There have been a few select Christmases that stand out in my mind as being particularly memorable. The Christmas of 2013 will certainly join that select group. Here begins a few tales of misadventure and Murphy's Law. Thankfully, I've been blessed with a family that sees the good in everything and maintains a high degree of optimism and laughter through mishaps. The more I learn about the world, the more I realize this is a true gift that makes life much more enjoyable.
Merry Misadventure Number 1 - The Ambulance
Right up until Christmas, I was busy with all things grad school. I had tirelessly tried to prepare several papers for upcoming conferences while TA-ing for a winter-mester course. I was grading, grading, writing, coding, grading, grading, writing clear through the evening of the 23rd. I promised myself hard work would pay off, and I would allow myself an entire WEEK-long break (Tuesday-Sunday) for my good behavior. :)
I told my family to expect me on Christmas Eve morning, but to due to my hard work, I was able to finish enough to leave on the 23rd. I called up my family and was able to reach my dad. He told me that my mom, sister, and grandmother were out doing their grocery shopping and such, but that he was home and we could have grilled cheese sandwiches and soup (one of our favorites) for lunch, just the two of us. Great! I packed down Blue (my Escape), loaded Jack in the car, and headed out.
I arrive at my parents house, walk through the door, and greet my dad. I had just enough time to ask him if he would help me unload my luggage and Christmas presents from the car when the phone rang. I went to answer it and got my mom on the other end of the line. "Grandma passed out at the grocery store," she informed me. Ah! Over the past few years, my grandmother has had several "fainting episodes" when out and about with no clear medical reason as to the cause. They are always the same with the same symptoms and outcomes. Since she is elderly and passing out is never a good thing, the EMTs are always called in to ensure that she is ok. Therefore, my mom wanted us to know that the EMTs were on their way to our local Wal-Mart.
The EMTs checked my grandmother over, insisting that she go with them to the emergency room, but in true Hodges-stubborn fashion, she refused. They could not find a single thing wrong with her, and she assured everyone she felt fine, so my family headed home. For my family, this would not be the first Christmas that involved an ambulance and it probably won't be the last. Thankfully, everyone was fine the rest of the holiday and no other ambulance calls were needed.
Christmas Eve (prelude to a Merry Mishap)
Christmas Eve is my favorite part of the holiday. Ever since I was a little girl, Christmas Eve has been the day my family opens presents. Rather than waking up super early on Christmas Day, Santa always rang the doorbell on Christmas Eve and left presents on the doorstep. Once Santa came, that was the cue that the rest of the presents from family could also be opened. (I know it's weird, but so is my family.)
Christmas Eve was a relaxing day spent just enjoying the company of my family and pre-cooking for Christmas. My mom and I prepared our famous pot roast for Christmas Eve dinner, and that night, we loaded up the Gator and golf cart and headed to my grandmother's house. My grandmother lives next door to my parents, about the length of a football field. When my grandparents first moved here, my grandfather had trouble walking long distances, so we got him a golf cart to ride around the property and get from house-to-house. Today, we still use the golf cart and a Gator to travel between the houses.
At my grandmother's house, we enjoyed pot roast, rolls, Christmas cookies, and presents with my aunt, uncle, and grandma. It was a nice, enjoyable evening. As the evening began to wind down, we re-loaded the Gator and golf cart with our new loot. My dad was driving the Gator with my sister, and I drove the golf cart with my mom. When we arrived at my grandmother's house, I parked too close to my uncle's truck to get out without backing up first. My dad had parked his Gator behind the golf cart.
After we had loaded everything up, I distinctly remember hearing and seeing my dad get into the Gator, turn it on, and head back to the house. My mom was talking to the rest of the family, so I knew we would be a few minutes in leaving. Without looking, I started to back up the golf cart but rammed right into the Gator (which had not left as I previously thought). While no one was hurt and no damage was caused, the event caused an outcry of laughter from the family and reminiscing about my driving mishaps (which are plentiful!). I'll admit it, here in the open, I'm a terrible driver. Like Sheldon, from Big Bang Theory, I'm just not equipped to drive, but it's a necessary evil in Texas.
Now, alone, this event seems unimportant and unrelated to anything. In hindsight, it was a premonition...
Merry Misadventure Number 2 - Melody's Merry Mishap
My older sister is legally blind. She has a genetic disease called Stargardt's, or juvenile macular degeneration, which means she has slowly been losing her eyesight since she was a child. About 8 years ago, it was determined that she could no long have a driver's license. She is still able to live independently, work, and pretty much do whatever she wants...and she has Vulcan hearing (though that part is not important to the story).
On Christmas Day, my family prepares a lunchtime feast. We are then free to spend the afternoon reading new books, watching new movies, and playing with new toys. Again, just a nice, relaxing, easy-going kind of day. My mom and I worked in the kitchen on the morning of Christmas Day while my sister and dad prepared the house for my aunt, uncle, and grandmother to join us for lunch. Around lunchtime, everything was just about ready to come out of the oven. My OCD-self had kept all the dishes cleaned and kitchen tidy. I'm the type of person who cleans every spoon right after use, even if it will be used again. Drives my mom crazy.
My sister approaches my mom and dad in the kitchen and asks, "Do y'all want me to take the golf cart and Prince over to grandma's to tell them lunch will be ready soon?" Now, Prince is my parents' 2-year-old golden retriever puppy, who is just shy of 90 pounds. He's big! The biggest dog we've ever had by a long shot. He's still learning to cooperate, so he can be a lot to handle. But, he LOVES to ride on the golf cart or Gator and can be quite well behaved as a passenger. As I was standing in the background for this conversation, I immediately thought, "Hmmm...I'm not sure that is a good idea. My sister, who can't see well, driving the golf cart to my grandma's with the ginormous dog who can be uncooperative at times. I should probably say something." Alas, I did not say a single word. I figured my parents knew what they were doing. After all, I don't live here anymore, and I'm not around for the day-to-day adventures.
Later, my mom would tell me that she told my sister "no" at this point, but my dad said it was fine. I have no idea - I can't remember this part of the story well. Anywho, my sister takes off with the golf cart and Prince to my grandma's house. A few minutes after she leaves, both my dad and I go to separate bathrooms and discover that there is no water pressure in either bathroom. Strange. My dad comes into the kitchen and says something about it, then turns on the faucet to the sink and realizes the lack of water pressure is everywhere. Stranger still. "What would cause there to be no water pressure?" I ask. He informs me that a water main break would do that. (Did I mention how lucky we are that all the dishes to that point were done, the kitchen and house were clean, and Christmas lunch was completely prepared??)
My dad walks outside and returns a few minutes later in a mild rage. He hollers something to my mom then goes out to his shop to retrieve some tools. I walk outside a few minutes later to see my sister on the golf cart with the dog in the middle of the yard looking a bit lost. She tells me that she doesn't really know where she is (because she can't really see). She takes Prince and goes inside the house and only then do I see the geyser behind her. Where a water spout used to be now exists a spewing geyser and miniature lake. My dad then comes running from his shop with a [wrench or channel locks, or something]. He and I go over to the water mess to try to turn off the now destroyed water spout. Unfortunately, the place to turn off the spout is now under a lake of water and mud. As we are tackling this issue, I see my uncle walking over and my aunt and grandma getting into my grandma's car to drive over. Perfect timing, but remember, my sister went over to tell them lunch was almost ready, but in the process, hit the water spout and destroyed the water main. Dad gets the water spout turned off and decides to deal with this issue later.
We come back in the house and enjoy Christmas dinner as a family with no running water in the house. Luckily, we didn't need it!
After dinner, we congregated outside to fix the water main, which turned out to be an even bigger problem than we previously thought. In my family, when something breaks, it does it well. The water spout was broke and many of the pipes underneath were broke as well. Fixing this problem required digging up most of the piping and replacing it. Fortunately, my dad has his huge "shop" full of tools and parts. He just happened to have everything he needed to fix the water main just enough...doubly fortunate because everything is closed on Christmas Day. After 4 hours, we had the water main fixed enough to function for the rest of the day, and we could enjoy a calming rest of the holiday.
Merry Misadventure Number 3 - The 2-hour Drive to College Station
The final Merry Mishap is my own. After spending a wonderful holiday with my family, I needed to be heading back home. I'm lucky in that my work can pretty much be done anywhere, and for the most part, I dictate when and how it gets done. However, my parents live just outside a small, rural town that really hasn't modernized to many luxuries and comforts I have in my own home. When I am at my parent's house, I have limited access to Internet, which runs exceptionally slowly, and I have basically zero cellular service. Because I had planned to take this entire week off from work, this was not a huge inconvenience, but it does make me a little crazy.
I had told my family I would be returning home on the evening of the 26th. That evening came, and my parents helped me load up my car with my luggage, new loot, and left overs to last me a week or two (we never out-grow some things). However, as we were loading up the car, Prince decided dashing out the door looked like fun. He did just that and ran off to terrorize the village, also known as the neighbor dogs. Before I could say my goodbyes, my parents and I set off in the dark to find the loose puppy. He was retrieved and brought back home with the help of the Gator because he loves rides, remember?
With everyone back where they belong, I checked and double-checked the house to make sure I got everything. I said my goodbyes and headed out. About 30-minutes into my 1-hour drive, I realized I left my laptop. The curse of not working for a week is that I forgot I brought my laptop with me at all. I didn't even crack it open for 2 days which is unheard of in my world. I called my mom and said, "My laptop is sitting in it's case beside the couch, right?" "Yep," was her simple reply. Crap. I turned around and headed back.
After retrieving my coveted laptop, I once again began my drive home. My usual 1-hour drive had turned into a 2-hour drive. I made it home safely, unloaded the car, and unpacked every single thing. I cannot stand to have luggage in the house or things in boxes. The first thing I do when I get home from a trip is unpack everything, put it away, and do laundry. After all these things were done, I finally settled into bed for my long winter's nap after all the Merry Mishaps.
Like I said, my family definitely rolls with the punches when misadventure strikes. While nothing was catastrophic, it caused just enough inconvenience to make things interesting. Christmas 2013 will be in our memories for a while as the Christmas of Merry Misadventures. Thank goodness for family and laughter, and surprisingly, I feel very relaxed, at ease, and ready to tackle a new year!
I am reminded of all the good in my life and how blessed I truly am. Here is a a Christmas prayer (taken from Big Bang Theory, recited by my dad and I, and something my grandma loves dearly)"
"By his hand, we are all fed.
Give us Lord, our daily bread.
Please know that we are truly grateful,
For every cup and every plateful.
Amen."
I hope your holidays were full of adventure, fun, and family!
-Small Town Girl
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