First Impressions on Returning to my Home Country

1. The Customs Officials are nice and helpful. I was impressed.
   
2. The freeways are actually free (I keep reaching for toll money).
3. The Christmas decorations are weird. Sort of a "Las Vegas hangover meets Bethlehem" fusion.
4. I still like Starbucks. I'm sorry, but I do. Those pumpkin spice lattes are just so good!
5. The convenience in food packaging is amazing - cheese that's already grated for you, chicken meat prepackaged into little ziploc packs with the fat and bone already removed. I still haven't decided if that's good or bad....
   
6. Tumble dryers are nice. So are dishwashers. And central heating.
   
7. Christmas trees are great, but they have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus (same thing with Christmas braais, incidentally).
8. Food portions are WAY too big.
   
9. The grey, foggy skies are dreary, but it's what I grew up with. There's something comforting about the familiar, isn't there?
10. Back to freeways. The roadsides here are ugly. They're much prettier in South Africa.
    
11. I really like summer Christmases, but there's something nice about coming in from the cold and smelling Christmas cookies baking, warming your hands by a fire, and bundling up in festive sweaters (jerseys. Uh-oh - which word do I use?).
12. No matter where you are in the world, there's nothing as wonderful as being with family.