Home for the holidays
If you have noticed a long lull on my blog, I have been home (where I grew up) for the holidays. I did try sending two blog posts from the Vancouver airport during my 4 hour wait, but for some reason they did not show up here.
My trip was both eventful and uneventful in different ways. I spent the day on Friday hanging out with my parents with many trips to the grocery store, LOL. People have always said that as you get older you begin to appreciate your parents more...While that has been happening slowly for me over the past few years, it was mostly as long as we were apart. However, this year, I was finally getting to the place where I felt comfortable with them and was much more able to enjoy spending time with them. Good thing too because the uneventful part of my trip was that I usually spend about 75% of my waking hours with friends, but that just didn't happen this year. In fact, on Christmas day while our guests were napping and my parents were out delivering gifts to some friends of theirs, I sat at home and cried off and on for probably a good two hours. I would like to chalk up to pregnancy hormones because I have definitely started crying (or at least getting teary and choked up) at the drop of a hat these last few weeks, but I think it was a mixture of sadness of losing the closeness to my friends and just all the unknowns about to start in my life.
Anyway, on to the eventful stuff. My uncle, his girlfriend and my grandma arrived on Friday night (the 23rd) followed much later (around 2:00 am) by my cousin and his girlfriend. We had expected one more cousin with his wife, but they couldn't come in the end. We had a nice dinner and did some visiting. Saturday morning (Christmas eve), we all woke up quite late to have a big breakfast. My grandma helped my mom in the kitchen and seemed fine. Until she sat down at the table...where she just stopped. It was like her battery ran out. She was breathing, but not responding to anyone talking to her. At first, my dad and his brother thought they would take her to the hospital, but it seemed to get worse and my mom called 911 and we waited for the ambulance. It probably took them about 10 minutes to get there. They took her vitals, gave her some fluids and oxygen and worked with her probably for about 15-20 minutes or so and by the time they were taking her out to the ambulance to go to the hospital, she was conscious again. My dad and uncle spent the day in the hospital with her and it took about 5 hours before they finally saw the doctor. By that point, she was feeling herself again. They finally discharged her about 7:00 pm with just a decrease in one of her blood pressure medications (the only diagnosis was low blood pressure..and was it ever low, the paramedics said 60/37).
In the evening, mom and dad wanted to deliver some presents to some of their friends (and we had to go back to the hospital because we couldn't find the pill we were supposed to half for her..) and I went with them. I was surprised to get a beautiful hand knit baby blanket from one of their friends (also the mother of one of my friends). I certainly had not expected to get baby gifts from my parent's friends and it was greatly appreciated.
Christmas morning we opened gifts as usual and I had another gift from my parent's friends: an adorable hand knit baby sweater and bonnet. Santa brought me tons of baby clothes as well...with the tags still on them LOL (this always happens at my house...guess Santa gets too busy;). From my parents, I received a playpen, some perfume, and a check for my crib! We had a lovely Christmas dinner and then my cousin and his girlfriend headed back to Calgary as he had to work on Boxing day.
Boxing day I went shopping with my mom and dad a little bit and we mostly just visited with my uncle and his girlfriend. I had a chance to visit my friend and her kids in the evening and bring them their gifts. The kids were sick so she planned it so that they could open their gifts from me and head to bed, and so far, knock on wood, I haven't gotten sick. :)
Tuesday morning, my mom and I went through all of my baby clothes (yes, MY baby clothes...I think my mother saved everything I ever wore!) and made piles of clothes I would keep and those she would give away. Later, I met up with two friends for lunch. That evening, I enjoyed some cards with my parents, but my dad and I (it was a game you play in pairs) lost miserably. LOL. Wednesday, we went to a matinee and played some more cards.
Thursday, my parents have a housekeeper come in the morning so we had to spend the morning out and about. We went out for breakfast, went and cashed my check from my grandma at the bank, went shopping, etc. While shopping at the mall, this tall boy (not much of a boy anymore I suppose...LOL must be about 27), recognized me and said hi. You may recall this summer when I was having dreams about the family I used to babysit (three boys and a girl) as a child, this was the oldest. It was so great to catch up with him. We still had some time to kill after the mall, so we all went and got our hair cut LOL. I had been meaning to cut mine for a while as my class lost our food drive competition and I said I would cut my hair, so it is nice that that is one less thing I need to do this weekend. Finally, we figured it was late enough to go home. In the afternoon, one more of mom's friends stopped by with a baby gift: a cute little bunny sleeper and hooded towel. Soon after supper, we left for the airport for my flight home. While waiting for the plane to arrive, there was a girl who looked slightly familiar who came up to me and said hi, by my name. I was so embarassed because while I did remember who she was, I could not remember her name. We visited for a little bit while she waited for the plane to arrive bringing her husband home, and I waiting for the plane to arrive to take me home. My flights were fine. The connection in Calgary was a little late, but what really held me up was waiting for baggage in Vancouver. It took about 45 minutes to get the bags and then I still had to drive home...I got home around 2:00am to a rather frantic phone call from my mom since I had expected to be home about one hour earlier...
And that, was my 2005 "home for the holidays".
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and I wish each and every one of you a happy new year!
My trip was both eventful and uneventful in different ways. I spent the day on Friday hanging out with my parents with many trips to the grocery store, LOL. People have always said that as you get older you begin to appreciate your parents more...While that has been happening slowly for me over the past few years, it was mostly as long as we were apart. However, this year, I was finally getting to the place where I felt comfortable with them and was much more able to enjoy spending time with them. Good thing too because the uneventful part of my trip was that I usually spend about 75% of my waking hours with friends, but that just didn't happen this year. In fact, on Christmas day while our guests were napping and my parents were out delivering gifts to some friends of theirs, I sat at home and cried off and on for probably a good two hours. I would like to chalk up to pregnancy hormones because I have definitely started crying (or at least getting teary and choked up) at the drop of a hat these last few weeks, but I think it was a mixture of sadness of losing the closeness to my friends and just all the unknowns about to start in my life.
Anyway, on to the eventful stuff. My uncle, his girlfriend and my grandma arrived on Friday night (the 23rd) followed much later (around 2:00 am) by my cousin and his girlfriend. We had expected one more cousin with his wife, but they couldn't come in the end. We had a nice dinner and did some visiting. Saturday morning (Christmas eve), we all woke up quite late to have a big breakfast. My grandma helped my mom in the kitchen and seemed fine. Until she sat down at the table...where she just stopped. It was like her battery ran out. She was breathing, but not responding to anyone talking to her. At first, my dad and his brother thought they would take her to the hospital, but it seemed to get worse and my mom called 911 and we waited for the ambulance. It probably took them about 10 minutes to get there. They took her vitals, gave her some fluids and oxygen and worked with her probably for about 15-20 minutes or so and by the time they were taking her out to the ambulance to go to the hospital, she was conscious again. My dad and uncle spent the day in the hospital with her and it took about 5 hours before they finally saw the doctor. By that point, she was feeling herself again. They finally discharged her about 7:00 pm with just a decrease in one of her blood pressure medications (the only diagnosis was low blood pressure..and was it ever low, the paramedics said 60/37).
In the evening, mom and dad wanted to deliver some presents to some of their friends (and we had to go back to the hospital because we couldn't find the pill we were supposed to half for her..) and I went with them. I was surprised to get a beautiful hand knit baby blanket from one of their friends (also the mother of one of my friends). I certainly had not expected to get baby gifts from my parent's friends and it was greatly appreciated.
Christmas morning we opened gifts as usual and I had another gift from my parent's friends: an adorable hand knit baby sweater and bonnet. Santa brought me tons of baby clothes as well...with the tags still on them LOL (this always happens at my house...guess Santa gets too busy;). From my parents, I received a playpen, some perfume, and a check for my crib! We had a lovely Christmas dinner and then my cousin and his girlfriend headed back to Calgary as he had to work on Boxing day.
Boxing day I went shopping with my mom and dad a little bit and we mostly just visited with my uncle and his girlfriend. I had a chance to visit my friend and her kids in the evening and bring them their gifts. The kids were sick so she planned it so that they could open their gifts from me and head to bed, and so far, knock on wood, I haven't gotten sick. :)
Tuesday morning, my mom and I went through all of my baby clothes (yes, MY baby clothes...I think my mother saved everything I ever wore!) and made piles of clothes I would keep and those she would give away. Later, I met up with two friends for lunch. That evening, I enjoyed some cards with my parents, but my dad and I (it was a game you play in pairs) lost miserably. LOL. Wednesday, we went to a matinee and played some more cards.
Thursday, my parents have a housekeeper come in the morning so we had to spend the morning out and about. We went out for breakfast, went and cashed my check from my grandma at the bank, went shopping, etc. While shopping at the mall, this tall boy (not much of a boy anymore I suppose...LOL must be about 27), recognized me and said hi. You may recall this summer when I was having dreams about the family I used to babysit (three boys and a girl) as a child, this was the oldest. It was so great to catch up with him. We still had some time to kill after the mall, so we all went and got our hair cut LOL. I had been meaning to cut mine for a while as my class lost our food drive competition and I said I would cut my hair, so it is nice that that is one less thing I need to do this weekend. Finally, we figured it was late enough to go home. In the afternoon, one more of mom's friends stopped by with a baby gift: a cute little bunny sleeper and hooded towel. Soon after supper, we left for the airport for my flight home. While waiting for the plane to arrive, there was a girl who looked slightly familiar who came up to me and said hi, by my name. I was so embarassed because while I did remember who she was, I could not remember her name. We visited for a little bit while she waited for the plane to arrive bringing her husband home, and I waiting for the plane to arrive to take me home. My flights were fine. The connection in Calgary was a little late, but what really held me up was waiting for baggage in Vancouver. It took about 45 minutes to get the bags and then I still had to drive home...I got home around 2:00am to a rather frantic phone call from my mom since I had expected to be home about one hour earlier...
And that, was my 2005 "home for the holidays".
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and I wish each and every one of you a happy new year!
posted by Katrina | 12/30/2005 09:39:00 AM
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5 comments
