magic and wonder

Liam's real first christmas has to be this year - he GOT it this year. He GOT santa.

so when christmas morning came and i went into his room to get him in santa's hat - i was greeted with the biggest most radiant smile and:

"Merry Christmas mommy, you're wearing santa's hat."

then we walked to the living room (or i walked and he hopped while grasping my hand) and saw the tree loaded with presents:

"presents...(he whispered) look what santa brought for me"

now unwrapping gifts with a 2 year old is a long and tedious affair. each gift is not only unwrapped but also unpackaged and played with before moving onto the next. needless to say he was spoiled rotten by everyone - we have more thomas trains and tracks, mac trucks, dinky cars and tonka than one child should own. and of course all the clothes got tossed over his shoulder without a second look.

pretzels

luckily for me the flight home was slightly more -- i'd like to enjoyable but unconscious is the word.

i literally heard... 'when we reach 30 000 feet we will begin our beverage and snack service. today's snack is cookies or pretzels...'

and then 'we are now beginning our descent to Toronto'

yeah somehow i passed out - sheer exhaustion. after 4 days that seemed like an eternity of crying, breakdowns, shopping trips, snow, sleeping of the magically deflating air mattress and plate after plate of finger foods - i suppose i was entitled to a black out.

and i needed it cause i stepped off the plane and literally had to hit the ground running.

christmas events began only 3 hours after i landed.

recipe for flight from hell

it's been awhile so i'll back track a bit....

After my uncle's untimely death i flew out to Winterpeg for the funeral. Finding a flight out was a big deal less than a week before christmas. I had to fly out of Toronto. Now...if you know Pearson at all you know why i HATE that airport.

December 20, 2007

i arrive of course ridiculously early for a domestic flight cause at pearson you just never know how long things are going to take or if at any moment you could get tazzered for not saying the right thing. so... i had to wait around at the "loading dock" for about 90 minutes but of course the flight was delayed. so i sat and read not so bad if a tea and a bagel didnt cost $40 at the airport. the loading dock had an inordinately large number of people waiting... i knew the flight was sold out.

Finally we board. once on board i begin to realize that the cat, and 4 lap dogs i saw milling about on the loading dock are now IN THE CABIN. i have allergies. i have asthma. and then i look around and notice the plane also has about 30 kids, 2 infants and seated beside me is a jumbo-size korean (seriously 6'4 - 250) who already has his laptop and ipod out on his tray table and his elbow firmly imbedded in my ribs for the REST OF THE FLIGHT.

after de-icing and various other staffing issues - we take off.

and then...

the cat lets out a horror filled MEEEEEEEEOOOOWWW. all the dogs then begin barking - you know that shrill yapping noise little dogs do and all the children start screaming about the dogs and cat simultaneously. and the mouthy spoiled little toronto brat behind me keeps kicking my goddamn chair.

in a confined space.

for 2.35 hours.

deep breath. while i could. you know that 4 dogs and a cat in a recycled air environment for that long does to someone with allergies. yeah we had to stop at a drug store to get extra strength benedryl and it took 2 to calm my swollen eyes, running nose and to let me breathe normally again.