Thomas Wolfe wrote You Can't Go Home Again. I thought I knew what this piece of work meant: everything changes - you change, people and places at home change, so "home" doesn't really exist the way you remember it and it never actually feels like "home" again. I thought that is what the piece meant. I was wrong. I found a whole new interpretation.

"You can't go home again" for our family means that you can no longer go home again if you bring 50 lb black puppy. Here's the score card thus far:

Callie 3 - New Hand Towels 0
Callie 5 - Door Jam 0
Callie 1 - Amber's expensive new blanket 0
Callie 8 - Mom's dog toys 0
Callie 2 - Wrapping paper 0

We thought gas would be the most expensive part of this trip. It wasn't. Callie has moved over the house like a natural disaster. If I put her under the tree with a red bow on her as my 10 month old niece's Christmas present...