Recap.

It would be impossible to calculate the exact number of miles we have traveled during our marathon holiday road trips, but I am sure it is safe to say we spanned over 3,000 miles between the two of us. The following is a brief overview/recap:

On December 23, Aaron and I met up in Jackson. On the 24th, we had Christmas with my family and then hit the pavement to Hattiesburg. On the 25th, Aaron and Randy packed up and headed to Texas. On the 26th, I traveled back to Jackson. On the 27th, I came to Oxford. On the 31st, Aaron and his dad came back from Texas and I froze to death all alone in my gasless home. On January 1st, I drove to Jackson so I could get a hot shower and a free meal and then came back to Oxford. On the January 3rd, I went to New Albany and then Hattiesburg to see the Wachdorfs. On the 4th, Aaron and I headed back to Oxford. Tomorrow (the 5th), we go to Memphis and on the 6th, we will be bound for Colorado. We will fly back to Memphis on Sunday and then drive home to Oxford, and then we will never travel again for the rest of our lives. 

I could spend days and days going into specifics of this holiday season because almost every second of it was fabulous. The only reason I had to add 'almost' is simply because of my gas episode. That sounds funny. Anyway, we saw a lot of family and it made up for what seemed like an eternity that we had to go this semester without seeing them. I did a wee bit of shopping and spent a lot of time video chatting with my brother Chase and his new wifey, Adrea, because this Apple Macbook thing is so bazaar. I cleaned my house down to the core, and because I wanted to go the extra mile, I charged myself with the daunting task of cleaning Aaron's office. I should have taken a before and after photo to emphasize how much work this really was, but I did walk away from the experience with a bright revelation. "This," I thought to myself, "must be why I never saw Aaron this semester and also why we ran out of money so quick." 

This is Aaron's reading list from this semester. You can't tell from this angle, but in each book there are hundreds of yellow post-it notes and legal jibberish written all over them. It is painful to think about the number of hours he spent with his nose in these books and the number of dollars that left our checking account so he could put his nose in these books. It is also painful to think that I have to find somewhere to keep them for the rest of our lives because Aaron doesn't believe in selling books back for money. 

My trip to New Albany was also fabulous because I got to host a baby shower for my dear old college roommie, Jennifer, and her cute little baby belly. I am not used to seeing my friends with baby bellies, but maybe if Aaron will ever let me have a baby belly of my own, I will become more accustomed to it. I wish I wouldn't have matured so much faster than him. I am a loser for not getting a picture of how cute Jennifer looks. She makes it looks so easy and fabulous. 

The four and a half hour drive to Hattiesburg from New Albany was worth every second of it when I got to see Haley and Dan and sweet baby Kate. Kate walks now, and it took me a really long time to get used to it. She also found expertise in baby sign language and she says "woof woof" when she sees puppies. I think after spending time with Kate, Aaron realized he is more than ready to have babies. Wait - no he's not - because he is never going to be ready to have babies. I can't decide if I should be patient or if I should start being obnoxious about it. We ate some real good food, and I mean REAL good. Food and family always makes for a great time, especially when the food comes off of Randy Rice's grill and there is a baby Kate sitting at the table. 

Kate was happy to take this picture. 

When we came back to Oxford, Aaron beat me pretty bad in a suspenseful game of chess. I am convinced that had Aaron not cheated, he would have had me in a stalemate and he couldn't have claimed victory, but that is neither here nor there. My dad gave us a beautiful chess board for Christmas and I can assure him it will be put to good use. I don't want to brag, but I am darn good at chess, and for Aaron to beat me just shows how tired I am from all this traveling, because he is not that good. But again, neither here nor there. 

And before I could crawl into bed I had to pack us up for our fabulous Colorado adventure that starts Tuesday. This will most definitely be an amazing trip and I will come back with boatloads of pictures to document it. I just hope Aaron can fit into his ski pants, because an elastic waistband can only go so far when an extra 25 pounds is added to the mix. Colorado will be the cherry on top of this great Christmas season, and then we get to go back to another semester of ding dang law school and us never getting to see each other again. I guess I'll have to resort to writing Aaron more letters and posting them publicly for the entire world to see.