I have been looking forward to our next trip, as we will be returning to Texas to spend time with family. This will be one of our longer trips back to Texas - we'll be there for 9 days - but it also feels like it's been a very long time since we've been there. Last year, we weren't able to be with family during the holidays, so I'm very excited to be able to see my parents and other relatives and friends, including our baby niece.

We traveled during the holidays our first year here, which was quite an hectic experience thanks to the snow storm that moved in before we left.

While this winter is expected to be wet and cold, right now the forecast doesn't show any snow that would impact our flight out.

I'm looking forward to satisfying my currently insatiable cravings for barbecue and Tex-Mex. Lesley and I will also be spending an evening in Dallas by ourselves and going to a hockey game with her parents.

While we'll have spent more than half of our vacation time this year to go back to Texas rather than traveling somewhere new and exciting, it's good to spend holidays with family.