This trip wasn't much different. First of all, I haven't gone along on one of these trips in some time. I could have sat in the hotel room the ENTIRE time and thought it was amazing, simply because I got out of town, I got to go for a long ride, and I stayed in a hotel room. Sad to some, but I consider it a simple (though still expensive) pleasure! While I'm on Cloud 9, however, reality has to sneak in eventually. For instance, my little roll up suitcase is neither big enough nor practical enough for three people's clothing. For the first time in my life, I dreaded packing. After gathering my things and making a few little suggestions, I was done. I went off to work that Monday and turned it all over to my sister. I decided I'd rather fuss later that my nice shirt had been wrinkled without me knowing, than to spend 45 min. arguing that shoving it in the bag like that was going to wrinkle it. Here's some advice- choose your battles carefully or buy a really large bottle of Advil.
Tuesday morning we leave the house around noon. I am feeling pretty happy myself. I had gotten up at a decent time, managed a little work outside (this is news, believe me), and gone to drop off my sister's little *clears throat*"angel"! While that little ankle biter was being told he was going on a cruise, I was more than happy to sing "vet, vet, vet" all the way to the "dock". I know I should feel bad, but I didn't. My jeans were dirty from the mud I had slipped in, I'd warmed up by digging up dirt to fill in some holes, and my hair was a complete mess. What a gift hot showers are! By the time we climb into the car, I am ready for the ride. Guess what! I didn't even get sick and I didn't take a dramamine this time. That is a first in years!
Daddy had booked us two rooms in the Doubletree Inn. It is a very nice hotel, though the 10min. wait just to get on the elevator from the parking garage hardly gives that impression. Our room was all the way down the hall from my parents. So I could go through each little thing, but let me just tell you some things I learned.
#1. My sister can't look over balconeys without getting dizzy. A weakness in Miss Fearless!
#2. Hotel menus are deceiving and overpriced. (P.S. When you see a Cheeseburger for $3.25/ $3.75 with cheese......need I say more?)
#3. Forget the big screen tv. There had better be a hookup for pacman or my sister and brother are not impressed. It took all of 5min. for them to feel at home.
#4. If there is a bookstore within twenty miles of some place, my mother WILL find it. Just like a hungry man can find food and a child can find candy, my mother can find books- fact. :-)
#5. It was no coincidence that Daddy got out of his class early that first day. Who else could have carried my mother's box of books back?
#5. It was no coincidence that Daddy got out of his class early that first day. Who else could have carried my mother's box of books back?
#6. There is a bookstore owned by the library in Little Rock, Arkansas, which sells great condition-used books for EXCELLENT prices. I bought 13 books which sell for over $10 a piece for $2 each and 7 under$5 books for 50cents each! I am happy, happy, happy.
#7. Go to the coffee shop on the end of the Rivercity Market. Order the "Turtle Cafe". It is delicious!
#8. Walking is still really fun to me.
#9. Don't judge a restaurant by its looks. I was a little afraid when we went into Guisano's. The walls are painted black and it looks more like a place for the "open-minded" young adult than the responsible, hungry person. Actually, getting a seat by the front windows was pretty fun and they have these cool pizza holders which leaves you with more room on the table. The pizza itself was soooooo good! I would definately eat there again.
#10. If I had taken anything from the hotel room, it would have been these lamps. They have polka dots, y'all!!!!!
#11. I'm in love with these aluminum coke cans. They are a little hard to open, but taste really good and look really cute.
There was something else that I learned on this trip. Despite how simple, how small, how uneventful a trip may seem, sometimes it takes very little at all to have a good time. Sure, my brother and I sparred a little during the first day and a half, but that is where my sister steps in and reminds us how short our time really is. In the end, I had a great time. My sister and brother drug me from bed every morning at 6 just to get to the breakfast room first. While I figured I'd hate it and be upset everyday, I actually found myself rushing to get ready to make sure they were happy. It became fun sitting there just quietly talking now and then. It was fun reading aloud to them one of their books during the last night. It was fun having my parents surprise us with walks and snacks and going in circles in the only safe areas we knew of. It was fun breathing in cold air and looking up at old buildings and a few twinkling lights. It is fun just stopping for a while and not worrying about work or the people you work with or the things that you let worry you most of the time. The only person I texted was a girl that I am finding more and more to be the friend I thought I'd never have. Not once did I miss work or regret not being there. The one time I truly gave time to think about work was when I was called and asked one quick question. It was great spending the rest of our weekend at home, listening to my brother and sister's teasing and my mother and daddy playing. I got to write some last weekend, too, and according to my sister it is even better than what I usually write. I don't know how to explain it exactly, but it was like being home again. It was as if nothing else mattered but that day, and us, and our Christmas, and all the plans we make and dream about together- as a family. Going back to work Monday was actually hard. Even though I love what I do, I hated leaving all of the fun. I hated leaving those conversations and the playing and the talking and the coffee and movies and working on projects here and there and searching for whatever my mother is looking for and making suggestions to my mother with my sister on where to put this or that. Yes, I am aware that that was a major run-on sentence. My point is, I really needed this trip. It was so much more than what it seemed it would be like. It was more fun than the theme parks and more important than I thought. I just really had a good time.
You know, Christmas seasons, as many traditions as there are and as much as we know to expect, are always changing. I can't think of a year that hasn't been marked by some trip, some event, something different. It is so easy to think that at Christmas things will calm down and you'll just celebrate like usual, but I can't say that's the case. Anyway, I am really glad of this trip. I am really glad of what came of it and how it made me feel.
-Paige
Dear Santa, Please Bring Me.....
My mother, well, she loves all things Christmas. *I wonder where I get it from?????* She loves Santas and elves and snowmen (which Daddy really likes) and silver bells and.....you can imagine the rest. Gingerbread men, however, seem to be her favorite. She has a teapot with a gingerbread man, bowls and platters, a stocking all her own, and several other items all bearing the cutest, most cheerful little gingerbread men you'll ever see.
That explains the elves, but what about the mistletoe you may ask. Mistletoe is an old fashioned tradition. It is both sweet and humorous. It is also something I wish I had a use for. I read the other day that hardly any has been seen since WWII. Can you believe? Anyway, they sell fake sprigs to hang up with your Christmas decor. I am actually debating looking for some just for that vintage appeal. While looking for old mistletoe images the other day for my blog header I found a few vintage prints.
Something else to point out about my blog title this year. It is both old and new. Elves are cheerful and have changed with the times in both style and color. Sometimes they are painted in faded colors and given an older appearance. Other times they are brightly painted and are given a more youthful look. While elves may change, however, mistletoe has not. I can hardly think of mistletoe without picturing a clip of an old black and white movie with a mischievous man stealing a kiss from a lady beneath the mistletoe. My Christmas decor lies in both the old and the new. Some of it looks as though I stole it off the set of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", while some of it looks as though I went back to the 30s, 40s, and 50s to shop. Amazingly enough, it all pulls together in the end.