Here is a recap of how my 2013 ended.
Since I last posted,
1. I went to Boston with some of my community members and got to see one of my very best friends, Emily! We walked alllll around downtown Boston and the Commons, ate cannolis, rode the T, saw the Boston Library,the Holocaust memorial, and the harbor, made cauliflower-crust pizza and puppy chow, watched Bones together, and went to mass at Boston College. It was not only wonderful to see Boston and BC's campus (since it is still an option for the fall) but seeing one of my best friends really helped me get through the end of the year until I was able to go home for the holidays. It was so lovely and the weather was perfect!
2. Thanksgiving with my community! The girls and I cooked dinner (I helped with the turkey and it was delicious!) and enjoyed an intimate meal together since Brendan was home with family and Paul was at work. The day was full of food for me; the best kind of Thanksgiving right?! Liz made us a delicious breakfast in the morning, an almond-cranberry coffee cake! Then I popped into work during the meal time to say hello to guests at Sam Center and celebrate Thanksgiving with those I see each day and have come to care about deeply. Next, I was invited to the home of a Sam Center volunteer to eat with his family and the food was super scrumptious! And then I came back to my house and ate with the girls. We went to Lights on the Lake that night which is exactly what it sounds like. There are a bunch of Christmas lights set up along Onondaga Lake and you drive through them while listening to Christmas music and enjoying the displays, very fun!
3. Downtown Syracuse Christmas tree lighting. It was super duper cold but we went anyways! There is a GIANT tree downtown and they make an ice-skating rink right by it that is open all winter. Loads of people from the area come out to watch the tree lights turn on for the first time and it is a great Syracuse tradion that I am very grateful I experienced this year.
4. My birthday! First, my community made me a beautiful sign that was hanging up in the kitchen when I woke up. At work my coworkers surprised me by bringing lunch in from a local bar that has delicious burgers and fries! That evening my community made me a dinner of my choice which was waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon followed by a homemade ice cream cake! I felt very spoiled this year and am so thankful that I was able to celebrate with my new family. Being 23 is a bit scary though.
5. Berrigan House Christmas Extravaganza! As a community we decided to celebrate Christmas the first weekend in December since we would all be together then before folks started to leave for holiday We put up our tree (artificial with lights already on it), hung some ornaments, paper snowflakes, and stockings, and random other things (who doesn't want a plastic bag, baked ziti, and a single serving pac of mac and cheese hanging from the ceiling?! The plasitc bag was Brendan's idea and he suggested we put our Christmas wishes/aspirations in it, very thoughtful Brendan.) On "Christmas morning" we ate breakfast together and I made my Dad's delicious cinnamon goop coffee cake with gookey eggs. Since we are on a tight budget we decided to do a gift exchange/Secret Santa rather than have each person purchase six other gifts. We did our gift exchange and enjoyed unwrapping the thoughtful gifts and then opened stockings which Paige and I had filled with some yummy candy. We spent the rest of the day hanging out together and I think we watched Christmas movies and listened to Christmas music most of the day. Oh, we took naps too! Yay!
7. Christmas at home! I was lucky enough to be off work the week of Christmas and I traveled home and then some. On the 22nd, my dad and sister drove up to get me (8.5 hours) from Dayton during the night and then we drove home that day. On the 23rd I had breakfast with one of my best friends, went shopping with Maggie and ate a delicious meal to celebrate my sister's birthday a bit early. On the 24th my high school best friend group got together to do our annual gift exchange brunch which includes cuddling and watching Veggie Tales then I finished shopping for Mom with Dad and Maggie (another tradion). In the afternoon more family friends came over to hang out for a bit and one of my college best friends showed up. (She ended up celebrating Christmas with us and hanging out with us for five days!) We went to 10pm mass on Christmas Eve which then resulted in Mom and Dad having to wake my sister and I and Erin up on Christmas morning instead of the traditional other-way-around. We opened gifts and ate quiche for breakfast before another friend came over for an hour! (Lots of people to see and little time folks!) We went to Cincinnati to spend the rest of Christmas Day with my mom's side of the family and enjoyed the warmth of family and were delighted by Grandpa's latest Christmas poem, this year it was about sending Christmas cards. On the 26th we left the house at 7:30am for a 10 hour van ride to Kansas City, Missouri where my Dad's side of the family lives. Mom and Dad drove while the three of us girls slept most of the way. We stopped in St. Louis for lunch with one of the most delightful families that I am blessed beyond belief to know. Once we arrived at my Mima and Papa's house the family time began again! On the 27th we celebrated Christmas with that side of the family and the gift exchange theme this year was DIY so whatever you brought you had to have made. (I brought orange scones and provided the recipe.) On the 28th we had our big party for my Dad's parents. They celebrated 60 years of marriage this year and both turned 80 so we celebrated in style and invited all of their friends and family members to an open house. We were only missing my older sister and her family from my Dad's side of the family, which meant that 25 of us were together! We all enjoyed the time together and departed towards our separate homes on the 29th. My family drove back to Dayton and I flew out of KC back to Syracuse.
8. New Year's Eve! (Shout out to Maggie who turned 19 on the 31st! Love you!) Side note: each JV community in the East region is assigned a holiday and throws a party with an open invitation to all of the other JV communities. (The holiday passed down from year to year so no one actually chooses.) My community is lucky enough to have Father's Day! Yay! The Harlem house hosts the New Year's Party and we were invited but decided it would be better if we stayed in Syracuse because we are poor and some people had to work the 31st and 1st so traveling didn't really seem like a good option. Side note over. Since we were not traveling to Harlem we decided to have a party of our own for all the friends we have made in Syracuse. It was small, cozy, and fun time with party poppers, noise makers, and champagne at midnight. (And lots of leftovers!)
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