*this is the sound of settling*

I've been listening to a little Death Cab for Cutie today at work. Like a total idiot, I left my reporter's notebook with my photographer. She'll be out for a little while taking more pictures, so I am essentially stuck here waiting for my notes to be delivered to me.
Yeah.
I'm counting the days down until I get to go back home to see my family. I want to make fudge and sit around watching old movies with my mom, sister, brother, nephew and everyone else. There needs to be vanilla bark candy and chocolate covered cherries. I want to sit out by the lake in the cold winter air until I am so frozen that I can't stand it anymore. I want to go to bed early, tucked into my bed at home covered in all my old stuffed animals and an old quilt. I haven't slept with a night light on for years, but I think I'll bust one out this Christmas. I always did like the warm vanilla glow it gives to a room. I'll go to bed at about 8 p.m. every night with one of the Chronicles of Narnia and read until my mom comes in and turns the light out.
I want to wake up early enough to have my mother's Earl Grey tea made for her when she comes downstairs (because that is what love is).
I want to dig out my old Christmas cards and read the good tidings of friends from years gone by.
More than anything, I want to be with people I love who also happen to love me. I'm not talking about that superficial sort of "oh you happen to be in my life at this particular juncture and i care about you as long as it's convenient for me."
I'm talking about the kind of love that lasts a lifetime. The sort that loves you when you're a little kid and are scared of something in your closet or that cries with you when things just hurt too much.
My prayer today is for my family. I hope they know just how much they mean to me and just how far I'd go for them...
x's and o's