Holiday head rush: Pre-Thanksgiving

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12.20.09

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stones

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holiday headrush

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*I thought I posted this on December 5th, but apparently I forgot to switch it from draft to publish. Sorry about that. Here it is.

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My family left my house a week ago and I already miss them. All the cooking, talking, playing and laughing felt so good.

Originally I had planned for us to do some site-seeing, but the weather threw that out the window. Still, I had the greatest time with them. All of them. I am not disappointed that things didn’t go as planned. As a matter of fact, things were even better.

You see, my older brother and his family were only supposed to be here for part of Thanksgiving day, all of the following, and leave Saturday morning. Barely two days will the rest of my family get to see them. This was a disappointment to all of us since the rest of us were to spend the entire week together.

Barely a week before the rest of my family’s arrivals, my sis-in-law called to tell me that my brother’s work had changed their minds and approved the original leave he had requested for. I was beyond thrilled and immediately set my mind to overdrive. Her and I decided to make this a surprise for the rest and kept it between us. It was hard, but that was the easiest part of the whole plan.

First I had to change my flight to Spokane to the 20th. The day before the rest get here. Originally I was supposed to go on Thanksgiving morning to drive them here. My brother had never made the drive before so I said I’d do it. I’ve done the 4.25 hours drive many time over the past few years. It cost a little extra to change my flight, but I knew it would be worth it.

Next was transportation. Originally my daddy had sent me money for my flight and a van rental. That was enough for the original plan, but the van rental would have cost much more than what was sent. So I had to think of something else. My brother owned a van but wasn’t sure it’d make the drive. I decided to send all the money my dad had sent me to my brother to buy new tires and get a little work done on his van. I’m sure he spent a bit more than that but it was a better investment than a one week car rental.

It took me a while to get the money to him and left him less than a week to get it done. With his crazy work schedule, I was worried he wouldn’t get it all done in time. Luckily, he was able to find time and a place that would do it. He got it taken cared of with a day or two left to spare. Whew!

Then there was getting my house ready while my sis-in-law packs for herself, my brother, their four boys, and three cats. That was a bit crazy. Let’s just say there was a heck of a lot of cleaning and rearranging I had to do in between my regular chores. All while trying to keep my girls from going crazy.

I want to continue and tell you about the day of travel, but I’ll stop for now. Travel day is worthy of it’s own post. Until then, Happy Holidays!