The Franklins In Japan: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

I made it safely to the other side of the world to Texas! This is me and my dad who decided to go for the Santa-look this winter!

My cousin Jessica and her husband drove through a snowstorm in Virginia to be with family for Christmas and were there to greet me at the airport.

I got in just in time because 2 days later, we had one of the biggest snow storms this area has ever seen!
Here I am with my Dad, brothers, and Brittany on the 23rd (notice the tshirts and clear ground).

This is my adorable nephew, Cade hanging out with his daddy!

Just one day later, we woke up to this...

Central Texas rarely gets snow, and when they do, it is only an inch or so, melts immediately, or turns to slippery ice. They had a record amount of snowfall on Christmas Eve. All of the highways were shut down. There were people stranded in their cars for hours, some even overnight! It was a mess! Fortunately I was nice and warm in my mom's house. My brother Jacob and I got out in the snow and took a few pictures.

Check out the yardstick we stuck in the snow where it had accumulated in a corner.

John and I received a great Christmas present, some very exciting news last weekend. John was selected for promotion. For those of you who do not speak the military language, this is a big deal. He will move up in rank, get a nice pay raise, and will no longer be considered a junior officer. As in the civilian world, not everyone who is up for promotion gets it. There were 660 United States Marines who were selected and John was one of them. Soon he will pin on the rank of Major. If you are not familiar with the USMC officer rank structure, here it is. Bring on the oak leaf!

I am so very, very proud of my husband. He is an amazing man, and a fantastic officer. It is apparent that he is great at what he does. We will keep you in the loop when the times comes that he will become Major John Franklin.