Christmas, try 2

Yesterday Hub, Boy and I were to drive an hour to a smallish airport, board a flight for Airline hub, and then board another flight for Hubhometown. The weather was predicted to be nasty, nasty. So Hub and I decided to leave early for the airport, because the nasty nasty weather hadn't arrived yet, and we wanted to beat it. So we left quite early (8:40a) for a early afternoon flight (1:00p). Only one generation back, my family lived in harsh conditions/ geography, and I was brought up to make sure the car was full of gas, there was salt, a shovel, rope, water, food and many layers of extra clothing in the car in case of being trapped in a blizzard. So Hub and I even packed a box with these things to take with us.

Luckily, the road conditions weren't as bad as forecasted, and we arrived at the airport safe, but in no way relaxed. I envisioned these smallish planes building ice up on their descent (or ascent with us on it), and horror resulting from that. So even though we made it to the airport, the danger wasn't over.

Now we had the job of entertaining a young toddler for hours. I discovered Boy likes to ride the escalator up, and down. Up, and down. Up, and down. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. You get the picture.

He learned how to drink from a fountain, more or less. Mommy used one of the rolling, swivelling office chairs at the internet booth to give him a fast, spinney ride through the tiled terminal. I also discovered how extroverted he was: he approached many people and shouted a primitive hello to them, and in one circumstance went running into a strange young woman's arms. Good thing she was Spanish and warm- and therefore unfazed by this burst of affection.

After being in the boarding area for about 3 hours, we received the message that the inbound flight had been diverted, and therefore our flight was canceled. There was a sudden flurry of activity in the terminal, as hundreds of people simultaneously activated their phones or devices and dialed reservations. Some of them even stood in line at the counter while talking to reservations.

Hub did so also... and we found the earliest flight we could get was the next day (26th). We had a tense, nail biting trip home through the worsening weather. The roads were still OK, though. By now we are famished, since we had breakfast at about 7a, nothing was open, and all we had the entire time in the terminal to eat were the snacks we brought for Boy (mmm- string cheese). We arrived home at 3pm, and I threw together macaroni and cheese. Our Christmas dinner never tasted so good. Hallelujah, amen.

Today, we try again. The weather looks better and hopefully the turkey will still be awaiting us at Hub's family home. We won't care if its not fresh out of the oven.

Happy holidays all.