!) Mom, Dad, Broseph, & Everyone In This (Awesome) Gene Pool:
Dear family, thanks for welcoming me home and at least pretending to be excited to see me even though I spend more weekends at home than at college. I'm surprised you're not sick of me yet. Mom, thank you for not having a nervous breakdown at, before, or after Thanksgiving dinner and for not critiquing my outfit or hair choices (much). Dad, thank you for sitting next to me at T-giving dinner even after I accidentally snubbed you on the mashed potatoes. Broseph, thanks for hanging out with me and keeping those two in check. You guys are awesome.
%) The W. Squad: Thank you, Warren Women, for having the most welcoming home and hearts of any family I know. I don't know what I would do without you. I do know that I would be awfully lonely standing in line for the midnight premieres of 'Twilight' and 'Harry Potter,' for one thing. And absolutely no one would understand my obscure references and inside jokes (i.e. "Lionel, GUEST HOUSE!") and general sense of humor.
@) The Sara(h)s (AKA Pie): I collect Sara(h)s, much like one might collect stamps or Star Wars Pez dispensers. And over break I got to spend some quality one-on-one-on-one time with them. Sara(h)s! You rock my world! I'm not sure how you got to be so witty and awesome, but if college was more like you guys I might not dislike it quite so much. But thank God at the end of the day (or semester) I have you to come home to.
~) Conredith: I just made up that name mash-up on the fly, but it does not do justice to you guys. We've had years of awesomeness and I look forward to many many more. And someday when one of us is rich (or marries rich, I'm not picky) we will build a Disney castle and have custom-made Disney princess dresses. Because who says you have to grow all the way up?
&) Assorted Tertiary Friends & Neighbors: Home wouldn't be home without the other supporting characters in my life. I have the world's greatest neighbors and friends imaginable, and thanks to you all I look forward to coming home more than I probably should. (But I also look forward to going to, say, Greece and Africa. And the Maize Maze.) Ya'll have to be the most entertaining group of people of all time. Seriously, if we could get some kind of reality show thing going it would be a big hit. Of course, then we'd all end up hating each other and wearing Ed Hardy t-shirts while we verbally abuse our eight children (ahem, Jon Gosselin).
In conclusion, I'd like to thank all of you for making me the anti-social, maladjusted college student that I am. Because if all my friends and family at home weren't so fantastic, I might actually try harder to be outgoing at college. But since I know there are few people who could compete with you all, I'll just take it on the chin and count down the days until Christmas vacation. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!