We arrived just in time for a New Year’s party at our house in Holyoke.  The party was so much fun!  Thanks to everyone who made it out despite the snow storm.

We had 14 kids spend the night!  And they all got to sleep by about 22:30.  It helped that we started celebrating the New Year with Greenwich Mean Time and every hour thereafter.

Some people came all the way from Hawaii!

I really feel blessed to have so many good friends.

It was a great night!  We really enjoyed our time with everyone, and although we didn’t get nearly enough sleep or enough time with anyone, it was so great to be there.

In many ways, the kids seemed to pick up almost as if we had never been gone.

It had been a year since we’d seen most people from Massachusetts.  It was interesting to see how things have changed and how they’ve stayed the same.  It’s often true that you don’t notice changes when you witness them happening gradually, but if you see only snapshots from different times those same changes are much more obvious.  At the same time, there are so many things that remain consistent.

We saw some old friends…

and some new ones!

We spent a few days at the beach in Rhode Island with the Perrys, who were also visiting.

We also did some swimming at Puffer’s Pond in Amherst, where the water was as cold as always.  We held an impromptu chorus session on the beach.  It was so much fun to sing together again.

It’s nice to be reminded of the things in life that are truly important.

Friendships…

Hugs…

and families…

I suspect that we’re all a bit exhausted from the trip. I’m reminded of our trip to Acadia, Maine last September. When we first arrived, Danielle said “There are so many great things to do here. There’s no way we’ll be able to do them all.” We assumed that she meant we’d have make some choices about which things we wanted to do most, but she continued: “We’ll just have to do two things every day!” I certainly had that feeling on this trip. Every time I decided to do something, there were two or three other things that I was missing.

I didn’t manage to take any pictures. Fortunately, though, I left the camera out a few times and someone snapped a few shots. Sometimes I wish I brought the camera with me everywhere and was better about taking photos, but often it’s hard to be in the moment from behind a lens. On this trip, though, I was just so busy that I completely forgot about the camera.

We had a nice visit with Molly’s parents. Molly finished the sweater she’s been working on for Gail. It’s made from some really nice bamboo yarn. Somehow this next picture got stuck in here after the paragraph that mentions yarn. Hmm…

We spent some nice times visiting with friends. These wonderful folks are moving to Hawaii in a couple months. I’m confident that it’ll be a great experience for their family, but it’s also a little bittersweet since it’s unclear when we’ll see each other again. It’s hard to see so much change happening so quickly in our community. I think that I imagined that the world wouldn’t change much in the time we were away.

The kids enjoyed seeing their friends, too. In some ways, it seemed almost as if we had never been gone. It was great to see most of the same families at chorus. Here’s a crew of them on the stairs at the party they organized.

I think this is about as cute as they come:

It felt very nice to be home. In many ways, it was very easy, familiar, and comfortable. There are so many wonderful people, both family and friends, that I would have liked to have spent more time visiting. One of the nicest things was just having people drop over for dinner. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed those casual visits. I also enjoyed getting out of the house to socialize; Among other things, I got to have margaritas at Mama Iguana’s with Kyle, dance at Bill and Danielle’s party, play capoeira, and hang out at the Dirty Truth. I wish there were more hours in the day, for there were so many things that I would have liked to have done. I guess we’ll need another vacation to recover from that trip…

I’ve got so many things to be thankful for that it’s hard to know where to start.

I’m so thankful for our wonderful family and friends. It was so nice to arrive home. Sitting around the table with good food and good company feels so good. Cooking was truly a communal effort this year. Grampy brought the traditional ravioli, Molly made pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate meringue pie, and we all spent a cheerful, harmonious morning in the kitchen cooking and chatting. I wish I’d remembered the camera, for such a feast deserved documentation.

Today, we saw some old friends and hiked one of our favorite stretches of the M&M trail on Mt. Tom. I’m thankful to have such friends, and I’m thankful that there are such beautiful places in the world.

And last, but not least, I’m so grateful for all the amazing people who have befriended us in Derby and made us feel at home in a new place.