A Reimagined Christmas with the Kranks
You know the holiday movie classic, "Christmas with the Kranks?" The premise is that the husband and wife pull out all the stops for Christmas every year, from multiple ornate gifts to donations to specific organizations to hosting a massive Christmas party. It's tradition, and they never break tradition. Then their daughter joins the peace core, and they spend the holiday season effectively dodging Christmas.
It's no secret my year has been rough. A house fire prompted my whole family to move into our 2-bedroom house. That's right, 6 humans and 5 animals with one bathroom, and 2 of those humans are senior citizens, one of which has terminal cancer and is receiving hospice care.
Additionally, my husband is now traveling more and more for work, leaving him gone for weeks at a time, leaving me to care for everyone at home, plus the teenager and the new bumpy flow of the house. Not to mention, it's just heavy living without a corner of solitude for an introverted creative trying to grow a business. Alas, we try.
So, amid the craziness, we decided to take a Christmas cruise. There would be no hosting the annual Christmas Eve party, no large gifts for everyone, just packing our suitcases and having a good time as a small family. Yet, here I am, writing a blog to end the year instead of basking in the Caribbean sun.
What went wrong, you ask? Well, simply, everything.
I didn't want to take off from school before the trip since we were already going to be on a Christmas vacation. So, instead, I did what any logical mother would do, and I worked until the last moment and tried to balance it all. Packing and closing out ends for Carry On Britt and trying to keep it fun for students while doing reporting at the end of the semester along with exams. I stayed up late to help my kiddo study for her exams so she could get good enough scores to pursue her dreams. Just logically, all the things. I burned myself out like I usually do because, in my head, I had to. I had to make sure that everything was just right before we left.
I knew the kiddo needed her birth certificate to travel. I also knew where it was. My husband swore it was right where it was supposed to be in the file, atop the bookshelf in the basement, the one with the cloth covering I keep all the essential documents in, labeled "important." Yet, you guessed it, it wasn't there. Mine present, my husband's present, hers MIA. So we did what any parent would do at 10 pm, pending a flight at 4 am. We went through every piece of paper in the entire house. When I say we tore the house apart, I mean it. Still, it was nowhere to be found.
Yet, that's only half the story. We still could have ordered it, gotten it express delivered the next day, and picked it up at the hotel. Cutting it close, sure, but cutting it close in Florida over a holiday is hardly a punishment.
Also, I got myself sick, not lightly, with a light sniffle. I was sick—the sick, where it would have been a miracle if I had passed the health exam. I'm talking massive pressure-filled headache, extreme nausea, a little vomiting, runny nose, sneezy, cough, sore throat, and it hurts to talk sick. It doesn't help that I was directly around 2 people who have confirmed COVID-19 this week.
'Twas the night before the vacation she spent months looking forward to, and we had to cancel. So here I am, laying across the chairs in urgent care, writing this draft to submit to travel insurance for a refund. Thank GOD for travel insurance. Always ALWAYS get travel insurance.
I tell you all this to say that sometimes, what you think is meant to be isn't. Sometimes, the future you have planned for yourself isn't what the universe has in store. You have to remember that it's okay. What you thought you needed right now isn't right for you. Be secure in knowing that something else is better or that what you need is coming your way.
So, what's the ending to the story? How did it all pan out? No cruise and sickness sounds really, really sad. Truth be told, I was devastated. I've been looking forward to going and basking in the sunshine and pausing the hustle and bustle of our days for Months! This year has whipped my tail, and I needed this. We, as a family unit, needed this. Yet it wasn't in the cards for us, and that is hurtful in its own way.
So what did we do?
We decided to pivot. Pump me full of the medication the doctor put me on so I can sleep and feel better for some part of Christmas vacation, and we will go somewhere else to kick off the year. Someplace I used to go when I was younger and haven't been in years. We might miss out on sunshine, but there are other things. If I have learned anything this year, life is too short, and things around you are too limited to allow you to stay down for long. Take a moment to lick your wounds (or heal) and get back up again. You never know what tomorrow has in store for you.
We will still set sail, just not right now, and ultimately, that's okay.
Oh, and there's always next Christmas!
