35 Hours and Counting

The 'rents have been on the ground here on the right coast since midnight on Thursday night and still.....................no luggage.

To review: Carol and Wayne arrived at JFK at midnight on Thursday night. No luggage. On Friday morning, the word from American Airlines was that the luggage would come in to JFK at 2 pm on Friday afternoon. The luggage would be delivered within 6 hours. At 9 pm on Friday night, the phone rang: luggage delivery dude said he would deliver the luggage, but he would be late, after midnight. We should leave a signed note on the front door and he would leave the luggage on the porch. At 7 am this morning, we checked the front porch: but neither the luggage dude nor Santa had delivered.

A new round of phone calls was made: American reported that the luggage delivery service was on the case. The luggage delivery dude said yes, he had the suitcases at his office ----- the delivery van had broken down last night. But he would be sending the suitcases out ASAP. He'd call once the van left Queens.

It's now 11 am. No joy.

Update: The suitcases arrived around 3pm (we had gone to see a play). They were on the front porch when we got home. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Loot

So we're playing a card game called Loot tonight. And basically Grandma and I are just trying to stay one step ahead of JT. We finish the second hand of the game and put the cards back in the box, all the while looking at the advertising on the box, which Grandma reads as "endorsed by Mesna"........uhhhhhh, that would be Mensa, super genius.

Grandma does offer a defense: she has had very little sleep and her luggage still hasn't arrived....she's missing all her meds. Of course, it didn't keep her from winning the game.

But still, it's the highlight of the trip thus far.

Real Life Conversations with JT and his Grandma

Grandma and Grandpa didn't hit the front porch until 2:30 am last night and the morning came awfully early. I heard JT wake up around 8:30 and have a quiet look around the house: Grandma was awake. So she was invited into his room and as I dozed, I could hear JT talking with his Grandma about all sorts of 6 year old boy things: his new razor scooter, the presents that Santa brought him, reading, his kittens, the tire swing in the park down the street. It was awfully sweet to wake up and hear that conversation.

The Parents are Coming, the Parents are Coming!

Say this in the same tone that Paul Revere called that "the British are coming" and you'll know how I feel about getting Sassafras House spic and span and ready for my mother's inspection. C & W are scheduled to land right around midnight and I have been cleaning for much of the day.

The bathrooms are clean, the floors have been swept, the kitchen is clean, fresh sheets are on the guest room bed. As long as my mom doesn't go down to the basement, I think that things will be okay.

Real Life Conversations with JT

JT: Will you help me put on my gladiator costume?

Mama: Sure.

JT: Ummmmm.......where are the pants?

Mama: There are no pants. Gladiators wore skirts.

JT (incredulous): Boys? Wearing skirts?

Mama: Yeah. You can move faster that way.

JT: Are you taking my picture for your blog?

Mama: Oh yeah.

JT: You know people will see it and say, "Who is that little girl in a dress? I thought she had a little boy."

Mama: Pictures speak louder than words, son. Smile for the camera.

Post-Christmas Shopping Tips......December 26th edition

1. Tempting as it may be, one should not run to the mall in one's Christmas sweater, sweatshirt, turtleneck, or the like. I'll not say that I have entirely avoided the temptation of holiday clothing, as that would be false. But the Christmas sweater should come out on the 1st of December and go away on the 25th. This rule is as firm as the law of gravity.

2. As it turns out, you are not the only driver on the road who wants to make a turn. It is hard to believe that the earth's rotation is not dependent on you getting through that light. But, ahem, it's not.

3. There is no store left on the planet prepared to offer you a full-price refund without a receipt. Deal with it.

4. Unlikely as it may seem, many people have the day after Christmas off from work and they too are eager to shop the sales. Lines are to be expected and you must wait in them. Patiently. Here again it helps to remember that you are not the center of the universe.

5. No child in his or her right mind willingly quits playing with the toys left by Santa to accompany you to the mall. Perhaps this is why junior had a meltdown in the middle of Bridgewater Commons, whilst passersby looked on in horror.

Christmas Supper

The food was good, the company was terrific, and the boys used their very best manners. Mama was happy. It was a really good day.

"Best Christmas Ever"

It seems that JT has a bit more resilience than his Mama. He came downstairs this morning, took a look at all of the Santa loot and announced, "this is the best Christmas ever." So that felt pretty happy. And with this kind of joy in our house, I plan to take a page from his playbook and have a happy Christmas myself.

The cowboy costume seems to be a hands down favorite......though I'm not sure a gun is required to get a glass of water served up, JT seems to think that I move quicker when heat is involved.

Ready to Greet the Man in Red

We've set out our cookies and JT left Santa a note wishing him a safe journey. From here the boy is off to bed, with hopes that sugarplums dance in his head. Memo to Santa: We are ready.

A Little Change and Some More of the Same

The prompt over at Sunday Scribblings is change. As anyone who knows me has learned, my life has undergone an enormous and painful change this year. I haven't always been happy about it. I hope that with time the changes will feel like they were for the good. But in the midst of the upheaval, it's awfully hard to know. And, even under the best circumstances, I've never been a fan of uncertainty.

Despite the unexpected changes, some things have remained the same. I am still JT's full-time Mama and I am still the essential person I have always been. I have tried to maintain my sense of humor. And in the midst of the upheaval in our world, I have done everything possible to make sure that my son feels as certain and secure as ever. That's the tall order of parenting every day and it becomes even taller when one parent has flown the coop.

So the past 6 months have been about change and more of the same for JT and me. I've done my best to see to it that he knows how very well-loved he is. I've maintained some of our most beloved traditions. This month, that's meant making Christmas cookies together and greeting the town fire truck when Santa made his tour through town. We've done lots of new things as well, because that's what change means.

At this point, I have no notion of what 2007 will bring. But the change to a new year will be most welcome, if only to shut the door on the painful year that was 2006.