Finally, a spare moment! We’re slowly settling back into life after the chaos of Christmas. We had a grand time but having 10 people crammed into my childhood home was ambitious, especially when 40% of said people are under the age of 4. Suffice it to say it wasn’t boring. But it wasn’t exactly restful, either.
We celebrated Christmas #1 prior to flying up to Canada (which Jamie detailed on his blog). Christmas #2 wasn’t quite so smooth sailing when Jamie’s flight got canceled due to Denver’s blizzard. He eventually made it to Calgary a few days later on Christmas Eve. From then on, everything went pretty smoothly. Well, as smoothly as a Christmas with yours truly can be.
I was exceedingly bummed The Great White North was devoid of white because my favorite activities include cross-country skiing with my dad, sledding down the gully behind our house, and skating for miles on the local lake. I prayed and prayed for snow and finally, miraculously, the snow flew and I could almost taste all the delicious outdoor Canuckian activities.
And then I got sick.
Because that is what I do every stinkin’ year I go home. This is not an exaggeration. Just ask my mom because she complains about it. At least it was a cold and not the Norwalk Virus, which has slammed us every other time I’ve brought Jamie to Calgary. The highlight a couple of years ago was watching my dad (the only healthy one) follow us around the house with the bleach bottle. Oh, and the time I threw up on myself in the bath tub. OK, those were more like lowlights.
So, while I wallowed in my sickly self-pity, everyone else participated in the activities I longed to do.
It wasn’t all bad, mind you. Besides my illness and later infecting my children on the flight home, the trip was grand. I saw some childhood friends, went on a date night with ma honey, traipsed all over Heritage Park’s 12 Days of Christmas in glorious sub-zero temperatures and slept in until 8:30 a.m. thanks to those darkened mornings in the northern latitudes. Oh, and took about a gazillion pictures of all the cousins like this one in an attempt to get just one keeper. And do you think it ever happened?
The flight home had its challenges but my real reward was when I walked in the door of our house. Remember my “slacker” hubby who camped out with his compact fridge in front of the television during his snow days?
Well, I’m sure he still did that. But on the Saturday after his flight was bumped, Jamie secretly steam cleaned all the carpets and gave me an early birthday surprise: a beautifully cleaned and freshly painted bedroom, something we have been talking about doing since we moved into the house almost three years ago.
Which begs the question: do you mourn his late arrival in Calgary…or pray for more blizzards in the future?
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 