a long journey's end

So, for those of you who don't know about our holiday adventures, here's the tell-all:
Eric and I were scheduled to leave on the night of the 20th of December, the same day a blizzard rolled into Colorado. We found out our flight was cancelled early in the day and I had to break the news to my boss that now my only option for going home would be to leave the 24th of December and come back the 29th, which put me off of work for 10 days straight and also added about 4 days more leave than I had initally told him I would be taking. He took it really well and Eric and I rebooked our flight to leave the 24th and come back the 29th. We made it through the next day of the blizzard and enjoyed the snow, despite our travel delays. This is a picture of the morning after the worst part of the blizzard with Banjo as a means for comparison of the height of the snow. Poor little kitties outside weathered the snow nicely, they play in it and drink it when it's melty, it's cute.
We headed out for Atlanta on the 24th, getting to the airport a solid 4 hours before our flight. Altogether the lines only took about 2 hours of our time so we were at the concourse with plenty of time. The flight was only slightly delayed and we made it into Atlanta in time for Baran and I to head to Carrollton for Christmas Eve. It was good to see the family. Heather didn't fly in until around 3 on Christmas Day (also due to the blizzard) so that kinda broke the day up to go to Birmingham to pick her up. After spending some quality time with the family, Baran and I headed back up to Atlanta for the traditional poker game/Waffle House get-together my friends and I always have on Christmas night. It was great to see a bunch of my pals but I lost the card game. In the pic, from left to right is Justin, Paul, my empty seat, Eric, Ted and Baran. The next day I spent with Eric and his parents. We went to see the Louvre exhibit at the High and then immediately went to the aquarium. Both were really fun but I don't do the standing-up-walking-around-looking-at-things deal very well and it ended up being somewhere around 6 hours straight of that. Good times anyways, I really liked the aquarium. The Giant Japanese Spider Crabs and the Beluga Whales were probably my faves but I think every exhibit there was really cool although the general setup is very mall-like.
The next day was spent with The Fam, shopping, minor-league hockey games, board games, etc. It was really great to spend time with my little sisters. I miss them so much and I feel like I'm missing out on them growing up (mostly because I am). Aly's maturing really well and she and my mom seem to finally be getting along. I'm worried about Mary, she's becoming that annoying smart person that has been told too many times that they're really smart so they think they know everything ever. She is really smart but she doesn't listen to learn anything new anymore and that scares me. She still has a winning personality and is overall very kind and thoughtful so there's hope yet.
My little sisters headed out to Chicago on the 28th so Heather, my mom and I headed up to Atlanta and spent the day around there. That night Mom and Heather rented a hotel in Atlanta while all my friends and I gathered at Limerick Junction, an old haunt of ours in the Highlands. I invited a lot of people and every single person showed up, save one. It was really awesome to see all my old friends, but a little sad too. People found out that snow was moving back into Colorado and began making plans for us if our flight out the next day was cancelled.
The next day we did have some more time to spend and Heather and my mom had already headed out to Chicago so Eric and I went over to his oldest sister Julia's house. She just had a baby at the beginning of October so we played with him for awhile and asked her advice on planning our Italy trip. I was really excited to be able to see almost every single person I had hoped to see in Georgia.
Our flight turned out to not be cancelled, just delayed an hour or so. We made it back safe and sound and now we have 3 whole days to chill out before heading back to life as usual. It was a nice trip back to Atlanta and, even though I'm happy with my choice, I miss that city.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and plans to have a great New Year.