Deck the Palm Trees

So, as you may have guessed, I made it home... And with only a few hours of de-icing delays.

Here are the highlights of a fabulous California Christmas:

Riding in Lucerne Valley. The dry lake bed wasn't quite so dry this year, but it was SO fun...

Skiing with the Melissa Sister, Kick @$$ Ski Patroller. She OWNS the mountain. Dad came too, but I promised not to post those pictures, they are just too cool...

There was a lot of baking going on. In addition to baking and decorating sugar cookies, we also made lemon bars, and peanut butter blossoms, and cranberry peach cobbler, and fudge, and cinnamon rolls...

My brothers are getting to darn old, to darn tall and to darn handsome:

Me and the Emily sister at the annual "learn how to translate a gourmet menu" event, where my dad teaches us which one is the salad fork and what "scallions" are. I passed this test many years ago and now attend for recreational, rather than educational purposes.

As is clearly evidenced by my maturity... or not.

So NOW, I'm back in the city. And I gotta be honest, I'm a little torn. I had so much fun with my family that I didn't really want to leave. California did feel like home, and the glitter and giddiness of being new to the City is starting to wear off. But I still got a little spark of happiness when I saw the Empire State Building lit up as I crossed the Triborough bridge; and it feels great to get back to my independent, grown-up life again.

So here comes the New Year... And there's nowhere quite like New York City on New Year's Eve. I'll be sure to tell Carson Daly you said hi.