There's no place like home for the Holidays...

Due to some recent criticism (from family and friends) of my lack of recent entries, I am going to attempt to recap the past several weeks. So much has happened between Thanksgiving and the New Year, it seems as though all the holidays are one big giant event, although I was at completely different places for each one.
Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving Adam and I drove back to Michigan. It was our first trip back in which we didn't fly home. We hit some snow on the trip to Michigan, but it was smooth sailing back to New Jersey. We spent Thanksgiving day at the Lions game (terrible game, but we made it to one this season) and then went to Adam's Aunt Robin and Uncle Jim's house for dinner. Once dinner was done, we headed to my Uncle Bennie's house to celebrate what was left of the festivities. I was able to see my cousin Blair (who is now 15, but looks 25) and my Aunt and Uncle from Florida. It was a short trip home, but it was great to see everyone.
The weekend following Thanksgiving was Adam's Birthday and we went to Ohio for the weekend to spend time with all our college friends. It was a great time. Mark's house is soooo nice and I was suprised to see how clean and neat it was.
The weekends before Christmas, Adam had his friend Brian come in town, and the next weekend we went back to Rochester, NY.
Christmas
As for the past couple weeks, there's a lot more to say. I worked until about 3:00pm on Friday, December 23rd and then headed home to start laundry and packing. Adam and I had a car service picking us op on Christmas Eve at 5:45am. After not getting to bed to after midnight and getting up at 5:45, I crashed when I got home. We went to my Grandmas for Christmas Eve and ate some great good. I was planning on going to church for midnight mass, but decided to get to bed a little early since we had to be at the airport the next day at 6:00am for our flight to Vegas. We made it to the airport in time to get exit row seating, which made Adam a happy camper for the 4 hour flight to Vegas.
We arrived in Vegas on Christmas morning and Adam's parents came to pick us up. It was a very busy couple days but it was nice to be someplace warm (warmer than Michigan and New Jersey anyways) and relaxing. We checked into our room, got situated, ate dinner and relaxed a bit before our first show on Christmas night. We went to see Cirque De Soleil "O" and it was really great. I had no expectations what so ever, and I didn't even know what to expect, so I was amazed at all the cool stunts. Adam wasn't super thrilled, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
We went to the Hoover Dam another day, and walked around the other 3 days. I think I managed to see the majority of the casino's on the strip including O'Sheas where we bought $1 Michelobs for the journey (you can consume alcohol anywhere in Vegas.) We went to see Avenue Q and that also was great. It won the Tony for best musical last year and it's hilarious! Adam also suprised with me tickets to see Celine Dion. He did however fall asleep during two songs, and try to get me to see my tickets right before the show (it was her 1st night back in 3 weeks and there were actually people scalping tickets). I'm gald we didn't sell our tickets because the show was AMAZING!!! I couldn't believe how great she sounded in person!
We had a great time in Vegas, and I didn't end up losing much money (only $50 of Adam's) so I wasn't too upset. Adam said that I was bad luck because all he did was loose money when I was around. Hopefully next time he goes with the guys he can win some of the money he lost during this trip. We left on the 29th, which turned out to be a gorgeous day. We were able to walk around and enjoy the weather until about 3:00 when we headed back to the airport.
New Years
We got home super late on the 29th and spent the 30th running around. I picked up my new pair of glasses and went to my other Grandmas to drop off her belated Christmas gift. We went to National with my sister, Kendra and Skippy for dinner. After National we rented the 0 year old virgin and watched that at my house with my dad. I thought it was hilarious the 1st time I saw it and was even considering buying it. I found out, that unlike Napolean Dynamite it doesn't get funnier each time you watch it, it actually gets less funny.
On the 31st we met up with Mark to watch the Spartan basketball game at BW3's and so of course I got some Spicy Garlic wings. They were very "tasty" and it was awesome to see Mark. After the game Adam and I headed back to my house to get ready for the New Years Eve festivities. After much contemplation, we had decided to go to Barrister Gardens to ring in 2006. It was only $60, and included dinner, champagne and all you can drink. The second we walked in it felt like a high school reunion. Apparently food and endless drinks attracted more than a couple South Lake High School alumni, about 20% of the people at the hall went to high school with Kendra and I. See http://www.kendrasnyder.blogspot.com for more information on that whole aspect of the night.
It was a ton of fun and it was even better than my dad came to pick us all up at 3:00 in the morning. What a great dad!
Looking back, I really miss Michigan and my parents. Sometimes, I even miss my nagging and spastic sister. It was hard to leave, especially since I'm not too sure as to when I'll be visiting again. I think my sister and mom will be coming out at the end of Feb, so that will give me something to look forward to.
The past month has flown by and Thanksgiving feels like it was a year ago. I apologize to all my loyal readers for not blogging sooner, but I can assure you that it wasn't "just a fad" and I'll continue to blog well into 2006.
See above for pictures from Christmas and New Years.