The past two weeks have been tough for my little blog. Since our families live across the country, instead of going big or going home, we just go home BIG. I mean, if I’m packing up my kids for a flight across the country, I may as well make it count. Besides, we have lots of friends and family to see, and even though our trips are often two or three weeks, we rarely get to see everyone we want. In fact, we generally disappoint more people than we please.

Spending time with family and friends is special. It is comforting, and fun, and a salve for the soul. There is nothing like surrounding yourself with those that have known you for most of your life, that share your name, your blood, your childhood. It is wonderful. It is also exhausting.

I have spent the past two weeks putting my kids to bed in five different bedrooms (and several airplanes); eating in six different kitchens, multiple restaurants, and several cars (and airplanes); driving over 1000 miles; accumulating a combined 21,956 frequent flier miles; and avoiding three political topics that could only irritate everyone. We have traveled by car, bus, train, plane, and four-wheeler. Graham even got to ride his grandmother’s donkey, Franny.

Pretending to drive the train.

Holding on while giving her dad a panic attack. NOT a glimpse into her future.

We did a million wonderful things. We laughed with our siblings while snuggling their babies. We hugged our mothers, chased our nieces and nephews, and gorged ourselves on salmon (Alaskan, not the bullshit Atlantic salmon we get here), prime rib (twice!), and a plethora of holiday treats. We got to watch the joy on our kids’ faces while they played with their cousins, and while they read books with their grandmas. We cried tears of laughter over ridiculous games and favorite embarrassing stories, and we cried tears of sorrow for those no longer with us. We stayed up late playing dominoes. We got to sleep in.

Throughout all of this, my blog was never far from my mind. Everyone had questions about my venture, as most of them hadn’t seen me since Funny Is Family debuted, and I was happy to share. Some people had great suggestions, like my brother-in-law, who is a reporter. He treated my writing with respect, which I truly appreciated, since he’s a real, honest-to-goodness writer who gets paid for his words. He even wins fancy awards and shit.

Even though I was always thinking about things I could write about, and was often discussing my blog, finding time to write was difficult. More than that, I couldn’t pull the words from my head to my fingers. My posts felt forced. Incomplete. I have been home less than 24 hours now, and I’m excited to get back to it. I’m going to do that, just as soon as I finish unpacking, doing laundry, taking down Christmas decorations, restocking my kitchen, and reading the pile of Christmas cards that arrived after December 17th. It’s a big pile, y’all.