Just in time…

… to give you a quick recap of the last week, to let you know I made it back home safely and to wish you a great start into the New Year!!

Sorry for not being in touch since Christmas. I was just so busy with enjoying myself and the time with my family that I didn’t manage to write another update while I was abroad. Now I want to make sure that I end this year with the recap of one of the best times ever :)

Christmas with my family was just amazing! In the morning, I decorated the Christmas tree and then helped my Mom set the table for our Christmas Eve dinner. This is how we always used to do it and I almost felt like I traveled back in time.

We placed our presents under the Christmas tree and at 7 p.m. our guests came over… my sister Nina and Dirk, my Granddad, my great-aunt, my cousin Basti and my Mom’s cousin Rita. We had a wonderful dinner and afterwards exchanged our presents.

Christmas Day, my Dad, my sister and I went to see my godmother in the morning and in the afternoon my uncle came over to hang out for a while.

On Wednesday was my cousin’s son’s baptism. We had to leave quite early in the morning. My parents and I picked up Nina and Dirk and then met at my aunt’s place before we went over to the church. Luca was in a great mood and smiling at everybody :)
The baptism was wonderful and Nina and I were proud to become his godmothers. After the church service we all went over to my aunt’s restaurant and had lunch. We had a great time just talking and spending time together… and Luca was just adorable. We ended up getting home at 6:30 p.m.
I watched “The Polar Express” with my parents in the evening – what a cute movie!

On Thursday I went downtown with my Mom and sister to run some errands and get some stuff that I wanted to take back to CA. You can imagine I bought quite a lot of goodies :)
In the afternoon I saw my aunt for a while and in the evening went over to my friend Ira’s. She had invited Nina, Dirk and me for “cheese fondue”. We had a wonderful evening with yummy food and great conversations.

Friday morning my Granddad and great-aunt came over for breakfast. We wanted to spend some more time with them before I was going to leave again. I spend the afternoon at my sister’s place and in the evening we went out for dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant “Alla Scala”.

It was delicious and just a very special time.

Fortunately, my plane didn’t leave before 1:20 p.m. on Saturday, so I had enough time to have a nice breakfast with my parents, Nina and Dirk in the morning and then they took me to the airport at around 11 a.m.
I have to admit that it was quite hard to say goodbye again. I am just not good at that… but I am very thankful for the wonderful time that I had at home.

My flight with Lufthansa went smoothly and immigration in SF was a breeze – yes! Despite a 1,5 hour-delay of my connecting flight to Sacramento, everything went really well. J picked me up at the airport at 1 a.m. and I pretty much went to sleep right after we got home.

Have a great start into the new year… hopefully it will be a little less “eventful” than 2007 ;)

Thanks for all your support and friendship this last year! xoxo.