The first day that I was in Ohio was the most relaxing. My mom made my favorite breakfast, mush (sounds delicious I know), and my grandparents came over to visit. My mom got a Wii, she is so hip isn't she?, and of course she is overly competitive and we played a lot that day. My cousins also came over and we went to the local park and sledded for a bit (about 45 minutes because I was freezing... hey - my body just isn't used to this!).
Mom and I sledding
The cousins sledding - Taylor, Katherine, Madison, and me
That night we went to the lights at the zoo with my grandma, aunt, and cousin, which are beautiful and a holiday tradition.
On Tuesday we went to lunch at Elephant Bar, my old place of employment my final 2 years in college and a great place to eat, with cousins, aunts, and my mom. We then went back and had to get ready to head to Deep Creek the next day. We were heading up there for 1 final time and meeting my sister there to do an early Christmas. My mom and dad bought the house when I was in high school and the house was (and still is) amazing if you live close enough to it. For the past 3 years my friends and I have met up there every Jan/Feb for a long weekend of skiing, snowboarding, drinking, cooking, and fun. Unfortunately, now that I have moved out to TX I will not be using it and it was becoming more of a hassle than enjoyment for my mom so she opted to sell it.
On Wednesday morning off we went to Deep Creek. Oh the joy! As we rounded the corner up the mountain to our house the back end of the truck slipped back and almost slid off the side (shocker... this is another reason we are selling... this came as no surprise to us).
Truck stuck
The house waiting for us...
Mom called a tow truck, they got the car down the driveway, unloaded it, re packed it and the next day drove it back down and did not drive back up. My sister arrived on Thursday, we did an early Christmas with her presents, and enjoyed some more Wii time! Friday morning we woke up, finished packing up the house (ya know... a swing, Christmas tree, dehumidifier, suitcases, presents, the usual) and pulled everything on sleds and walked up the driveway and down the mountain. Needless to say, I loved the house but I will NOT miss the trek through the snow.
Mom riding the Christmas tree down the hill... much easier than walking
The driveway we got to hike up
The beautiful of the ski resort I will miss
We got back on Friday, showered, and headed to my Aunt's houses for Christmas Eve with the family - immediate and extended! It was so awesome to see everyone and it truly reminded me that I was home for Christmas. It felt great to be surrounded by everyone (and to be drinking a bottle of bubbly wine... mmm my favorite and yes I polished it off by my self).
Saturday morning I woke up and Santa came!! My mom and I did presents, showered, headed to Church, came home and did a late breakfast (in hindsight we should've eaten before and done lunch afterwards because I was starved and the fact that the priest's sermon was about the symbolism of food for the holiday didn't help). We then headed over to my Aunt's house for Christmas dinner with the family. Another awesome time to visit and hear about everyone's presents and ... play Wii again! My cousins have this awesome dance game that I was slightly obsessed with (until I punched my youngest cousin in the face because I was so into it I didn't see her walking by me... not my fault but still not a fun game after that). My cousins got a ping pong table and my grandpa was quite the hit --- he is a PRO at this game and it was so fun to watch him play like a maniac!! My aunt that was hosting Christmas had her house hit by a tornado earlier in 2010 and it was finally completely redone and looked amazing. It was beautiful to see it put back together and host to Christmas there.
After we left we went driving to look at lights on Christmas night and this is a famous house in my mom's town... lights everywhere!
We headed home early because I had an early flight in the morning (grrr...). On Sunday we woke up early and headed to the airport. It is usually a 45 minute drive to Detroit but the roads were terribly icy and there were accidents all over the road, so it took a bit longer. On top of that we are so smart and assumed that the airport wouldn't be busy so I wasn't giving myself a TON of time. Well come to find out, the day after Christmas ranks right up there for travel with the day before Thanksgiving -- good to know for future references.
I had to check my luggage because I had all of my Christmas presents so I go up to a self check kiosk, check in, and it says to report to the 'BAGGAGE DROP" location to drop off my suitcase and get it tagged. The airport was the definition of insanity and chaos... I had a bad feeling I wasn't going to make it on. The news cameras were there interviewing tons of people because of the chaos. As I walking to drop off my bag I kept passing all of these people waiting in line and I laughed to myself thinking, 'suckers... just go to the self kiosk so you can just go drop off your bag quickly'. U-G-H!! That line that I laughed at was all of smart people that were just waiting to drop off their bag like I needed to do. I walked ALLLLL the way to the end of the line and knew I was not making it on this flight unless I could cut to the front. I overheard someone say the line was 3,000 people deep... I had about an hour till take off. I approached a Delta woman for help and she just pointed me to the back of the line. I waited 5 minutes and approached another one, she so kindly (not she was a B****H) said "Not my problem and I could care less that you will miss your flight. Get back in line. Oops... looks like you just lost your spot". Delta is so friendly don't you think? My final chance was about 20 minutes later a lady was standing by the "cut through" entrance and I asked her if I could go through because my flight was leaving in 30 minutes and she said sorry, no. So there I stood... watching the clock tick. At this moment 4 more agents must have come into work and we started moving. I thought hey -- I might make it! I get up to agent with 20 minutes to spare... she looks at me... shakes her head and says sorry, you're not making your flight. I calmly said I know, can I get out today, anytime I just need to. She checked and said everything was overbooked but I could get on the same flight tomorrow morning - could I do that? I called my mom, she said she'd come back to get me, so the lady booked me for the next day.
So there I was, walking back through all of the people still waiting in line to make their flights and they could see from the look on my face that I was not successful.
My mom and Darrell picked me up, we went to breakfast, and headed home. My mom and I went Christmas decoration shopping and I got about $140 worth of things for $40 for next year:) I'm so excited --- I have a whole color scheme and everything and it's ready to go -- C'mon Christmas 2011!!
The next day I woke up at 3:30 am... no joke... got to the airport around 4:45, stood in line till 6:30, met up with friends and went into the Sky Club as we waited, GOT FIRST CLASS - THANK YOU DELTA AGENT FROM THE DAY BEFORE, and made it home to see my sweet Mia!
My break wasn't over yet though... stay tuned for my New Years in which I made myself famous in New Orleans.
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