Tom, Harper and I celebrated Christmas at home this year.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated the true spirit of the season at Pine Valley UMC in the afternoon, after which I started Christmas dinner preparations. That was followed by more rejoicing at St Mark’s Catholic church, with a beautiful mass. Once at home, we got into our new flannel Christmas Eve jammies and read A Night Before Christmas with Harper. Tom and I cuddled and watched all the Doctor Who Christmas specials to date and then snuggled into bed.

The next morning, we gathered presents and stockings by the tree (no mantle place). Christmas morning was full of lovely surprises, a wonderful breakfast, watching Harper open presents, lazing around, Christmas Dinner, naps, cleaning up, Christmas movies, and phone calls with families.

All in all, we’re setting up some great Christmas traditions for our little family.

I made my first full Christmas Dinner this year for Tom, Harper and I. I made garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, Swiss cheese green beans, stuffing, and a roast chicken (a 5-8 pound chicken made more sense for our family). I also made cranberry sauce, but whoever said you could do it in the Crockpot overnight was full of lies. But, the burned cranberry sauce was the only mistake in otherwise a delicious meal (I have this on a reliable source).

I looked for some recipes that were similar to old family recipes I had in a cookbook that I forget to get back before the holidays. Others, I tried brand new – a cornbread sausage stuffing with apples and bacon, and a tasty quiche and roasted potatoes for breakfast.

I have to thank the good cooks in my life, and those who passed down deliciousness like never before!!

We spent the weekend visiting Mom and family at their new home at Otter Springs, a county park in Florida, as a sort of Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration. We stayed in the park’s cabins (which were wonderful, with a full kitchen, beds for all of us, and plenty of room).Though we had a short time together, we managed tons of fun:

• Corralling a cow off the road
• Mini donuts at the flea market
• Party at the Rec Center
• Geckos on the windowsill
• Christmas open house in Trenton
• Boys versus girls at Guesstures
• Magician at Fenning State Park Fair
• Awesome new clock (among other wonderful Christmas gifts)
• Stroganoff
• Pig tagging and worming

While the actual time in Florida was spent enjoying wonderful company and having a lovely time, the travel was by far, the worst travel experience of my life. A run down of our troubles:

Leaving ILM

We arrive at 6:30 pm, an hour before our flight. We are rushed through check-in (as if the plane were leaving early) and make it through security, only to discover that our flight is delayed. In fact, we quickly learn that our flight has not arrived at SFB, the airport the flight is coming from (and that we are trying to go to).

It is estimated we are looking at a two and a half hour delay. With a 1 1/2 year old, no food, in an airport of cranky people. They bring out drinks, but no food, but the bar and shops are still open.

We watch TV/videos on the laptop, let Harper run around as much as possible without climbing onto other peoples. We get the announcement that the flight is leaving SFB.

About 45 minutes later, the announcement comes over the air: there is a mechanical issue with the plane, and the pilot has chosen to turn around and go back to SFB (this is understandable – SFB might have other planes, ILM would not). However, this means that the flight has to return, deplane, switch luggage, re-board, and fly to ILM. The plane will not arrive for another three hours.

We didn’t get onto our 7:25pm flight until 1:30am. The flight was an hour long, and to top it all off, once we arrived, it was a three hour drive to Otter Springs, where Mom is living. We arrived at about 6:30am – 12 hours after we had arrived at the airport to catch our flight. I could have DRIVEN in less time than it took to fly.

Leaving SFB

After the experience on Thursday, we had JP check our flight status online before we arrived at the airport. Though we still had to leave at 12:30pm on Sunday to make the flight, we figured if the flight was delayed, we could play cards, have dinner, and generally spend more time with family before having to pass through security and be alone. At 3:00, our flight status was “unavailable” but the flight before us (flying into SFB) was showing that it had left on time and was in the air.

Knowing that all was well, Mom and Pat dropped us off with a kiss and a hug and we checked in. The monitor showed our flight was on time. Once past security however, it was a different story. Our flight was again, delayed. In fact, our flight had not actually left Kentucky – despite the flight status online saying it was IN THE AIR at 3pm.

Apparently, given the weather in KY, the plane needed to be de-iced, and had not yet. The flight from KY was about two hours, which meant that every minute that passed ensured us that we would not see the plane for at least two hours from that point. We were definitely not leaving at our 5:25pm departure time.

The only “blessing” was that our worst case scenario was another flight arriving from Arkansas at 8:30, so at the latest, we would be leaving around 9pm. Our course, our original flight out of KY got cancelled, so our worst case scenario came true. And then some.

Once the plane arrived, the switching of flights from one plane to another meant we needed a new flight crew (the other was spent). Additionally, the plane had to be further re-fueled than what was planned. Though we were on the plane by 9:30, we didn’t leave until 10:30. We arrived in Wilmington after midnight.

Again, I could have DRIVEN in less time.

This, with the outrageous violations of persons and privacy with the new “security measures,” may mean that I am done flying for a while.

Last month, Tom’s best friend Dave came to visit. If you were there, Dave was the best man at our wedding. Though we keep in touch, this was the first visit with Dave since before Harper was born.

But it took a little coaxing to get him down here. On Sunday, Tom and Dave went to see the 49ers lose the the Panthers (much to Dave’s dismay). But the rest of weekend was excellent too. Carolina beaches, barbecue, breweries, pool and darts. Oh, and of course, the hallmark of every coastal Carolina town – gasmasks:

After a long trip in Boston, Tom decided to cook a Thanksgiving/Birthday dinner the day after I returned, so that we could celebrate both with Erin. He made turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, stuffing, gravy, and homemade apple pie!

What a man!