Home for Christmas: On December 21st, I boarded a Philippines Airlines flight from Manilla, across the International Date Line, and finally landed in Honolulu. I became quite reflective and homesick during that long flight. It all started right after I boarded and the airplane sound system played Elvis Presley singing, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”–I cried. I took time to savor “all of the faces and all of the places” of the past ten months. I was so grateful that I had dodged so much bad luck on my trip and had embraced so much good luck. I was grateful to be returning home safe and returning to my family and friends. As the telegram from the Nepal Embassy said, “Jonathan is ten pounds lighter and is looking forward to Christmas turkey.” Actually, I was about 30 pounds lighter.