We’re safe and well in the Crowne Plaza hotel here in Omaha, but the major winter storm that’s blowing through here is disrupting a lot of travellers’ plans. Interstates have been closed, including the I-29 to the Canadian border and a portion of the I-80 east of Council Bluffs.
Our plan to head up to Vermillion, South Dakota, tomorrow, is basically scrubbed. We’re going to have to extend our stay here at the hotel one more day, I think, and then we’ll head back to Des Moines. From there, we shall see what we shall see, though I expect we’ll be sticking around there for the duration of the visit.
Despite all of this, we’re in pretty good spirits. These sorts of weather events can be quite memorable, so long as we remain safe and warm, and we intend to.
Christmas morning was also quite memorable. I seem to recall somewhere mentioning, soon after Vivian was born, how much I looked forward to Vivian bursting into our room, bouncing on our bellies and exclaiming ‘it’s Christmas! it’s Christmas!”.
Of course, the unwritten assumption in all of this is that such an event would take place at a reasonable hour.
Back in the day, my parents conspired to deliver my Santa stocking to my headboard while I slept at night. The theory was that I’d play with the presents in the stocking for a while, thus giving my parents time to sleep. Of course, it didn’t always work out that way, as I often wanted to show my parents what Santa brought me. I think my record for this may have been 5 a.m. or possibly 5:30. But Vivian beat that.
At three in the morning, Vivian announced that she couldn’t sleep. She was way overexcited at the prospect of Santa coming. I count it as a testament to my character that I didn’t swear in front of my daughter, but I must confess that I did talk to her sharply enough to make her cry. It took about a solid hour to get both children asleep, and about another hour of staying up to help ensure that Nora stayed asleep.
I don’t much remember the Santa stocking unveiling that occurred that morning, though I have a vague recollection that Vivian enjoyed it a lot. Fortunately, I got a two hour nap at about the same time as Nora did.
I often ask my parents if I’ve ever been as exuberant and as dramatic as Vivian is, but apparently not. No. This isn’t karmic revenge for something I did to my parents during childhood. This is simply a matter of being in uncharted territory.
Merry Christmas to my friends and family reading this. I hope this holiday season finds you well and looking forward to the New Year. May the remainder of 2009 be restful. Much love to all.