Kim and I are spending the week in East Benton, PA at my parents’ new home that they moved into just before Thanksgiving. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve been home for more than a long weekend (about 5 years) and it’s nice to be home — temporarily.

We always have a ton of traveling to do when we come here as my family is located all over the place. We flew in to PHL and drove the 2.5+ hours up to the Scranton area where my parents live. Due to delays at MSP caused by air traffic on the East Coast we didn’t get out of there until almost 9PM CST. We thankfully had a direct flight and landed at PHL just after 11:35 PM EST. After getting out bags and making the drive North, we were sleeping just before 3 AM.

We spent Saturday relaxing and took off for CT to visit my aunt, uncle, cousin and grandmother for the day. We were surprised to see my other aunt, uncle and cousin as well. They fed us well, with one of my uncles being a chef in a previous life, and we enjoyed the time together.

On Monday my father and I went out and found a few geocaches in the immediate area around their home. I planned on heading out to the State Park nearby to nab a few of those as well but have been sidetracked with other things in the mean time. After finishing up the caches we did some quick shopping to get my mother some gift cards for Christmas and we were back home so that my parents could whip up Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas Eve dinner was scallops, calamari, tilapia, mashed potatoes, pierogies, etc, etc. My mother has done an excellent job in not tempting me with too many good tasting sides and desserts making only a small batch of burned chocolate chip cookies in the oven that she’s not accustomed to operating. We normally open gifts after midnight on Christmas Eve but Kim headed to bed after imbibing too much wine and good food.

On Christmas morning my mother made an excellent omelette just the way I needed it to be. After that we opened gifts. Even though Kim and I already had our own Christmas gift giving before we left, my parents had some more gifts for us. My mother shopped almost solely from our Amazon Wish Lists which caused some problems being that Kim purchased exactly the same things my mother had for me. My mother, ever the efficient Internet user, read my post and returned her gifts to the store (feeling confident she was a great mother being that she could choose the exact same gifts as my wife) and bought me other things on my list instead.

Kim received It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia seasons 1 and 2 on DVD (she’s a much bigger fan of that show than I am but I still enjoy watching it with her) and Apples to Apples Party Box. We got to play Apples to Apples with my parents and I, of course, cleaned house that night ;) My mother also picked up Kim’s favorite chocolates and some other knick knacks as well.

I got Rescue Me season 3 on DVD (if anyone wants to buy me season 2, go for it ;)) and Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s. Kim had purchased Augusten Burrough’s Sellevision (which I finished on the plane) so I was warmed up for reading his brother’s book as well. I just finished that a few minutes ago (and Kim’s just about done with it now). I have really enjoyed all of Augusten’s books and I certainly loved his brother’s book for the same crazy content. While the writing was less refined and the 4 or 5 blatant misspelling/grammar issues were annoying I guess it wasn’t enough to detract from my great interest in the book and the subject matter.

My father and I are going caching tomorrow with some local geocachers and I have some more books to read. I brought three more with me and I need to finish at least two of those before we touchdown at MSP. The next one on the agenda is Don DeLillo’s White Noise. Cross your fingers for me.

On Friday we’re heading into NYC on a bus trip purchased as a joint gift for both Kim and I. Kim has only been to Ellis Island and we came in from the NJ side so she has never seen the city, let alone at Christmas. We’re both looking forward to that trip and stay tuned for the photos! :)

Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year from Kim and I to you.

Related posts:

1. Christmas Vacation is Over, Returning Home from Clarks Summit, PA
2. Goal for 2008: Read a Book a Week (average)
3. Christmas in Pennsylvania: Clarks Summit, PA
4. Christmas Presents!
5. Barnes and Noble: Apple Valley, MN