First Christmas miracle of the holiday occured at Changi airport, terminal 3, row 11. You may have missed it unless you happened to be the unfortunate family behind us at the United counter. I accidentally booked my husbands flight as Andy Donahue. His passport of course reads Andrew. In short, they were not going to let him fly unless he rebooked the ticket. Don't try to follow the logic, you'll just end up having a stroke. After trying to kill her with my death ray vision and then attempting to telepathically make her understand our situation she relented, changed the name on his boarding pass to Andrew and sent us on our way.
The second miracle occured during our layover in San Francisco. We were waiting in baggage claim, watching the minutes tick by. Since we had to leave the international area, and then check in for a domestic flight we were a little sensitive to the time. Our patience wore thin, but we preveiled. At long last the luggage started circling about the carousel, and we found 3 of our suitcases. Sadly we watched as all of the luggage was claimed and we were missing one piece. With only a few minutes to spare to make our connecting flight to Seattle, Andy/Andrew patiently explained our situation to the customer service clerk. When I say patiently, I mean it. Instead of attentively helping us (her job) this woman was on her walkie talkie to someone named Doris complaining that no one had come to relieve her for her break. Apparently her need for a coffee break superceded our need to be home for Christmas. Periodically the girls would run back to check and see if the suitcase had appeared (hope springs eternally in the young), many prayers were said, and Doris came to relieve our heroine for her coffee break. Doris then informed us that we had missed our connecting flight, we tried not to call her a liar but it was implied. On a last minute dash to baggage claim, there circling all by its lonesome, was the missing suitcase! To add to the joy, we waived goodbye to Doris the liar, were escorted through security, and found our flight to be delayed by 30 minutes! We were finally on the last leg of our journey home for Christmas!
The third miracle was simply being home. Being in the company of my wonderful and very funny cousins, sitting around drinking coffee with my parents in the quiet of the morning, and shopping at Target. Yes, Target is a miracle. If you have ever lived overseas you will understand this to be true.
We spent Christmas Eve with our extended family, laughing until we cried, crying over the events of the past year, remembering those we love, loving those we are with. We exchanged silly gifts and too many hugs and kisses to count. And today is Chrismas. I love this day for all that it means. The waiting of advent is over, the hope of the new things to come hangs in the air, the gifts have been opened, and the squeals from the girls tell me that we did good. Tonight we will not so quitely gather with family again to eat, laugh and share our lives and good fortune.
We're having Prime Rib with Horseradish Crust, Au Gratin Potatoes, and Roasted Red Onions
And this Deep Dish Caramel Apple Pie
I hope you have a blessed Christmas spent in the company of friends and family!
Merry Christmas!
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