Mary in India

In general, Remi is a wonderful travel companion, we never argue and he is so easy going. It's one of his best qualities that I try to emulate as much as possible. After some stressful months in India where we were starting to not feel like ourselves anymore, this trip to Japan snapped us right back to our usual selves. For some reason, (I've mentioned this before about Remi) he is very lucky. Remi even admits to having good luck in life and we joke about how he is our good luck charm. I feel like everything with him happens without a hitch. I know it's silly, and it's probably our belief that we're lucky that makes good things happen. But whatever we want to see, eat, or do, happens effortlessly. Every single meal we ate was fantastic, every event we attended was amazing, all our hotels were within our price range and had excellent service. We were in such cheery moods in Japan that every night our meal was accompanied by hot sake and beer. Restaurants were warm and cozy and everyone was in wonderful moods because Christmas (which they LOVE in Japan) was just around the corner. There was definitely a warm fuzzy feeling that radiated throughout our entire trip.

We both agreed it was probably our best vacation ever, beating our Christmas in Paris the previous year.

After Japan, we fly from Narita Airport in Tokyo to L.A.X. in California. We spent 1 night at my Grandma's house in Orange County with my sister, hanging out with Granny and wrapping presents was great. The next day we drove with my sister to my Mother's house in Central California, where we had Christmas. Which was absolutely wonderful, no one was sick this time, less sugary treats were made (Thank God!), and I didn't get any allergies from the cats since I had taken Zyrtec before I had even arrived.

On the 26th we drove to my Dad's in Northern California, spent a couple nights on the ranch which was super relaxing. I love being on the ranch during Christmas, they get super cold wintry weather. They have a toasty fireplace and a huge Christmas tree in the living room, the smell of pine makes me extremely nostalgic and happy.

After my Dad's we spent a week in San Francisco. Which was incredibly fun! All our friends came out to see us, we got our bellies filled with all kinds of foods we missed while in India. Delicious sushi, Chinese food, Turkish, Thai, American style hamburgers, diner style pie, and yummy coffee whenever we wanted. New Years Eve was the most fun, especially since we celebrated Remi's birthday (January 1st) with a huge chocolate truffle cake from Tartine Bakery. Our friends in S.F. are so loving and so appreciative of who they have in their lives and who they call "friend". Both Remi and I have some serious history with a lot of them. It felt like a homecoming party being there with them again.