Christmas
Ever since my wife and I started spending Christmas together the holiday has turned into less of a celebration and more of a long-distance event. Our usual routine has us running up to Chicago to spend a day or two with my family before heading back here on Christmas morning to spend the afternoon opening presents with her family before finally coming home to do our own Christmas. That's a lot of Christmasing to do. This year was no exception. Thankfully we had stock piled whatever vacation days to stretch the vacation out over a couple of weeks.
Wednesday night we left St. Louis for Chicago. We waited until it was time for Oliver to go to sleep before we left. It worked like a charm. He conked out in the back seat. My wife and I drove up to Chicago with only one stop. We got in after midnight. She took Oliver to bed while I stayed up and talked to my folks.
My mother had just had some back surgery to help her with some pain that she'd had. She had just gotten back from the hospital earlier that day. It was good to see her up and around. She reported that she wasn't quite to where she was pre-surgery, but she was already feeling less pain. I was a bit distressed to see that her face was all swollen and puffy like she'd had some dental work done. It turned out that she has/d Bell's palsy. She went in to see the doctor the next day and by the end of our visit it was no longer in evidence.
I went out to pick up one of my best friends and her boyfriend from O'Hare. That turned into a bit of an adventure. I told them to go to the far end of the pick up where I would look to pick them up. There is usually a bit of a pile-up at the front of the pick up area, but the end is easier to squeeze into. Two things went wrong here. First O'Hare decided that they didn't want to make picking up your passengers a good experience so they closed down the waiting lanes. Then to make it more inconvenient, they closed the recirculation lanes. So to drive past the pick up area you had to leave the airport property go back a few exits and then come back. Convenient, thanks O'Hare! The other thing is that my friend got in at Terminal A which is next to Terminals B and C. Including their pick up areas. So on my third pass, I got a call from them telling me that instead of being at the end of A - like I was expecting - they were at the end of B - which I had just passed. But one recirculation later I picked them up. We hung out for a bit and promised to get back together later.
My aunt Re came in later that night at Midway. I went out with my father to pick her up. While he circled, I ran in to find her. I found her but no bags. Still no bags. And still no bags. Thanks Midway! We filled out a report and headed home. She did get the bag the next day, but I think she would have rather left the airport with it - just a hunch.
The next day was Christmas Eve. Since my mother had her surgery and ny brother and I weren't really interested in hauling our respective children to Midnight Mass, we just planned a dinner and presents for Christmas Eve. Dinner was fun and it was nice to see Oliver and his cousin playing near each other. The playing with will surely happen in the next year or so. We exchanged gifts and then everyone headed home.
But it seems that one hidden gift was exchanged. Around 2:00 in the morning I heard my parents moving around. I peeked my head in to find that my mother had decorated the floor. The stomach flu had arrived. I helped my parents clean up the mess and get my mother to the bathroom. Having had the flu recently I know how hard it is. I can't imagine how my mother dealt with it so well so soon after her surgery. We ended up skipping gifts and calling my siblings to warn them. I don't know how much good it ended up being at that point. I called my friends and let them know that I wouldn't be able to see them after all since I didn't want them to get it if I were contagious.
After a day of no flu symptoms for us, we waited for Oliver to get tired, packed up, and headed to my wife's family's place for Christmas. They were planning to open gifts on Monday since just about everyone had it off anyway. We arrived there on the 25th at 11:30 and went to bed. My wife let Oliver crawl over the kids who were passed out on the floor to wake everyone up in the morning. It's a good thing he's cute. We ate and opened gifts. Next time I'll bring a bigger car. Finally it was time to be getting home. When we got there we assembled our big toy for Oliver, a combination walker, scooter, and truck that he was overjoyed to see. Over the next couple of days errant gifts arrived and Christmas was complete.
Wednesday night we left St. Louis for Chicago. We waited until it was time for Oliver to go to sleep before we left. It worked like a charm. He conked out in the back seat. My wife and I drove up to Chicago with only one stop. We got in after midnight. She took Oliver to bed while I stayed up and talked to my folks.
My mother had just had some back surgery to help her with some pain that she'd had. She had just gotten back from the hospital earlier that day. It was good to see her up and around. She reported that she wasn't quite to where she was pre-surgery, but she was already feeling less pain. I was a bit distressed to see that her face was all swollen and puffy like she'd had some dental work done. It turned out that she has/d Bell's palsy. She went in to see the doctor the next day and by the end of our visit it was no longer in evidence.
I went out to pick up one of my best friends and her boyfriend from O'Hare. That turned into a bit of an adventure. I told them to go to the far end of the pick up where I would look to pick them up. There is usually a bit of a pile-up at the front of the pick up area, but the end is easier to squeeze into. Two things went wrong here. First O'Hare decided that they didn't want to make picking up your passengers a good experience so they closed down the waiting lanes. Then to make it more inconvenient, they closed the recirculation lanes. So to drive past the pick up area you had to leave the airport property go back a few exits and then come back. Convenient, thanks O'Hare! The other thing is that my friend got in at Terminal A which is next to Terminals B and C. Including their pick up areas. So on my third pass, I got a call from them telling me that instead of being at the end of A - like I was expecting - they were at the end of B - which I had just passed. But one recirculation later I picked them up. We hung out for a bit and promised to get back together later.
My aunt Re came in later that night at Midway. I went out with my father to pick her up. While he circled, I ran in to find her. I found her but no bags. Still no bags. And still no bags. Thanks Midway! We filled out a report and headed home. She did get the bag the next day, but I think she would have rather left the airport with it - just a hunch.
The next day was Christmas Eve. Since my mother had her surgery and ny brother and I weren't really interested in hauling our respective children to Midnight Mass, we just planned a dinner and presents for Christmas Eve. Dinner was fun and it was nice to see Oliver and his cousin playing near each other. The playing with will surely happen in the next year or so. We exchanged gifts and then everyone headed home.
But it seems that one hidden gift was exchanged. Around 2:00 in the morning I heard my parents moving around. I peeked my head in to find that my mother had decorated the floor. The stomach flu had arrived. I helped my parents clean up the mess and get my mother to the bathroom. Having had the flu recently I know how hard it is. I can't imagine how my mother dealt with it so well so soon after her surgery. We ended up skipping gifts and calling my siblings to warn them. I don't know how much good it ended up being at that point. I called my friends and let them know that I wouldn't be able to see them after all since I didn't want them to get it if I were contagious.
After a day of no flu symptoms for us, we waited for Oliver to get tired, packed up, and headed to my wife's family's place for Christmas. They were planning to open gifts on Monday since just about everyone had it off anyway. We arrived there on the 25th at 11:30 and went to bed. My wife let Oliver crawl over the kids who were passed out on the floor to wake everyone up in the morning. It's a good thing he's cute. We ate and opened gifts. Next time I'll bring a bigger car. Finally it was time to be getting home. When we got there we assembled our big toy for Oliver, a combination walker, scooter, and truck that he was overjoyed to see. Over the next couple of days errant gifts arrived and Christmas was complete.
posted by mypetrock at 12:31 AM
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