25 December 2008

God bless us, everyone

I generally think Tiny Tim is annoying, but he has a good message.

We were supposed to head to Illinois to visit my grandfather but Mother Nature decided that an ice storm was in the works. We have driven through nasty weather before (most notably through a snowstorm, approximately six inches, after I'd worked 530am to 1030am) but this year we were going to have my nieces along with. With the ice storm scheduled for December 26, the day we were going to be heading back to Iowa, the parents made the call to have Christmas in Iowa.

For the first time ever. Boo. I did miss seeing Grandpa. I don't get to visit him very often and I know he was disappointed. One of my aunts tried to make us feel pretty bad about not coming but since it's now sleeting/raining ice in Iowa, the same storm will hit central Illinois about 3 or 4 am and then trying to get back to Iowa would have been sort of dicey. I texted my cousin and he said that the interstates were not very good so he thought we were smart in not coming.

It wasn't so bad actually. The aunt who pretty much drives us nuts (because she micromanages everything and is kind of a hag to everyone) was in Illinois so I could avoid her. And her nasty, cigarette-smoke tasting food (thanks to uncle-who-persists-in-smoking-himself-stupid). My nieces were old enough to have Santa come for the first time; I don't think they quite got it but they did have fun showing everyone what "Sanna" brought them (Santa via Aunt Missy got them Skippyjon Jones books and dolls, now unfortunately called "Peepy Jon"). The girls also had a blast opening all their presents - they tended to get stymied by boxes that were taped shut and had to have some things opened for them once the paper had been ripped off. Everyone got pretty spoiled by my parents, me included; I get to go to Lowe's and pick out some shower doors, paid for by Mom and Dad (and Dad will help to install them) and I got a duvet/comforter to replace my scary 18-year-old bedspread. Yay!

So I had a good Christmas Day, I have tomorrow off (yay, relaxing), but I missed my Grandpa. God bless us, everyone.

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