Christmas Trip Adventures

Time with family is good... especially of the chilling out, slower pace variety.  Given how crazy the last couple of weeks have been, I've deserved the break :).  

Christmas Eve started with a 1/2 day at work, meaning a round trip to Conyers, GA, and a flurry of activity that is not conducive to letting your mind veg into Christmas vacation bliss.  It did include an hour and half call where I walked one of our sales guys through the Salesforce.com application and he picked it up really quickly...ahhhhh, accomplishment.  I went upstairs to visit my IT support guy to share the good news, and they were playing Jedi Knight on the projection... good times :)... I would have liked to have traded places.  A slow day in a work-hard-play-hard IT group usually involves a little craziness or high-tech toys.  I still prefer marketing, but arcade downtime does sound like a good job perk :)

So, I get off at around 1-ish from the half day and get dropped off at the airport by my friend Sean, who luckily got off work a little early himself so we were able to jet a little early.  Not that it mattered for me... my flight wasn't scheduled to get out till 6:35PM but some downtime in the airport was welcome... that was until the flight was delayed for 40 minutes.  

Now, compared to some other flights on Christmas Eve, this was nothing... in fact I wasn't really that concerned (I used up the time reading and texting friends), but found out that the reason that the flight was delayed was.... get this...

They had to fix the tray tables on the exit rows!

Seriously?  Seriously.  

If I was running that flight, I would have had them break the things off and fix them later.  People have to get home for Christmas!!! :)

Of course, we eventually board the plane, taxied off from the gate and guess what???.... we lose our takeoff assignment... which we find out after heading to our previously assigned runway.... because we are late...  because of tray tables.... Yes, that's right, because of tray tables.  

So we have to pull a U-ie in the middle of Hartsfield Airport and go all the way to the other side.  Apparently, they gave the plane with tray tables our slot at the north end.... so off to the south end we go.  

Long story short, I finally arrive into Houston around 9-ish, get picked up by my dad and my brother Chuck and arrive home for Christmas dinner at 10:15.  That's a first.  It was by far the best Christmas Eve dinner I've had less than 2 hours before Santa Claus was scheduled to drop by.  I hope he didn't miss our house over that....

Well, my niece Susan got her gifts, so I think he made it :).  You know, it's amazing to watch a 1 year old go to town on those Christmas gift boxes... who cares about the toys, man?  Give me a box and some paper!!!  Now, once she found out that the toys sang and made sounds, she was all over that.  Kind of makes you want to be a kid again... when things were so much simpler.  

In all that craziness, it's still more tranquil than the birth of our Savior was, though.  Imagine the stress that Mary & Joseph faced going into this town at the time of the census and having all of the hotel rooms booked up and a wife about to give birth.  I wonder how much Joseph may have been freaking out on that night... but of course God took care of everything pretty well... after all, it was HIS son that was being born into the world... and of course, He knew what He was doing all along.  

And it was simple... 

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.