Happy Holidays?

I can't even believe it's almost the end of October. Like how is this happening?! I'm missing all the holidays this year, Fourth of July has come and gone, and now the three best ones are coming up: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

It's not that they don't recognize Halloween here in Australia, it's just not that big of a deal. From what I hear, some kids still get dressed up and go trick-or-treating, but as far as Halloween for the "older generations" it's just another normal day...Halloween parties aren't had, and bars don't have costume contests or anything. That being said, I'll be spending this year's Halloween on the couch watching heaps of scary movies with Mitch and Phil, while eating all the candy we should be giving out to little kids, but aren't...

I'm really most upset about not dressing up myself. The past few years I've been really into going all out and bringing out my dark side. For instance, here are my last four Halloween costumes: 

I love getting creative and spending minimal amounts of money on a costume. My favorite costume had to have been when I was the Corpse Bride and I wore my mom's old wedding dress. Thank goodness it was Halloween because that's one day of the year that if things are too small, it's "normal." I was by no means showing too much skin, but my mom was a lot smaller than me when she got married, and that dress wouldn't zip up...but that was okay...because, you know, it was Halloween. 

Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here either, for obvious reasons. So yeah, this year I am missing out on Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, football (which I watch pretty much only twice a year...Thanksgiving and Super Bowl), and family get-togethers with loads of delicious food...foods Australia can't even offer. People here just don't understand how good Thanksgiving is; I think even I have taken it for granted in years past. The saying is definitely true, "you don't know what you got 'til it's gone."

And let's not talk about Christmas. A couple months ago I basically cried myself to sleep thinking about how this will be the first Christmas that I have EVER missed! I mean, even Lindsay flies home every year from New York to be with the family. It's weird, growing up and all, and having real responsibilities. I talk like I have real responsibilities...but I'm literally living the life in Australia right now. But really, the four of us kids have now all graduated college and moved on with life; so it's not like it's Winter Break and classes are out for a month so there is no reason/excuse that you can't go home. Lindsay works, Caitlin works, and now even Charlie works. It's not as easy to make it home anymore...still everyone seems to make it happen. But now I'm over eight thousand miles and a fifteen hour plane ride away from Amarillo...and I could catch Ebola if I hopped on a plane right now (jokes...but really...haha).

While I was in college I would go months and months without seeing my family, and wouldn't think much of it. Three weeks during Christmas break, and one month during summer break was generally the only time I was home. It's not until you're so far away, and when you can't drive home on any given day (if you wanted to), that you realize how much you can really miss your family. And I do, I miss them so much!

So happy holidays to all my friends and family back home in America. I have a love/hate relationship with seeing all the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts about what everyone's wearing/eating/doing during these upcoming holidays...I miss it all, so enjoy it!

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." 

- Proverbs 22:6

XO - Cristin