I’ll Be Home for Christmas (if the Bomb Cyclone Doesn’t Stop Me)!

Our annual family update is brought to you by the blizzard of 2022

“Was that 26 or 27?” Tom asked, as we passed yet another car buried under snow in the median. 

“That was 27.” I said. “Remember? Twenty-six was that jack-knifed semi on the left back there.”

“When I was a kid, we made the trek from Lafayette to Kalamazoo for Christmas with my grandparents, and on the way up we counted Christmas trees,” Tom said. “Now, I’m on my way to Midway airport on Christmas eve and I’m counting cars in the ditch.”

“Yeah, this isn’t how we planned to spend Christmas Eve. But it beats being one of them,” I said, pointing to another. “There’s 28!” 

As we counted the stranded cars, I mentally counted the number of times our plans had changed over the previous week.  

Everything had been so perfectly planned for our family Christmas at home. Jared, our oldest, was flying in from Denver on Thursday night. 

Jared very much enjoys his home near the Rocky Mountains where he hikes, climbs, runs, and skis. He continues to work remotely for Indeed, making progress on some of his own digital projects as time allows. When he rents out his home as an Airbnb, he’s “forced” to travel–visiting friends, camping in the mountains, or going on big trips. The biggest one this year was a 4-week adventure in Europe where he hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc and the Haute Route through France, Switzerland, and Italy. And speaking of “going big,” he was thrilled to take his first mountaineering expedition to the summit of Mt. Baker this year!

Adding to our Christmas joy, our son Seth, daughter-in-law Maddie, and grandson Oliver would drive down from Grand Rapids on Saturday, Christmas Eve, and stay through Monday. 

Seth keeps busy with his job at Davey Tree, where he’s now been for four years. One exciting change in his job this year was the company car he drives, which was upgraded from a Tacoma truck to a Tesla! He’s looking forward to getting another new set of wheels this spring, when his new bicycle arrives, just in time for a new season of biking. 

Maddie has been teaching special ed for eight years, four of them at William C. Abney Academy. She expresses her creative side through Cricut projects with vinyl and iron-ons, as well as sewing. She’s also been working with Seth to rearrange bedrooms in their home to make room for another spring arrival! (Hint: NOT another bike!)

Oliver (2.5 yrs) loves dinosaurs, puzzles, music, counting, climbing, swimming, naming shapes and colors, and watching Cocomelon. He loves being the center of attention, but he’s going to have to learn to share the limelight in May, when his little sister comes along!

Our daughter Leah, who was visiting her boyfriend Garrett’s family in Virginia, would also fly home to Chicago on Thursday. 

Leah continues to work as a music therapist at Behavior Services and Therapy in South Bend. This past fall she achieved her goal of independent living by getting her own apartment, about 15 minutes from our home. She shares her place with roommate Kate and their two young cats, Stitch and Violet, who provide kitty-snuggles and endless entertainment. Leah also keeps busy with a couple of young adult Bible study groups, teaching piano lessons, and volunteering in various roles at our church.  

Since Jared and Leah were both flying in on Thursday, they planned their flights near the same time so I’d only have to make one 2-hour trip to pick them up. Then our youngest daughter, Chloe, who lives in Madison, said she would be driving home right past Chicago on Thursday.

“Perfect!” I said. “Can you pick up your siblings at Midway?” 

“That works!” she said. “Then I’ll have company for half my trip, and maybe I can even get Jared to drive.”

Chloe thoroughly enjoyed her job at our local public library during her gap year. So in August, she moved to Madison to begin her graduate work in Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin. She shares a cute house in Middleton with two roommates. To fund her schooling, she’s taken on two jobs–one as a TA in the math department and the other making cookies and manning events for an upstart bakery in Madison. On Saturdays this fall, we found her cheering on the Badgers from the stadium executive suites as part of her bakery gig! 

Everything was falling into place perfectly! All of our kids would be home for the Christmas holiday! It brought to mind one of my favorite Christmas songs: 

I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me…

Still, there are some things you can’t count on, and one of them is the weather. On Sunday evening, we noticed the forecast for later in the week looked ominous. A winter storm, possibly a blizzard, was heading our way. The meteorologist used the term “Bomb Cyclone.” After several texts back and forth, the two flying kids opted for earlier flights–midday rather than late-night Thursday–hoping to beat the storm.

By Tuesday, “the bomb” was just a snowball’s throw from Denver, and the airline cancelled Jared’s Thursday flight. He quickly booked a Wednesday flight, and all was well. Chloe also decided to head home on Wednesday to beat the snow barreling down on Wisconsin.

The two of them arrived safely in the Windy City and found a warm place to sleep at my sister Beth’s house for the night. They would stay there until Leah arrived the following day, swing by Midway to pick her up, and hurry home before the blizzard warnings took effect. Seth and Maddie would also head down two days earlier, on Thursday, to beat the storm. We’d all be together by Thursday evening and I would have two bonus days of a full nest!

Tom and I have been enjoying our once-again empty nest since September. I’ve also been loving the life of a retiree after 35 years as a speech-language pathologist. With my hours taken up by writing, reading, babysitting Ollie once a month, and taking care of our home (and our new cabin in Minnesota!), I really don’t know how I ever found time to work! 

Being retired also means having the freedom to travel during the school year, so Tom and I spent a wonderful week in northern lower Michigan in mid-October. While there, we enjoyed biking, wine-tasting, shopping, and taking in the fall colors. (You can read about that trip and my reflections on a milestone birthday HERE.)

Tom has now been at Notre Dame for 28 years, serving as a system administrator for the library for the past 23. When not working, he enjoys walking, biking (or triking), fishing (when in Minnesota), listening to podcasts, and tinkering around the house, and now the cabin too! The cabin, our dream come true, was one of the biggest events of our year. (You can read all about it HERE.)

Please have snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree.

Everything was ready. My pantry and fridge were fully stocked. We had the sheets washed, beds made, and floors vacuumed. Presents were wrapped, tagged, and under the tree. And the snow? It was coming!

On Thursday morning, I woke up early and checked Leah’s flight status. It was still scheduled and on-time. But within the hour, that status changed. The flight was delayed by 25 minutes. Then it was delayed again. And again. And again. Soon her arrival time in Chicago was ten minutes after our blizzard warnings were to take effect at home. IF the flight actually came through, our three kids might have to drive 100+ miles through blizzard conditions. 

After considering our options, we knew the only safe thing to do was to have Leah reschedule her flight for Saturday, Christmas Eve, after the blizzard warnings had ended. She would have a safe place to stay in Virginia for a couple of extra days and Jared and Chloe would leave Chicago in time to outrun the storm. Leah made the change, and seven minutes later the airline cancelled the flight she was supposed to be on. We had made the right choice. Still, I was holding my breath until all of my kids were home, safe and sound. 

It’s a fact: a mother never stops worrying about her children.

The worries brought me back to April, when the whole family (minus the toddler) planned to take our first-ever family cruise. With seven of us all requiring negative COVID tests and flights from Chicago and Denver to Fort Lauderdale, I couldn’t relax until we were all safely onboard. Thankfully, everything fell into place and we enjoyed one of the best family vacations ever! (The kids were talking about our next family cruise before this one even ended.)

Later, in July, all of us (this time including Ollie) spent some time at Birch Villa Resort in Minnesota. After 17 years at the same resort, it’s bittersweet knowing we won’t be going back this year, as we’ll be in our own cabin, about 35 minutes away. We’ll always have wonderful memories of Cass Lake and look forward to visiting our relatives during their stays at Birch Villa.

Everyone but Leah made it home safely by Thursday evening as the dropping temps, snow, and high winds enveloped us. We hunkered down in the warmth of our home and played games, ate food, and watched movies together. Maddie, Chloe and I FaceTime’d with Leah while making the Oreo truffles that have become Leah’s signature Christmas candy.

Christmas Eve will find me where the love light gleams…

Saturday morning began much like Thursday, checking flight statuses to ensure Leah’s flight was on time. We cringed when we saw the flight was delayed by 40 minutes. Was this going to be a repeat of our Thursday disappointment? Like Thursday, the flight was delayed several times (by nearly four hours), but unlike Thursday, it was not canceled! Leah was coming home! 

We scrapped my Christmas Eve plans for appetizers, drinks, and cozy family time, and Tom and I headed to Midway airport with travel advisories still in effect.

In the first 40 miles of our journey, we counted 34 cars and trucks in the ditch. Most looked like they’d been there since the day before, or even Thursday afternoon (when our kids would have been driving home if our earlier plans had worked out). With patches of slick ice and packed snow, there were several tense moments as the tires slid beneath us.

We made it to Midway a few minutes before Leah deplaned and got her bags. When I finally hugged my girl, we both laughed and cried out of sheer relief. The love light was gleaming on us in that moment, as it was three hours later, when we walked through the door at home, in Michigan. 

I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.

All my loves had made it home for Christmas, and NOT only in their (or my) dreams.

As I went to bed that night, I said a prayer of thanks. For safety on the roads and in the air. For my family being together again.

I also said a prayer for those whose kids didn’t make it home for Christmas and for the kids spending Christmas alone. For families–grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles–stranded in airports or away from their loved ones all across the country. It easily could have been us. Despite the countless changes in our plans and minor disappointments of those past few days, I knew we were the lucky ones.

We can make plans. We can dream dreams. But if we are counting on our plans and dreams to satisfy our deepest desires, we will be disappointed.

There’s only one thing we can truly count on.

That one thing is the love light that came to us on that first Christmas. Our only hope is the love of the Christ child and the light of salvation he came to bring.

It is in his love and light that we can find our true joy and peace. 

With the dawn of a new year, may you find that love light gleaming in your hearts and homes. 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from our home to yours!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from our home to yours!

*Lyrics for “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by Kim Gannon.

Did you miss last year’s Year in Review? You can find it HERE.