Blessings

Where to begin.. I have a few options. Do I skip over the last week and a half and pick up with my cold ride into work this morning? Or do I pick up where I left off and write about Christmas with my family followed by a trip to Haiti that I think will impact me for quite some time. I like the first option, to be honest. I'm not sure I have quite processed the last week and a half enough to describe it in words that I can type on a keyboard.
As I sit and ponder which option to choose, I think I would be leaving out to much to skip over it all, so I will do my best.
Christmas break began for me on the afternoon of the 24th, as I got off work at noon that day. We made our way out to Tuckahoe that afternoon to be greeted by warm soup and some thoughtful presents we opened around the tree in the great hall. Early in the evening, we made our way over to the Ramsey's, friends of the Thompsons, for a traditional Christmas eve dinner followed by midnight mass at St. Mary's. These are traditions I look forward to. As midnight came and went, we spent the night at Tuckaoe, to be welcomed by a brisk Christmas morning only hours later. We made our way to my parents house Christmas morning for a mid-morning brunch. As we opened gifts and shared stories around the tree, I was reminded of how blessed I truly am. My family is amazing. Here are a few pictures from Christmas day, taken by my mom.

 As the afternoon wore on, we prepared to head to the airport for our early evening flight to JFK. Stopping to pick up Nate, we arrived at the airport just as the snow storm begun- the same storm that would later cancel over 15,000 flights on the east coast alone.
After a smooth flight into NYC, we arrived around 8:00pm and were greeted by the 4th member of our group, Ian. We soon found out that a bag of our supplies that Ian had checked had been re-routed to Miami, which we never saw again.
After settling in to a friend's apartment in NYC, we decided what better place to grab dinner than Rockafeller Center? While eating dinner and enjoying the energy of downtown NYC, we continued to make calls to find a ride to the airport the next morning, only to be told that most of the cab companies had already stopped booking rides because of the incoming snow storm that was expected to begin over night. We awoke to dry skies-not even a drop of snow! We would later find out that an hour after our flight took off for Port-au-Prince, the snow storm begun, dumping over 24" on some parts of the city.