Things I Learned From My Christmas Trip to Virginia

1. Canada really is a very cold place.
2. Boxing Day Shopping with my parents can not only be fun, but frankly hilarious as well.
3. Even Nuns shop at CostCo.
4. Nuns drink a lot of coffee.
5. Driving on the New York Freeway, crossing the border, and searching for a gas station on the QEW is a breeze compared to doing all that with both your parents backseat driving...at the same time.
6. I have discovered an entirely new kind of guilt -- the guilt I feel when I naturally act as a good, dutiful daughter in the presence of relatives who have only surly, spoiled, noncommunicative children.
7. When a 15 year old boy looks bored at his own birthday dinner while playing with his new text-messaging picture-taking cellphone as well as watching a japanese man prepare food hibachi style right in front of him, this is a good indication he is spoiled beyond all reason.
8. When driving to Williamsburg, Virginia, the border crossing at Niagara Falls is MUCH faster than the one at Kingston.
9. The best music to listen to on a long car ride, bar none, is The Postal Service. "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight", as heard through headphones while driving out of Washington D.C. on a foggy morning, is especially good.
10. Don't try and fry pork dumplings in a cast iron pan. It won't end well.
11. Sometimes Grandparents aren't hard to relate to because they are hard of hearing or frail or have medical issues -- sometimes they're hard to relate to because they simply have nothing interesting to say.
12. Home, even when sadly empty and cat-less, is a good place to be.
13. International smuggling is not only easy, but fun as well!