Mapping My Month: January 2015

Is it just me, or did December fly by?  I'm still reeling from the whirlwind of the Christmas season and can hardly believe a new month - let alone a new year! - is now upon us.

Yes, we made a Santa.

As forecasted, our December travels consisted of multiple trips to the mall, grocery store, friends' holiday parties, and back to the mall.  Again and again!  With over twenty immediate family members between Danny's family and mine, there's usually a large spread of presents beneath our seven-foot tall tree.  Between shopping for so many people and transitioning to a new career in a new city, I declared a temporary hiatus from blogging for most of December, and I'm glad I did.  Although I still have so much more to write and share about our big international trip this past summer and numerous regional trips since then, I've felt no inspiration or compulsion to write.  Until the day comes when this blog is big enough to be a full-time job (in other words, probably never!), I have the luxury of cutting back on the quantity of posts until I actually feel like writing something worth reading.

Half of Danny's family

December did bring a first for the blog, though: our "All Roads Lead to Bavaria" Giveaway!  We announced our plans to return to Europe this spring and felt that rather than simply declaring where we were going, we would entertain guesses with the incentive of winning a scratch-off map of the world!  Our giveaway garnered 9 total guesses: 2 for Greece, and 1 each for Ireland, Sweden, Croatia, Belgium, Andorra, England, and Iceland.  We will announce the winner - and by association, our travel destination - tomorrow, so stay tuned!

January will bring a few regional excursions for our travel log.  As my job takes me to a "new" town, there will be more restaurants, vineyards, breweries, and historical attractions to visit and review.  My sister will be getting married at the end of the month, and a dear friend from Boston will be in town for the festivities!  Beyond that, I'm sure my new job will keep me so busy that the end of the month will once again leave me wondering where in the world all that time went!

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What about you?  Any fun activities in store for January?