09 December 2008

Home for the Holidays

WE WILL BE heading back to the United States in about 10 days and staying in DC for the Christmas holiday. This will be our first trip back 'home' in 15 months. We're obviously looking forward to it a great deal for all the obvious reasons (family, friends, Starbucks, customer service), but I'm also looking forward to it for some less-than-obvious reasons.

I'm looking foward to: Grape Nuts, Dr. Pepper, stores that are open after 7:00pm, restaurants that are open before 7:00pm, garbage disposals, normal fitting jeans, interstate highways with no toll booths, spicy food, smoke-free areas, iced-tea that isn't peach flavored, newspapers delivered to my door, Dunkin Donuts, NHL hockey, beef hotdogs, cottage cheese, big bookstores, clothes dryers, free parking, The Office, free refills, complimentary chips and salsa, ice in my drinks, giving waiters a tip, wearing a baseball cap, Chipotle, and pies -- not tarts, but pies!

There. That's my list. Did I miss anything?
CJS

10 comments :

Monique Geisler said...

sushi, smoothies, things open for lunch and on Sundays?, news that's NOT CNN or BBC, traffic and drivers who understand the laws of traffic, real breakfasts/brunch, Target, clerks who actually bag groceries for you and help you to your car...

I think that's about it :)

Monique Geisler said...

P.S. have a fabulous "vacation" back chez vous! :)

Anonymous said...

Do they have peanut butter in France?

Vic Heaney said...

Nick, Jonathan's 9 year old daughter showed us that peanut butter is the easiest thing in the world to make. 1 minute. Ask him to get her to put the recipe up on his blog. In fact, look at his previous posting "American Foie Gras". You don't need to buy it.

Sorry Julia, I know you are 10 now, but you were 9 then.

Penny said...

Have a fantastic time! We haven't been back to Australia yet (in 18 months) and I'm starting to wish we could go in the next year or so. I'll be interested to hear how you feel about France when you get back...

:-)

Anonymous said...

This may not apply to your area of France, but I miss snowplows. Seriously, our apartment's parking lot is full of snow and slush today because no one plows it for us! I bet it will be the same when I get to the stupid peage. I'm not looking forward to going to work...

I also miss all of those things and am seriously jealous. I want to go back home for Christmas. :(

Bruce Anderson said...

ah a clothes dryer, I so miss my dryer...the fluffy towels, my jeans that have been worn for days finally shrinking back to shape instead of just hanging on me. Enjoy the holidays and the pleasures you miss.

Anonymous said...

But clothes dryer are very common in France : I've got my first one in 1985 ! do you really think France is this behind US ? come on !

Rick said...

Bonjour! Just found your blog. You're just up the road! We're here for 1 year and our 8-y.o. daughter is in the local french ecole primaire. What an experience for all of us! Sounds like we have a lot in common, so if you need an english-speaking friend (trying to learn french) email me when you get back from the States.

I love so much here, always looking at the differences. We have a "drying rack" for clothes in our bathroom closet. Love the instant hot water heater. Yes, PB is fairly easily found here. Love Picard! They have frozen fruit chips that mix with fresh fruit for great smoothies. I guess the one that I can relate to best is "restaurants that open for dinner before 7 pm" - with a kid it's hard to go out so late.

Love the snow pic at the top of your blog too! We have similar views here in Frejus and were just in Nice where the views were even better. I'm ready to hit the slopes!

Travel said...

Travel Penguin just moved to Crystal City, startinga new job near the White House on Monday.

DG