that we thought we would drive through later on in our journey. The drive that takes us 3 hours took us 7 and we arrive just in time to unload the car (which had become my highest priority of the day). We go to the hotel which turns out not to be as groovy as I thought a La Quinta owned property should be. But we are whupped and so we go with it. Next day we do that which I hate to do...We set up on the day that we are open for business and this time we are open until 8pm. We send Michael back to the hotel and stood around waiting for the crowd to show up. We waiting all weekend. So very disappointing for our last show of the year and one needs the money. Michael stayed in the hotel all weekend. Xan and I worked the show and we did breakdown all by ourselves. Xan was fabulous.
Sunday night after breakdown found us standing in the PathMark down the street from the hotel in the frozen foods section picking out our most favorite delicacies that we can micro-wave. We were tired and brain dead by that point. I got Amy's Kitchen enchiladas. Xan got mashed potatoes and Tabatchnick's soup. We got Michael a chicken pot pie. We get back to the hotel in the ice storm and hunker in for a really poor movie on HBO "Deck The Halls" with Mathew Broderick and Danny DeVito and eat our dinners. By then it was 9.
I drove us all back home yesterday. We unloaded the back seat (just our personal stuff) and I got Xan off to voice lessons and chorus rehearsal. I went off to the post office and then to the grocery store. Came home and made a quick hot&sour soup and then off to pick up Xan and took her with me for my weaving class' 'pie night' to see all the projects finished (not mine!) and then we left there and went to the movie store and got "Meet the Robinsons" and "Hairspray".
We hunker down with hot&sour soup and "Meet the Robinsons".
Ah, home.
Where the plowed snow piles are frozen and shining.
Where our sidewalk is a speed-skaters dream.
Where the powdery gently gusts of snow flurries are starting right outside my window.
Ah, home.