I will still be Joyeux this Noel

It's Christmas Eve, and I miss my family. I want to be with my brothers, my mom, and my dad. I want to see my aunts and uncles and consins. I want to sing "Let there be Peace on Earth" with the Gentine family tonight and joke with my cousins Nic and Paula tomorrow about when we'd be harassed to play an instrument or sing while our moms told us how much they loved it when we used our musical talents. Christmas Eve in Paris is relatively warm, and not at all white. But every time I expect to be lonely here, somebody makes sure that doesn't happen.

Yesterday was my first day of break from class, so I spent the afternoon at the Musee de Picasso (my favorite one here!). I marveled at the way his style changed over the years, and for anyone who claims to not like Picasso, I'd argue that, in this museum, I'd be shocked if you didn't find a period of his life that you really connect with. I brought my journal and sat in two different rooms and sketched. I had coffee with Henderson before he left for home, and then I had dinner with Molly and we ended up at the cafe with Melanie, Johann, Wilson, and Yann where we looked at Google Earth to find Molly's apartment in Brooklyn and mine in Chicago. Then I spent today with my friend David, helping him finish his Christmas shopping, running around to stores before they closed and going home to wrap presents before he had to bring them to a Christmas Eve dinner. And tomorrow Molly and I are preparing a light Christmas lunch to eat with her mom and Yann, as well as Sly and Wilson, who are also away from their families this holiday.

Paris is marvelous, but I wish I was in Plymouth, Wisconsin. I wanted everybody at home to have a gift from me to open tonight or tomorrow--to be somehow "present," but my packages never arrived at my parents' houses, nor did theirs arrive here. So I'm reminded about what really matters, and that is just making sure that I get to talk to everybody in my family and tell them how much I love them. And tonight I'll sing "Let there be Peace on Earth" before I fall asleep...because in the grand scheme of it all, I'm extremely blessed and thankful that my life is as it is.