Or, We Stayed Home This Christmas.

It certainly wasn’t intentional. We’d been planning this year-end trip with our son for four months. He and his lovely wife Kim were taking their four daughters (and one new son-in-law) to three European cities and invited us to come. Oh, boy, we were thrilled! However, two days before Thanksgiving the Scooby-Doo muscles in my husband’s shoulders (or whatever they’re called) went on strike and he could hardly move. We cancelled our Thanksgiving plans. I forbade him to get out the Christmas boxes. We visited the ER, our doctor (twice), had an MRI, and now he’s in PT. But still, the Christmas trip was a go, albeit tentative.

Here we are, the pose at the beginning airport.

I had my squircles–I was ready!

Here we are at the connecting airport. Still excited, still ready to go with our little passport pouches and all, posing by a nutcracker. Having stayed out of airports for Christmas for many years, I have to say, it was lovely to see all the nice decorations.

We found our gate, sat down just as the airline cancelled the flight to Amsterdam at the gate next to us, and a whole planeload of people went streaming towards the Help Desk, long lines forming. Glad that’s not us, we said, and of course, after two posted delays (mechanical problems), it was us. We went streaming towards the Help Desk at the far end of the terminal, but that only got you a chance to scan the QR code to see the agent (one of three). We grabbed a cup of soup, and after some more time, we were at the top of the list. The options were not good. Because of the Amsterdam cancellation, flights were already full that were leaving. After some time, I looked at my hurting husband, and we both realized we couldn’t complete the trip, given the new (possible, but certainly not probable) itinerary. So much was up in the air, and three hours later, we were too, returning home.

I spent some time looking out the window, the trip so close, yet so far. The plane trouble was “hydraulic problems,” which of course, would cancel the flight.

We welcomed photos of our son and his family as they hit the sights. We went to church two days later and I wept through the service, so incredibly disappointed in missing out on creating memories with this part of our family. We’ve been to all these cities before, but it was the time and experiences with these lovely four young women we would miss.

I have a great church community. By the time we left Christmas Sunday services, we had three invitations to dinner, to help fill this lonely week.

The first was an outside movie night with lots of friends: The Muppets Christmas Carol, one of my favorites. We stayed for a while, grateful for friends and laughing children and pizza, then I took my husband home.

I found this kit I’d purchased some time ago, and thought: no time like the present. I had lots of time, so started cutting. My sisters and daughter began calling me every day.

One of those days in there, I opened up the 2026 calendar book, and started getting that set up. [After my regular calendar planner stopped publishing, I tried out Golden Coil last year and liked it. I made some tweaks to this year’s layout, but am using it again.] I backed up our photo libraries onto a new drive, doing my squircles while I waited. My husband used the heating pad and tried to get better. We talked out what we went through, only now considering options we couldn’t see that night in the airport.

I left the calendar notice on my Phone, but what you can’t see is the word Cancelled after the Ellipsis. And yes, we went to the Dillman home for dinner one night, for a delicious meal of pork roast and potatoes (I brought rolls) with their two young boys, our “adopted” grandsons since our family lives so far away.

More calendar prep, with stickers from my sister Susan. My old calendar had monthly tabs and this one doesn’t, so I add them (click on the right photo to see the tabs).

I went to Michael’s on Christmas Eve to see the new “JoAnn’s stuff.” Waste of time. I did post about it on Instagram where people definitely have something to say.

We stayed in the rest of this day as the rains arrived — something we’ve needed all fall. I made Creamy Tortellini Soup, and we had a quiet night. I figured if I could make it to Christmas dinner at our friends, I might probably stop being weepy.

The Giffords host us, two new faces folded into their family table of children and grandchildren; I’m incredibly grateful for this kindness, and they make us feel welcome: no strangers at this meal. We enjoy the true spirit of Christmas as envisioned by Dickens in his Christmas Carol, and as preached in the gospel of Luke.

I finish up the cutting of the quilt later on that night.

The day after Christmas, another morning walk, then I’m back in the sewing room. I’d cleaned it up, cleared it up before leaving, but now it was time to mess it up again with scraps of fabric, bits of pattern directions pinned to a quilt over my cutting table. Time to thread the machine, plug the iron back in and fire it up.

Would I ever have a chance like this again?

A chance to say to my husband, you are the most important thing in my life and if we need to stay home, we will? A chance to feel the goodness of our friends as they welcomed me into their homes, living the gospel that the Christ child came down to earth to teach? A chance to take a walk in a freshly-washed world and see the amazing beauties all around me?

I hope so.

So often life is not what we expect, and between you and me, it can be hard to shift gears, especially after thinking and dreaming about something for four months. But thank heaven for angels all around me, for creativity which pulls me forward, for counting my blessings which ground me.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas. In the end, I did too.

Haha. This was in one of the airport gift shops.