chinese turkey

in an effort to force jo to update her blog i am doing it with her.
It is Christmas Eve and the family is finally all together; baby Madison included. We are, in typical family tradition, watching some christmas movie on TV while mom is preparing goodies, and Jake is already guessing what we bought him for Christmas.
so baby madison is burping up some stuff and jo is complaining about the lack of snow and wondering when vancouver became so lame (it was when she came back).
Well it's time to eat, but I must salvage my dignity in some way: Jacob smells.
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, from Joanna and Jake.

Tell 'em I've been cooking coconut skins...

I came home a couple days ago.
My brother and my sister-in-law are moving into their new home this week (which is eeriely similar to the old house from our childhood).
My friend is attempting to fly home in the midst of a Blizzard in Denver.
Home? Home is always changing. As of now, I have a number of places I could call home. One in New Westminster, one in Columbus, and one in Houghton. If home is where the heart is, then my number of homes exceeds those and passes into the double digits. And yet this scares me, because my heart is constantly torn. If I am in Houghton, I think about Canada, my neice, and all the happening there. If I am here, in New West, I think about my college friends and their lives, and of next semester and the future. Perhaps it's merely wanting what I can't have. Perhaps it's wanting the best of both worlds.
Christmas is next week; that means less work, more movies, more food, more planning day-trips, and more family time. And despite the other places that occupy my heart and mind, despite the fact that coming home is more challenging than going back to college, family is still central. For Christmas, I am not restless. I am content.

in the 15th century civic humanism movement spreads in Florence

I've been receiving some jabs for not keeping this updated. So here goes...
Everyone knows that finals week is not fun, but there have been some unexpected events within the studying. For example, I've already felt the effects of christmas 'good cheer' in such forms:
1) free cookies and coffee, almost daily
2) free itunes music (from a friend, about 1500 more songs. my heart almost stopped)
3) loud hour (we have 24/7 quiet hours in dorms now, expect for this one blessed extravanganza from 8 to 9)
4) study groups (for the best way to learn is to flock to those who already have the answers)

Well that's all I've got time for. I've plugged in some Boney M. to keep up my spirits, and help me pretend that I'm home, it's snowing, and I'm reading American History and Calculus notes for fun.

December Love

So, we went to the Big Apple. New York, New York. The city that Sinatra loves to sing about. The Manhattan Project. The city that never sleeps.
As finals are rushing in and I still haven't caught up on my sleep, let the small amount of these pictures do the talking: