The 4-hour taxi ride, 20-hour flight time, and 8-hour waiting in between was all worth it when I spotted my sister’s face at the international arrival waiting area. Her signature pick-Thien-up-and-twirl-Thien-around bear hug felt like being drifted in an endless stream of cascading flower petals - so nostalgic, cordial, and satisfying. I was so smug when Adam only got a normal bear hug - she loves him too but he was too heavy to be picked up, hah hah.

While we were gone, Papa and Mama helped us taking care of our house. As if everything they do was not already more than enough, we came home to a spotless house and a finished garage - a surprise gift from Papa. He had secretly re-taped and mudded all the drywall seams and gave the entire garage orange peel texture. Of course we believed our eyes since we know how he expresses his care; but WOW!!! Oh how we are so loved and so spoiled… Is it so wrong that I love every minute of it?

Only four days until Christmas and all I wanted to do was sleep. Between the jetlag and both of us having a cold, I was not sure how we managed to do all the grocery shopping (4 different stores), host a family dinner, have a sleep over, buy and wrap gifts, and keep up the tradition of making eggnog and phở for Christmas Eve. The readily available alcohol and the holiday fever certainly helped.

Christmas morning was no doubt my most anticipated time of the year. We were all together, and some with a +1 or +2 this year. No words could describe the blissful feeling when I was finally allowed to dive into my over-filled stocking and ferociously tear away the wrapper from Santa’s gift. Yes, as creepily grown up as we (the children) are, Santa still climbs down the chimney and brings presents in special Santa wrapper each year. After drinking the eggnog saved for him in the fridge, he tipsily pets the bears, says Ho Ho Ho, and flies away in his sled. Of course these information were volunteered in a jumble the next morning by the overly excited Misa, Bôn, Winter, and AirBob.

At the breakfast following the gifts opening, I stuffed my face with Mama’s strawberry bread, bacon, cinnamon rolls, and my very own fried eggs (Mama knows that I don’t like scrambled eggs so she always save 2 so I can fry them instead). The Christmas dinner was the bomb with ham, Adam’s special mac and cheese, roasted fennel with tomatoes, green bean amandine, baked corn, and sweet potato casserole. As tradition dictates, I then napped through half of the last Hobbit movie at the theater. The night ended after a few games of The Resistance in which Adam made me feel bad for being an exceptionally bad player in the role of a resistance. When I dragged my zombie body to bed that night, I could not help but feel the overwhelming sadness that Christmas was over. I would have to be away soon, leaving behind all the hugs, the laughter, and the crazy quirks of those whom I love most in this world. I was for once glad of the exhaustion that prevented me from crying.

The rest of the break was a blur - scenes moving too fast to discern. I met up with friends, had some more family time, cooked, drank, cleaned, and ate beef - lots lots lots of beef. On the way to the airport, reality finally came back when mama told me of how my sister had cried after we said our goodbyes last night. My heart shattered.

So after the 20-hour flight time, 4-hour taxi ride, and 8-hour waiting in between, here I am, back to India. Hands and feet and nose are all accounted for, but I know that I’m not whole - and probably won’t be, for quite a while more.