Living here in California has many high points. But now that it’s the holiday season, the low points are starting to show. The main low point is the fact that all my family is 3,000 miles from here. Last holiday season, it didn’t bother me too much because at least I had Jeremy with me, but with him deployed, the thought of Christmas alone has been pretty depressing.

Until the other day when I had a very uplifting phone call. It turns out Jeremy’s aunt, who I’ve never met, lives in Modesto. It’s about a five and a half hour drive north of me. Well, she called and invited me to spend Christmas with her family. I accepted, of course.

I’m a little nervous about it because I’ve never met her or her family, but she sounds really nice on the phone, so I’m sure it will be fun. And it’s better than spending Christmas alone, something I wasn’t looking forward to at all. Even though I would rather spend it with my own family in New York, I’m really excited to meet Dora and her family. It should be a lot of fun and it was so great of her to invite me.

So here’s to a better Christmas than I thought I was going to have. Finally I’m looking forward to the holiday.