A very good year

Today I finally got my UK Visa.  It took a little over a month to process, taking into account the Thanksgiving holiday.  After getting the papers together for two months so a one month turn out rate from the British Consulate isn't bad at all.  (I think they deserve a Christmas card.) 

Now that the hard part is over, the paperwork part, there is the planning to think of.  By the end of January, I'll be in the UK.  It will be a great start to the new year.  While I hate being away from Steve for Christmas, it does make the holiday much easier to get through knowing that I'll be there soon enough.  This means two Christmases!  We'll put up the tree and open presents and watch A Christmas Story just like it's December 25th.  I still like to think that this will be a great story for our grandkids.  2010 was a wonderful year and starting off 2011 with my official move to England will make it another wonderful year.

So that gives me about six weeks to enjoy my break from school, have Christmas with my parents, get myself packed up, and my money saved.  At least I won't have to fight the holiday crowds at the airport (I can only imagine what the lines at the body scanners will be like next week) and I can have a better pick of flights.  I thought about going over for Christmas, then coming back to get Jake, but that will be a whole plane ticket's worth of cash that I need to get Jake to London.  I was thinking it would be $400-$500 for a cat to travel across the pond but online I'm hearing an estimated $1000 to bring a pet.  That, along with my own plane ticket and the extra baggage fees (I have a lot of sweaters to bring) is going to be a bit pricey. 

Still, I'll be headed to my new home soon and that's made me feel way more Christmasy.  Today I went with my parents to the mall, ate Chic-Fil-A (and the rest of that gingerbread I made at home, thank you very much), got a candy cane from Santa, picked out some new Nike + shoes (purple!) as one of my Santa gifts and had an all around nice outting.  I won't start my new classes until the 18th, and then I should be headed across the pond a week later.  That makes it way convenient to not be travelling and having big, important assignments due at the same time.  I'm still looking into the Education classes I'll take next year too.

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