(Jennifer trimming the Christmas tree)
(Me holding a baby--I won't get into how that makes me feel)The rest of the Christmas festivities fell into place. Jennifer got a Charlie-Brown tree for us to decorate together. Food was prepared, and I discovered I had a knack for sculpting with fruit. Christmas Eve was at my aunt's. My cousin Kerri with two-week old baby in tow: Kennedy Ireland Paynter. I held this baby for a good bit of time before my Mom took her and she (the baby) began to cry; I was present for her content filled post feeding nap. Occasionally Kennedy would open her eyes and stretch her tiny, tiny fingers toward my big sausage-y ones. Christmas involved sleeping in, opening presents and visiting my sister's "in-laws." It's become our standard Christmas ritual to spend family time with them. How lucky that I am so fond of all of them!
(Fruit platter I constructed for Christmas dinner)I caught up with friends from the area too, which involved visiting the Monopole. Now, for those of you not in-the-know, the Monopole bar is over 100 years old, probably never been remodeled or re-plumbed. It's like Venice, it's sinking. As usual, I had a lovely time with Diane, who I visit on all trips to Plattsburgh. This time, we went to dinner at The Single Pebble in Burlington. Yum.
Getting back home was no slice of pie. It, in short, involved waiting half of the day on Thursday to have my flight from Burlington to Detroit cancelled, a rescheduled flight to Chicago the next evening. So, I asked if they could put me up in a hotel because I had no where to stay. Hotel. I had a steak dinner. On Friday I waited at the airport for half of the day and a few more hours for yet another delayed flight. I met a nice man flying to Sioux Falls who had been "on" the flight from last night. We talked for a while--a retired hospital administrator--incredibly sweet. The plane finally arrived from Chicago and I happily boarded into a first class seat. The man sat in the seats next to mine. I had, by this time already made a few calculations: I would probably not make my Madison flight, I would probably miss the last bus to Madison from Chicago, I would not like to sleep in the Chicago airport. So I cleverly made arrangements for a rental car: Chicago to Madison and back. This rental meant that I would have to retrieve my luggage from Madison later, as it would fly without me to Madison in the morning. We arrived at Chicago, indeed too late to catch my Madison flight (the boards posted the flight's departure as much earlier in the evening), and too late to catch the bus (I ran down there to make sure it too had not been delayed by the weather). I arrived at the station at 11:10, the last bus leaves at 11:00. Plan C, the rental car. I was about to scramble back to the rental car when I saw a woman there who had the same look I must have had on my face: Damn! I missed the last bus and I so do not want to sleep here. I asked and she confirmed. Well, I was about to rent a car, so I offered to give her a ride. My new companion and I went off in search of the shuttle. She gave me a pair of gloves, since mine were somewhere not with me. She also paid for the rental, and the tolls. I drove her to Janesville and we talked the whole way. I arrived home around 3:00. I slept until late. Yesterday I had to return the rental car. So, I drove back to Chicago. I got back to the airport to catch the bus, or whatever. missed it again by 10 minutes. So, I went inside to see if maybe, just maybe, I could get someone to make me a ticket to fly back to Madison (free, faster, and putting me at the airport where I could pick up my luggage). Yes. So, there I was back in the Chicago airport, back in the sky, back in the Madison airport, collecting my luggage, returning home, and crawling into bed around 1:00. And, that's the short version!
I am attempting to collect my thoughts, pack, apply for jobs and finish some work I must do before I head to Chile. I leave on Tuesday (from Chicago!).
Happy New Year!
