My best trip of the year was, hands down, the trip to Italy with my kids, G, and my parents, although it barely counts since we went for Christmas and it overflowed to this year by two days.

We went to Florence first and spent 5 days walking and exploring and having divine hot chocolate.  It was chilly, yes, but we didn't mind!  Then we took a train to Venice for New Year's Eve and Day.  What a blessing to take a 3-generation trip and explore the art, food, and culture of that beautiful place.

A close second is our trip to upstate New York to a lakeside cabin. A different kind of bliss: slower pace, lots of rest, beautiful nature, very restorative.

(I'm following Gwen Bell's invitation to note a different 2009 favorite on each day in December. Join in by adding your name and site here.  Sometimes it will be its own post, others I'll just tag it on to the bottom of another one. As you can tell, today's topic is best trip of 09.)