I'll Be Home For Christmas ...

Man oh man, where to start. First off, a shout out to my mum. She's incredible. I said I was okay with not coming home for Christmas, but really, coming home for Christmas was amazing. I can't imagine missing out on watching my sisters and my cousins faces while opening their Christmas gifts. This old softy definately had some tears in her eyes on Christmas morning, because it hit me that I would have missed that experience!

I've heard rumours of what happens when snow hits London but I'd yet to experience it. I was set to fly home from Gatwick Airport on December 16 ... a day also rumoured to have snow. Being the paranoid freak that I am, I decided to leave my house as early as public transport would permit. I stayed up all night packing and ensuring I was prepared for my trip. After 1.5 hours of sleep, I got up at 5am and off I went, out into the dark London cold. (My flight was leaving at 11h55. I'm such a paro.) I caught the first bus to the overground station and realized my stupid Oyster Card (travel pass) had expired. Eff. Being the risk taker that I am, I jumped on the first train to Clapham Junction. At Clapham Junction, due to the construction and my massive suitcase, I could not find a ticket office to buy tickets to Gatwick. Again, I risked fate and jumped on the train. I spent the entire train in paranoia but no ticket checker came. Phew.

I arrived at Gatwick, where the security man asked if I was a fan of the X Factor. To my Canadian and American readers, the X Factor is the UK version of American Idol or Canadian Idol, only on a much, much bigger platform. It's MASSIVE here and the entire country is obsessed with it for its entire run. The contestants can perform as solo acts or groups, they get backup dancers, fireworks on stage, the whole 9 yards. Take Idol Mania and times it by a million and you've got X Factor. Being a teacher, my students talk about it constantly so I started watching to know what they were talking about. And became hooked. SO, on this very day in Gatwick airport, the security man asks me if I like X Factor and I'm like "Well, obviously." It turns out, Stacey and Ollie from X Factor were singing in the airport that day! It made the fact that I had arrived half a day early only to find out my flight was majorly delayed not such a bad thing! Check Facebook for photos and (future) video of these performances! Exciting!

So my flight was delayed and I'm exhausted so I lose my mobile phone about 14 times in the airport so no big deal. I finally get on the plane, say hello, I'm exhausted to the lovely Lithuanian girl beside me, and fall asleep. Lovely Lithuanian girl decided to feel the need to shake me awake violently every 15 minutes to ask me questions about Canada. For example "Are vegetables cheaper in Canada or Lithuania?" I honestly wouldn't know ... I've never been to Lithuania?! Neringa, I wish you'd been with me. Haha. So, I watched some Time Traveller's Wife (NOT as good as the book!) and tried to sleep for the rest of the flight.

My dear papa was at the airport to pick me up which was exciting. I was tired, so we headed for home. We live over 5 hours away from Calgary airport so I was pumped for catch up time with my dad. Poor guy. I made it to Strathmore where I had a delicious Tim Horton's coffee (amazing) and passed right out. I slept for the next 4.5 hours while dad drove through a nice winter storm. Poor dad. We got home and the only person awake was my dog, who seemed thoroughly stoked to see me, as I was equally stoked to see her!

Next morning, I got up EARLY so I could greet my sisters before they headed off to school. They are the best kid sisters ever ... I missed them a lot. We spent loads of time together over the holidays just catching up. I was in Swift Current from the 17th until the 24th. During this time I tried to catch up with life in general, seeing old friends, doing errands, driving the girls to school, etc and trying to spend as much time with my family as I could. Oh, and I watched A LOT of hockey. On Friday the 18th, my Auntie Judy has the entire family out to her farm for a family dinner. Was great to be able to see all my aunts, uncles, and cousins! Thanks, auntie!

I also got to go to Regina for a day so Miss HeidiWood-Up To No Good could give me a much needed haircut. Jenna and Amanda were getting their hair done too, so we basically took over the salon and had a fun hangout. We then all headed to Earl's Restaurant for some dinner, and my cousin Stacey, her boyfriend Jared, and my friend Laura joined us! Was awesome to get to see everyone!

On the 24th, we headed to Medicine Hat to spend Christmas with my Auntie Karen's family. We had an amazing Christmas together, and it was so fun to watch my Auntie's little girls tearing thru their presents! My family had opened most of their presents at home so that we wouldn't have to cart them to Medicine Hat because we were heading on a family trip to the United States on December 26th! Being home for Christmas reminded me of how amazing my family is and how lucky I am to have them in my life! (Shut up, I'm allowed to be cheesy over the holidays!)

On the 26th, we rolled out to Great Falls, Montana. My family goes to the States once or twice a year but I haven't been since our California trip about 5 years ago. It was exciting! On the way down, we drove along the Rocky Mountains ... I love the mountains so I took a thousand pictures of them. Great Falls was fun ... If I weren't living in England, and didn't have an extremely low luggage allowance, I would have done a LOT more shopping!

On the 30th, I had to say good bye to my Auntie Karen's family in the hotel. I held up pretty good until my little cousin Kylie launched herself at me and wrapper her arms around me and said she wished I would stay. Definately bawled after that. We drove up to Taber, Alberta where I had left my car. I had to say good bye to Dad and my littlest sister, Mackenzie there and that was tough as well. Mom, my sister Haley, and I drove on to Calgary where I would fly out the next day. My other sisters Chelsea and Maddison drove to Calgary from Red Deer so they could see me for Christmas. We all had a nice supper together and hung out and chatted. The whole time I was with my family, it never really felt like I had left! Chels and Maddy and I drove to visit our other sister Casie at work so we could have a visit, too, which was really nice. I'm so lucky to have 5 amazing sisters in my life ... they're all incredible!

The next day, I was up early as my uncle had called and said that some flights weren't allowing Carry On luggage anymore! Eeek! I'm so tired of all the Air Terror going on ... It needs to stop! It turned out my flight was fine and I could still take my carry-on onto the plane. (Phew. I needed those extra 5 kilos of weight allowance! haha) We grabbed a quick breakfast by the hotel and my best friend Amanda came for breaky, too. Amanda and I have done everything together ... We've been friends for nearly 10 years, we've gone thru university together, moved to France together, now we're both teachers, and this is the first time we've been so far apart. It sucks, because I miss having my best friend to talk to all the time, but we do the best we can.

I got to the Airport and was excited because I had just booked a trip to PARIS for New Year's Eve! Yay! I thought I would be fine at the airport, but I was wrong. I literally walked up to the check in counter, turned around and looked at my mom and sister, and BURST into tears. I was "that girl" crying in the airport. Ugh. So mom and Haley made a hasty exit and I qeued up. I really like Thomas Cook and their cheap flights home. I really hate their luggage allowance. It wound up being cheaper for me to upgrade to first class than to pay to take my luggage on the plane. Ugh. Whatever. So, first class it was for this girl. At least in 1st class you get free drinks. So I had a nice combo of Atavan and red wine, and a nice little 5 hour nap ensued. Ahhh bliss. I sat next to the NICEST lady on the plane and we had a good chat. After the plane had landed, I turned to her and said "Not a bad landing, eh?" and she smiled and said "I knew we'd be all right ... my husband's the one flying this plane!" Cool!

I think I'll end this blog here as it's become an epic novel, and I'll make my trip to Paris it's own little blog again! Thanks for reading!

xo Megs