The Excitement Builds

Amid the chaos of Christmas, Nick and I are preparing our 20th anniversary trip to Italy. As the trip has gotten closer, we decided we're glad that we chose Italy instead of Greece. At one point, we had talked to our travel agent about visting a warmer climate than Italy in December, but Nick concluded that he'd rather spend more time seeing sights we'd just glanced at on our 1990 trip, including the Roman Forum. Our agent assures us that it won't be closed this time and we'll avoid the rioting in Athens in the process! Until we leave, though, I'm trying to finalize all of the details of packing, leaving instructions for the kids, and keeping the house in some sort order while still hoping to keep a feeling of Christmas hope and joy through tomorrow. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more travel tales from the Kiles!