We’re back!  We spent 2 weeks at home in the US, celebrated Christmas and the new year, spent time with family and a few friends (though there were many others we wish we’d seen, also) and rode on the world’s largest passenger airplane (twice!) to get there and back.  It was truly a great trip and a wonderful holiday.  We had a great time being home.  (And there will be more on all of that later.)

But before I delve into our further Stateside adventures, I want to update and thank everyone who supported this blog in the Expat Blog Awards contest for 2013.  I was on a plane for the last day of the contest, so I wasn’t able to keep up with the progress nor rally votes at the last minute.  Even so, I’m very pleased to say that my entry received second place out of the entries from Austria, which was purely due to the support of my friends and family.  Thank you all so much.

But there was an even bigger surprise in store for me when the contest results were revealed.  This blog was chosen (this time by the editors, not by votes) as the third best entry OVERALL out of 171 blogs that were entered this year.  That feels absolutely amazing (and it came with an Amazon credit, which counts as the first money I’ve ever made blogging!).  First and second place were won by expat bloggers in Asia, which actually makes mine the highest placing European blog, out of the plethora of entries from this part of the world.  I’m very pleasantly surprised to have been selected out of so many great entries.  I’m feeling rather proud of myself!

So, thanks for all the support in 2013, and here’s hoping that 2014 proves to be a great year, too.