Christmas Eve

Years ago, a little girl named Anne went to see Santa on Christmas Eve.  She was five.  When Santa asked what she wanted for Christmas, she told him, "A China doll."  Her mother and father looked at each other, bewildered.  She had never mentioned a China doll before Christmas Eve, and as the stores were all closing and as it was a hard-to-find item (well, back in 1980...), they had no China doll to give her.  

Christmas morning came, and under the tree along with other gifts, was a note from Santa.  He told the little girl that he was very sorry, but the North Pole was all out of China dolls that year-- but he would be sure to have his elves make her a very special one for the next Christmas.  She opened the rest of her toys and presents and never said anything about it.

The following Christmas, the parents told her that they were going to take her to see Santa again.  She looked at them and said, "Why would I want to go see him?  He didn't bring me what I asked for last year!"  

So... it's Christmas Eve.  In a few hours we will leave to go to the big, traditional Polish feast and party.

All season long, we've been asking the boys what they'd like for Christmas.  Evan has written a few lists, and (surprise, surprise) he'll be getting some of those things tomorrow morning.  Every time we ask Nate, however, he does his patented shoulder shrug and says, "We'll see what I open on Christmas morning."  When we tell him that other people would like to know what to get him, he just keeps saying that he'll be surprised and will like whatever.

Cut to less than an hour ago...  I bet you can see where this is headed.

Yep, Nate finally  made his Christmas list.  And of the three things he wants, he's only getting one.  And from his brother, not Santa.  No Lionel toy train (which he never really mentioned) and no airplanes.  Unless someone else has bought those two things by chance.  When we tried to explain that we were all done shopping, he got really upset, so we sent a text to "Santa."  Also known as my sister.  I sent her an "I will explain later" message as well.

After reading both the texts, she sent me the following message:  "Is this a China doll situation?"

Oh, how the apple does not fall far from the tree.

We made it!

Ok, so I didn't post anything yesterday-- but the 23rd was a really busy day!

After a nice breakfast (and taking 15 minutes to dye my hair... gotta get rid of the grays before Christmas), we drove the final two hours of the trip to NW Indiana, where we were able to check into our hotel early.  We found that the "elves" had left us cookie plates, snacks, a little tree, and a coloring craft for the boys.  My in-laws and grandparents-in-law are great!

One quick change later, off we went to the banquet hall for the family reunion.  From 1-4:30 or so, we were able to mingle and catch up with all of the extended family, including 12 of Bryan's 15 first cousins, and all of the cousins' kids spent the 4+ hours running wild with ours.  Thankfully, the hall had tables set up on half of the room, leaving the other half empty for the endless games of "play with toy trucks/throw a ball/kick a ball/chase each other/tackle the University of Michigan-ultimate-frisbee-team-playing-20-year-old cousin." I don't think either of the boys ate anything other than a baggie of goldfish since breakfast in the morning, but they were somehow able to run around ALL AFTERNOON and evening.  If only I could bottle that energy!

From there, Bryan took off with the boys to visit friends in Chicagoland for the night, and I hitched a ride over to a cousin's house for a baby shower for another cousin.  We ladies of the family had a great time-- the obligatory games were actually pretty hilarious, but the best part of the night was using the host's master bathroom.  If you've never heard of a Toto toilet, google it now.  I'll wait.

Done?

So.... I'd heard that her bathroom had a heated toilet seat, but didn't realize that it will wash you clean and dry you, too.  Without discussing specifics, I think I can honestly say I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while.

So yes, the toilet may have been the highlight of a fantastic day.  There's nothing wrong with that, right?  :)

Day One Recap

We made it!

Well, at least as far as we're going today. We crossed the border into Indiana, so for those of you keeping track, we traveled from, through, and/or into seven states today. All we have to do tomorrow is travel across this one, and it's (thankfully) only 2 hours from one side to the other.

They guys were pretty good in the car, considering we were in it for over 12 hours. Of course, I wrote in the last entry that they hadn't asked how much longer yet, and of course that put the jinx on the whole day, as not ten minutes after I logged off, Nate demanded to know where we were and how much longer until Indiana. I think we were still in New Jersey then, so.... Yeah. 8-9 more hours to go.

We stopped for lunch-- the boys got Burger King, but we drove thru there and brought their food into Arby's so we could have roast beef instead of icky burgers.  Of course, neither kid will eat anything except pb&j, chicken nuggets, pancakes or waffles, and Mac and cheese (but only the Kraft kind-- not the real kind). Oh well, nobody complained.

Then we grabbed gas at one of the three gas stations. Two were pretty busy, but one had just one car. We thought, "hey, there's no wait, and it's an easy turn back out onto the road to the interstate, so we'll head there." Cut to 3 minutes later-- Bryan gets back onto the car to say, "This could be interesting.  I've never seen it before where the inspection sticker on the pump says REJECTED." Evidently this gas station was empty for a reason, because as we looked all around, all the pumps had the same sticker.  It said it was rejected for needed maintenance and accuracy-- but the gauge in the car read that we were on full, there was enough left in the tank when we pulled up that I figured even if the gas was somehow bad, it would mix with the good and we'd be okay, so off we went.  Shoulda taken a picture.

Half an hour later, we were passing the first rest area on I-80, and rejected pump or not, we were glad we got gas when we did. There must have been 16 pumps at the rest area, and I am not exaggerating when I say there had to have been at least 50 waiting to fill up. They were clustered behind all the pumps, backed up past the parking area, and stacked up to the end of the off ramp to the rest stop. Nightmare! Again, shoulda taken a picture.

When we were about 15 minutes from the hotel, we asked the boys if they wanted to stop soon, or drive this extra 2 hours to get to the next hotel.  We knew there was a pool at each one, so there'd be swimming at the end of the night either way. They voted to stop sooner rather than later (a vote I heartily endorsed), so we pulled off the road a little after 5.

While Bryan was checking in, I saw a text from his mom, telling us that the pool at their hotel (we'll be there tomorrow night) was under renovation and is closed. Crisis averted!

We went out to dinner at a real restaurant-- which we NEVER do, since the kids eat nothing-- but there was a children's menu. With shrimp, fish, corn dogs, and chicken strips. That's it. Arrrgh. So we payed $15+ for them to nibble on 3 bites of fish, 1 chicken strip (respectively) and then mow on fries.  The only way they ate anything was by threatening them with no pool time when we got back.  So they "ate."

So, about that pool.... When I called to see if we needed a reservation (nope-- plenty of room for these weary travelers), the woman at the desk told me that yes, there is an indoor pool that is open, but was renovated this spring. Evidently, when they redid it, the workers did not paint the actual pool itself blue, and instead left it its natural concrete color. Which makes the water look "there's something wrong," but she assured me that the state inspectors test it every week and the water always passes with flying colors. I assured her I didn't care-- as long as it was open, there would be swimming.

So they are now swimming. But i have to admit, the pool looks... frightening.

And away we go!

We made it out of the garage right on time (5 am, so no sleeping in on our first day of vacation... Boo!), and it's been almost three hours.  So far, so good.  Made it out of Rhode Island, through Connecticut, New York, and are currently in New Jersey. We'll stop in Pennsylvania in an hour or so for some breakfast, gas, and a coffee for me.

The boys did not go back to sleep.  Of course.  We did, however, have a rousing sing-a-long coming from the six year old pop star in the back seat-- most songs ended with both boys dissolving in giggles.  Especially his "cover" of Ellie Goulding's "Anything Could Happen"-- the boy is nuts! Let's hope we can get at least 6 more hours out of them before they start asking when we're going to get to the hotel. Which reminds me... I need to get online and make a reservation for tonight.  I hope we don't end up in a manger somewhere!

P.S. Thank you, makers of Dramamine, for making a children's formula. Thank you to my husband for buying it. And a big thanks to Nate for chewing that tablet like a champ so that I can relax a bit through the hills of NJ and PA instead of being on "puke duty."  This Christmas is looking up already.

And so it begins...

Thanks to a few friends of mine, I have been persuaded to start a blog detailing our road trip this holiday season. Every other year we venture into the wilderness (which, for us, is the I-95 corridor through CT and the desolate 10-hour stretch of I-80 through PA and OH) to make it back to the Midwest for Christmas.

Here are the travel plans so far:

Saturday, the 22nd:  Get up at butt-crack of dawn. Drive. Breakfast/bathroom break. Drive. Drive. Lunch/bathroom break. Drive. Drive. Bathroom break. Drive. Drive. Check into hotel after 13+ hours of driving (not counting stoppage time). Pass out.

Sunday, the 23rd: Drive (what we hope are the final two hours). Meet in-laws at hotel in NW Indiana.  Wrangle boys into "nice" clothes. Put on makeup (me, not the husband). 1 pm-- attend "family reunion" (it's really a surprise 70th anniversary for grandparents-in-law). 6 pm (or whenever reunion is over)-- split up-- husband and boys drive to Chicago suburbs to visit our close friends and spend the night, while I go to a baby shower for a cousin-in-law. Go back to hotel. Pass out.

Monday, the 24th: Sleep in (fingers crossed on that one).  Reunite with husband and boys. Head over to the grandparents' house to visit for a while, eat lunch, and make merry.  Head back to hotel to wrangle boys into "nice" clothes again. Drive to banquet hall for the husband's family's Christmas Eve celebration, including HUGE multi-course traditional Polish dinner. Perhaps hit the midnight mass on the way back to hotel, but we'll see.  Pass out.

Tuesday, the 25th: Merry Christmas! Wake up (way too early). Open presents with boys and in-laws in hotel. Get showered, wrangle boys into whatever "nice" clothes don't have stains on them. Pack up car, check out of hotel. Drive 30 minutes to grandparents-in-law to say Merry Christmas and visit for a bit, then drive two hours to Michigan to see my parents. Eat. Open more gifts. My sister, bro-in-law, and niece will arrive. Visit. Eat lasagna for dinner (it's my mom's go-to "fancy" dinner meal... she's saving the regular Christmas dinner for the 26th). Stay up too late. Pass out.

Wednesday, the 26th: Wake up, stay in pjs as long as possible. Eat Christmas cookies for breakfast. Shower. Dress. Wrangle boys out of pjs and into acceptable clothes (forget nice-- who cares at this point). Cousins and their children arrive-- visit. Eat an actual Christmas dinner (ham or turkey-- who knows what my mom is making at this point). Visit more. Stay up too late. Pass out.

Thursday, the 27th: Repeat morning from the 26th. Scrounge for lunch (my parents don't eat lunch until 3 pm and eat dinner around 8-- don't ask). Best friend from IL Jenn hopefully arrives (plus husband? sans husband? who knows!). She (they?), my husband, and I do a "bar crawl" of my parents' town (we always say we'll hit all 4, but I found out that one closed, and we're always too scared of the last place, so this year it will just be 2). Play NTN. Kick serious ass. Buy a celebratory round. Go back to parents' house. Visit. Stay up too late. Say goodbye to Jenn (and husband?). Pass out.

Friday, the 28th: Umm... this is kind of up in the air.  Have a leisurely breakfast, then drive 6 hours to OH to see the in-laws (without extended family around) for a few days? Stay in MI for one more day? We'll see.  I'm betting I'll want to head towards home. Plus, this gives us an extra day with which we can "fudge" the travel plans, because (as my mother always says), "You never know what the weather will be...".

Saturday, the 29th: We'll either wake up already in OH, in which case we can sleep in because the in-laws are early birds (well, they are up and active far earlier than my parents) who will feed and entertain the kids, or we will be getting up at the butt-crack of dawn again to drive the 6 hours to OH from my parents in MI.  Spend afternoon in OH (I'm sure my mother-in-law will have some ideas of things to do). Visit. Relax. Climb in bed at a semi-reasonable hour.

Sunday, the 30th: Wake up, church with in-laws, spend the day visiting and relaxing.  As long as the weather is decent, we'll still be there. The in-laws mentioned something about maybe going to visit the house from A Christmas Story up in Cleveland... we'll see.

Monday, the 31st: Butt-crack of dawn, here we go again! Back in the car for the final 10-hour journey home. Celebrate New Year's Eve with boys.  Pass out.  Twenty bucks says we're going to go to bed long before midnight... maybe we'll remember to set an alarm to see the ball drop... maybe not.

Tuesday, the 1st: Happy New Year... we're going to need a vacation!

Keep watching to see how closely we stick to this itinerary... I'll keep you posted!