I worked until Dec 17th then made my way home that day. We decided to surprise my mom by flying Kevin home from Germany. This would have been her first Christmas sans children, which to be honest, had me feeling a little sad. All three of us were expected to be away on Christmas day. To make up for our absences, I thought it would be great to send her to Myrtle Beach for NYE. For a few weeks, this was the plan, until plans changed. I arranged to have Kevin fly into Ottawa, where Chris picked him up, and they drove through the night. I told mom that I felt terrible that her trip to South Carolina had been 'canceled', so to make it up to her I had Chris pick up a rather large gift in Ottawa. I told her it was too big to wrap and that she was getting her present early. She immediately thought it was something from IKEA (she loves that place). When the boys, and Steph, arrived the morning of the 18th, she had no idea what was going on. She was thrilled to see Chris and Steph and KEVIN... KEVIN, she began to cry. A reaction like that was worth the secrecy and small fibs.
I can't describe to you how happy she was to have us all home. I left December 21st, Chris stayed until Christmas Eve and Kevin came to the rescue on Christmas day.
Getting to Norfolk proved to be more difficult than anticipated. I left Moncton at 6:15am, landed in Newark at 8:00am, where I was surprised to find out that my connecting flight was canceled, due to weather conditions. After waiting in the customer service line for nearly 2 hours, I was put on standby. This was useless because several flights were canceled, and the planes were full. After several phone calls with Wayne, a plan was created. I rented a car, drove to Philly and dropped the car off at the airport there. I then took a cab to a hotel and waited (...slept) for Alex to arrive. He drove from VA to pick me up - what a great boyfriend. We made it back to Norfolk the following day, just in time to decorate the Christmas tree. An added surprise was seeing a "Lam" added to the herd of Bucks on the front lawn!
The next day was filled with things to do and people to see. It was the Buck Christmas Cookie Party! Carol made 12 different types of cookies and Wayne the eggnog. I did give it a taste, but due to my nonexistent tolerance to alcohol, and lactose issues, I steered clear of the rum concoction. People were flowing in and out of the house all afternoon. I think I heard someone say 125 people came through the house that day. I was surprised that I ate only a few cookies. Sometimes I wish I had more self-control because the leftover cookies taunted me for the remainder of my stay. By the end of the night, I was zonked, and I slept like a baby.
As I said earlier, this was my first Christmas away from home and the Bucks did everything right - I felt like I was at home. They spoiled me rotten and showered me with everything Hello Kitty. I think my Asian side screams "I love Hello Kitty", but in reality I've never even seen the show. Nonetheless, I loved it! I am currently growing my Hello Kitty Chia Pet :) Her hair is thinning, but that is because I couldn't keep a plant alive if my life depended on it. The rest of our stay in VA was spent installing (Alex and Wayne, mostly) new hardwood floors, relaxing in the hot tub and seeing the sights at Busch Gardens. Christmas with the Bucks can only be described as wonderful. I am greatly appreciative of the time and energy put in to make me feel like I was part of their incredible family.
Mom, if you're reading this, you should know that I did miss you over the holidays, but I knew Kevin would keep the traditions alive and strong - xo.
We left Norfolk and headed North, to Ottawa, for NYE!
