Over the last ten months we’ve had some amazing experiences, but we’ve also missed many of the comforts of home. Here are the things we’re most looking forward to:

Food – we’re craving a lot of foods that we haven’t had in a long time:

• breakfast cereal
• properly cooked toast (not just bread; not steamed, dry, or cooked on only one side)
• buttermilk blueberry pancakes
• waffles with strawberries and whipped cream (Christmas morning)
• salads
• vegetables
• peaches
• sushi
• brown bread
• fresh bread with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and chilies
• good pizza
• Italian pasta
• lasagna
• fajitas
• a good steak
• turkey dinner (good thing we’re coming home just before Christmas!)
• roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
• barbequed ribs
• popcorn with butter and salt
• Patrick’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
• Purdy’s Sweet Georgia Browns
• Dairy Queen Pecan Mudslide
• peach pie (can you get that in December?)
• pumpkin pie (Patrick – I know that I can get this in December)
• good dark chocolate
• tap water that we can drink
• a decent martini (Patrick)
• good coffee (Diane)
• red wine (both of us!)

By the way, we’re available for dinner invitations almost every night.
Also,

• hot showers with water pressure and no exposed electrical wires
• a hot bath
• going to the movie theatre
• seeing any good movies we’ve missed while we’ve been away
• a big screen television (Patrick –how sad it that)
• hockey (Patrick)
• sitting by a warm fireplace
• rock climbing (Patrick)
• our own bed
• running
• our cats (more Diane than Patrick)
• and most of all, our family and friends