I’m home!
I hadn’t planned on leaving northern California for the rest of my work assignment, but when Yukon got sick and Ryan told me he wouldn’t be able to come spend Christmas in Nevada City with me, I decided to spontaneously book a flight home.
When I say spontaneously, I mean spontaneously. I overpaid for a next-day flight from Sacramento to Phoenix and then promptly checked in for it.
I noticed the other day that when asked about holiday plans, I’ve started referring to “home” as Flagstaff and my “family” as Ryan and Yukon, which is a little strange but also, very exciting.
Ryan picked me up from the Phoenix airport and then we had dinner with his parents at Four Peaks before driving back up to Flagstaff.
Christmas Eve was pretty chill. We dog-sat for our human friend Jody and fur friend Tilly, and watched Christmas movies.
Then we spent Christmas morning spoiling our only child.
Ryan’s parents got Yukon a buffalo plaid onesie (which he hated, obviously) and some dog toys.
I got Yukon a cute little Santa narwhal plushie that squeaks and moves when he bites it.
We had two of our friends come over for Christmas dinner. I’ve come to love cooking and it’s SO nice to be back home in my full kitchen (my Tahoe cabin doesn’t have a lot of counter space, or a dishwasher, or a ton of appliances) so I took full advantage!
We made a vegan mushroom Wellington, green bean almondine, onion gravy and mashed potatoes — all from scratch*.
*We cheated with pre-made puff pastry but that’s it, OK?!
It was a great Christmas. I’m heading back to Nevada City in a few days, so I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my break here cuddling with Yukon and catching up on some easy reads.
Overall, it was really different from last Christmas (COVID) and the year before’s Christmas (Peace Corps).
