Family.

I live in a residence that is mostly full of first year students, so for a lot of them this is the first time they have been away from home, and over the past few days I have watched families from all over come to excitedly pick up their son or daughter and take them home for the holidays. I love hearing the happy chatter fill the hallways and see the loving embraces as family members reconnect, but it makes me a little sad. This is the first year in my life that I won't be spending Christmas with my family, and although I could not be more excited and grateful for the opportunity to spend the next 20+ days traipsing around Western Europe it's still a little heartbreaking to know I wont be there to watch christmas movies with them, and eat dads Christmas day breakfast and spend full days sitting around with Alex in our pajamas doing nothing but enjoying spending time together. I love my family and I am really going to miss them over the next few weeks.