Holiday Packing

I was reading my friend Sarah's blog this morning and her post about packing for her family's big Christmas trip next week. That reminded me that I need to work on packing for our Christmas trip, too. I feel sorry for Sarah because she and her family are travelling by plane and I pray that the security personnel are understanding when it comes to a family with a toddler.

We are fortunate enough that we can drive to our destinations. Our Christmas trip is more like a marathon than any time for rest and relaxation. After working all day Thursday, Jonnie and I have to jump from my car into the van and drive to my parents place. On Friday, we are having Christmas with my Mom & Dad and I am hoping that my Aunt Dorothy and my Grandma Woodruff might come over for dinner. Saturday morning, we leave for Leetonia so we can get to my father-in-law's house to make the ravioli for Christmas Day. There will likely be frantic house cleaning and finding some place for Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve that will count for our Christmas Day obligation. Christmas Day brings big boiling pots of water and lots of ravioli with the smell of simmering sauce and meatballs. Then we get into a holding pattern waiting for relatives to show up an hour after we were supposed to eat!

I've struggled with trying to pack clothes for Jonnie and I. I have to pack one bag that goes into my parents house and another bag that goes to my father-in-law's. My parents smoke so we can't take our clothes that we want to wear in Leetonia into my parents house because some relatives in Leetonia are allergic to smoke. Then there is always trying to pack enough diapers and enough clothes for Jonnie. I know he likes to run around in a diaper but I don't want him to do that because I ran out of clothes for him!

Jon is out today trying to find the appliances for the Parish Activity Center kitchen. Father asked him last Sunday to start finding appliances so he can build the kitchen. Great, more stress! Appliances for an industrial kitchen are much more expensive than what you'd get for house so we'll probably have to pull money from our line of credit to buy all of the appliances and submit for reimbursement from the church. I don't think Jon is going to be able to get the appliances in his van so he'll have to rent a truck to haul them from Restaurant Depot in Columbus to Plain City. Jon will need my help since he cannot move these thing himself so we'll find a sitter to watch Jonnie for a day so Jon and I can get the appliances to the PAC and try to get them installed. We're going to have to get this done (hopefully) after Christmas but before Jon has his surgery. We're hoping that Jon can have surgery around Martin Luther King Day which is mid-January. I'm a bit nervous because the kitchen will likely have to be inspected but Jon can't take time off work because he has to save his time off for his surgery which means I'll probably have to take time off to meet with the inspectors and I've never built a kitchen before! To be honest, Jon has never built a kitchen before but when a priest tells you to do something, you do it with no questions asked. Hopefully, Father will understand that we have already scheduled to be out of town for Christmas and we can tackle getting the appliances during Jon's birthday weekend or, preferably, the weekend after.

I need to do some more laundry. Jonnie doesn't have any socks left in his drawer now that I put together outfits for him to wear during our marathon Christmas trip. Did I mention that we have to come back on the 26th and both are back to work on the 27th? Jonnie is the one kid in his class taking the least time off from school at Christmas. Hey, I want to get every hour out of that $344 I pay every two weeks!

I'm hoping Jon gets home soon. I'd like to rest. All three of us have colds right now. I ended up sleeping in our spare room last night because when Jon came to bed, I could not sleep because his breathing was so labored. Jonnie was coughing frequently during the night. I was in the bathroom three times during the night because my laxative tea kicked in at 2 AM. Then, Tiger still managed to find me at 7:30 this morning to wake me up. Jonnie yelled at me when I told him I slept in the spare room. He told me that was PapPap's room and I'm not allowed to sleep there. I think PapPap will understand and I'll have clean sheets on the bed for him when he comes to visit the next time so he won't get my cooties!

Have a wonderful weekend!