I realized that we had another Christmas tradition that doesn't fit the typical pattern. And it happened last night. It is something that gets planned months in advance and the cost is relatively high. It is the day when the college students in the family come home from school to celebrate the Christmas season with us.
Yesterday early evening Haleigh and I were driving up the freeway to the airport to pick up Hilary. She had come through Chicago which has had its share of bad memories for her in recent trips but today it seems that things went fairly well despite a delay. It wasn't easy to figure out when she was arriving based on info on the computer because the arrival board at the airport simply said "delayed" which was a bit disconcerting so we went by what the airline site said and she arrived a few minutes early from that and got her bag and met us on the curb which was nice and smooth and easy.
I guess we had given her cause for concern as she was unable to reach us via my cell phone. That is because Haleigh and I were listening to loud Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music and couldn't hear the cell phone. But we made it and gave her big hugs and we are glad she is home!
Hilary is a great lover of Christmas as is most of the family but she has some unique-isms that add a lot. For instance very soon, probably today she will have to check out every package under the tree and she will have some statistics in her head about how many presents for each person and so forth. If you can't find a present you wanted to give Christmas morning ask her and she can probably tell you where it is under the tree.
You may wonder where was everyone else, why not pull out the whole brigade to meet her at the airport? Well Megan was sick and at home resting and Lisa was making one of Hilary's favorite dishes to be ready when she arrived home for her immediate consumption. Home made chicken pot pie which was appreciated by all quickly after we arrived home.
This year we had another student coming as well who arrived three hours later. Jeremy flew in and again my limousine service was there to pick him up on the curb as it appears my timing skills work well with curb side service and not so well with greetings in the concourse. Jeremy arrived being sick and tired from three flights on the day and having ear pain due to a probably sinus infection. When Jeremy made his reservations with two layovers he thought he was being cheap, but with his sinus infection he turned out to be a cheap sadist. So he was fed some fresh pot pie and pumpkin cookies (Pumpkin, I might add--oh did I say pumpkin?) upon his arrival and quickly taken to Mom's house where he will be sleeping during his stay. He was glad to get an early night at least by college standards after several nights of studying late and taking exams.
So now the college students have arrived and the fun begins!
Yesterday early evening Haleigh and I were driving up the freeway to the airport to pick up Hilary. She had come through Chicago which has had its share of bad memories for her in recent trips but today it seems that things went fairly well despite a delay. It wasn't easy to figure out when she was arriving based on info on the computer because the arrival board at the airport simply said "delayed" which was a bit disconcerting so we went by what the airline site said and she arrived a few minutes early from that and got her bag and met us on the curb which was nice and smooth and easy.
I guess we had given her cause for concern as she was unable to reach us via my cell phone. That is because Haleigh and I were listening to loud Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music and couldn't hear the cell phone. But we made it and gave her big hugs and we are glad she is home!
Hilary is a great lover of Christmas as is most of the family but she has some unique-isms that add a lot. For instance very soon, probably today she will have to check out every package under the tree and she will have some statistics in her head about how many presents for each person and so forth. If you can't find a present you wanted to give Christmas morning ask her and she can probably tell you where it is under the tree.
You may wonder where was everyone else, why not pull out the whole brigade to meet her at the airport? Well Megan was sick and at home resting and Lisa was making one of Hilary's favorite dishes to be ready when she arrived home for her immediate consumption. Home made chicken pot pie which was appreciated by all quickly after we arrived home.
This year we had another student coming as well who arrived three hours later. Jeremy flew in and again my limousine service was there to pick him up on the curb as it appears my timing skills work well with curb side service and not so well with greetings in the concourse. Jeremy arrived being sick and tired from three flights on the day and having ear pain due to a probably sinus infection. When Jeremy made his reservations with two layovers he thought he was being cheap, but with his sinus infection he turned out to be a cheap sadist. So he was fed some fresh pot pie and pumpkin cookies (Pumpkin, I might add--oh did I say pumpkin?) upon his arrival and quickly taken to Mom's house where he will be sleeping during his stay. He was glad to get an early night at least by college standards after several nights of studying late and taking exams.
So now the college students have arrived and the fun begins!
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