Home for the Holidays!

One of my favorite things about the Holiday Season is going back to Wisconsin for Christmas and spending a week with my family!  I always take a nice long break from Los Angeles to relax, enjoy the time with family and friends, and get back to a normal and real environment!   Spending time in Wisconsin is not complete without a few things and I'll be telling you about some of my favorite things to do when I go back to Wisconsin for an extended vacation.  

First off, my flight back to LA was showing signs of complications as a Blizzard Warning was present days in advance and as my flight got closer I noticed more and more flights being canceled.  I called Southwest to make sure my flight was going to take off and someone at the Customer Service Center told me because my flight was coming from the West Coast we had a good chance of making it to Milwaukee without any pitfalls.  I arrived at the airport with plenty of time and sat at my gate for almost 2 hours to hear just before we boarded, we might be re-routed somewhere but nothing was certain at this point.  The flight went well and I only noticed the weather and slight turbulence as we got closer to Wisconsin and a half hour before we were going to land in Milwaukee.  The snow was flying by my window, I couldn't see the ground, and I started to pray and grip my seat as we were getting within landing distance at the airport.  I feared that the plane wouldn't be able to stop because of the snow and ice and we would crash into the terminal and the Mayan prediction would come true one day early.  Thankfully, the plane landed in one of the most peaceful landings I've ever had as the Flight Attendant said over the loud speaker, 'Thank you, Jesus.'  The Pilot wasn't the only person I thanked during my trip back to Wisconsin, I had to thank my Dad for his incredible driving skills during the drive from Milwaukee into Plymouth.  I don't know how he maintained 55-60 mph during this blizzard but he did and not once did the car slide or get out of control like so many others did as we saw cars in ditches and swerving in front of us.  Thank you Dad!!

Winter Wonderland in our Backyard in Wisconsin

My Dad definitely likes when I come home because that means we're going out for Steak Dinner at least once and St. Anne is our go-to spot close to home.  It was my Uncle Ollie's Birthday so my parents and I, along with Ollie, Aunt Mary, and their son, Tyler, all had Dinner at St. Anne.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the best steak (even though it's been on my Top 5 for years) so it was a little disappointing but not as disappointing as my Mom's gamey Tilapia.  Typical Wisconsin fish that tastes like lake water and why I never ordered fish at a restaurant for a long time!  We all had a great night and enjoyed cocktails, Birthday cake, and interesting conversations :)

Another favorite thing of being home for the Holidays means that my whole family gets together to play games.  While my Mom, Dad, and brother, Bobby and I played 'The Prisoners of Eskiban' which is actually The Settlers of Catan (I prefer to call it the "Harry Potter" movie name, that I'm not even sure if it's the real title or not) on Christmas Day, it was fun nerding out to a new game!  Neil had bought my parents Beatles Trivial Pursuit so we also played that in teams considering Bobby and Dad would have an extreme advantage, and I surprisingly knew some questions and got some wedges on my own.  YAY!  Then we played a Trivial Pursuit Game I had gotten from Santa which involved everyone betting on whether you would get the answer correct or not, and had more recent trivia and random categories like 'Beer,' 'Barnyard Animals' and '80's Sitcoms.'  While we're with my extended family we tend to play more card games like Spades or Bavarian Rummy so we did that on the last night I was home and enjoyed Old Fashions and Fat Squirrel Beer.  No one makes an Old Fashion like my Uncle Ollie!  We also like to play big group games like Catch Phrase and this year our new game was 5 Second Rule where you had 5 seconds to list 3 things in the category given to you.  Tricky tricky.  We are definitely a Board Game kind of family!

Settlers of Catan on Christmas Morning with Cheli

There's more photos, stories and fun to be told, so part two about my Christmas Vacation in Wisconsin will be coming at you soon...these are a few of my favorite things!  Happy Holidays Everyone :)