Well, this was my second Christmas with the Head family and Rome’s first. My family sat in front of the computer tracking Santa on NORAD (whatever that is) all day, excited when he flew through Italy and checking in again on him when he was over Iceland. I was confused because I thought that is where the jolly red fat man came from in the first place, but whatever. Oddly, after the kids were asleep, my parents were still checking out NORAD’s Santa Tracker and watched as Santa brought Christmas to Hawaii. FUN FACT: Did you know Hawaii is the last place on the planet to get Christmas? They save the best for last. Anyway, when we woke up and came down the stairs the next morning, there were gifts galore! The 5’ giraffe standing in our living room effectively lit my sister’s face with joy and scared Rome into the backyard for some personal hygiene issues. My brothers thought Santa was really funny, putting candy in with their new packages of boxer shorts. My mom said it was to make getting boxers for Christmas
seem sweeter- that Santa’s is a pretty funny guy! Rome and I were very excited that Santa brought us toys too. A ball, a rope and squeaky toy were all I could have ever hoped for. Rome destroyed his ball in less than 5 minutes then nearly ingested my sister’s bunny rabbit finger-puppet before my mom yelled, “DROP IT!” We got through the rest of the event without incident until my dad caught sight of the squeaky toy or should I say what was left of it. My family quickly sprang into action, picking up all the pieces, crisis averted... and then the puppy threw up!
Out to the grandparent’s house we went. Rome went nuts, running and chasing all the other dogs. Of course he is not discriminating when it comes to food so he ate everything, even the stuff in the dirt. He stole shoes and got up on the table. He was terrified of all the singing and dancing people. Maybe it was this fear that prompted it but regardless because, as we were getting ready to go, the puppy threw up!
Sunday was a restful day at our house. My brothers were getting ready to go to Colorado to see Uncle Dan and I was excited that the sun was out and the grass was dry. I watched my family packing and repacking my brothers’ suitcases, cleaning house, making beds but overall, having a very relaxed day. We said our goodbyes to my brothers as my family headed to the airport....... when my family got home, they were in a lather. They were talking about the ticketing agent being a bit much and how grateful they were for the nice folks at TSA. They were chatting about some nice folks they met from Canada, and then we all went to bed.
BEEEEEEPPPPPP BEEEEEEEEPPPP What is going on with my sister clock? It’s beeping ... up goes my dad, it’s off and then back to bed he comes. Then, just as suddenly, what is that noise? On goes the light. Dad is grabbing Rome and trying to get him down the stairs and then.... the puppy threw up... more pieces of my Christmas toy all over the floor! My mom was getting the carpet cleaner when it happened my sister’s alarm went off again. “Are you kidding,” says Mom as Dad raced up the stairs to shut it off. Just as he came down the stairs, my mom said, “well, I am up” and I was thinking, “I’m not, lets go back to bed.” Then, as if something woke my family up on purpose, the phone rang. Mom and Dad’s hearts both leapt. Mom grabbed the phone and I could tell by the look on her face she was concerned. “Hello,” she said, “Are you OK? What happened? Is your brother OK?” Oh no! I thought, this sounds serious. For the next several minutes, my mom was talking to random strangers trying to figure out what to do. You see, the airplane had a cooling issue and was turned around and sent back to Hawaii, only instead of coming back to Kona, my brothers were now on Oahu at one in the morning! Several people were offering to help my brothers. Remember that nice Canadian family? Well they having met my family and chatted a bit, offered to take care of my brothers. They got them to a hotel for the night. After several calls, my mom got their flight changed from the 2:30 PM flight the airline offered, to the 7:50 AM flight and the nice family was able to get on it too, just in case. As we all settled back into bed at 2:45 AM, we were certain we all were going to need naps and coffee in excess come the dawn. I heard my mom and dad talking about how it was sure lucky that they had met that family while they waited in the boarding area for my brother’s flight to leave. That chatted about how odd it was that so many things had happened to ensure they were awake when they got the call. They were thankful my brothers were safe and for all the nice people that stepped up to help them. I could tell when my brother called to tell Mom he was boarded on the morning flight that she was relieved. I also saw her put her cell phone in her pocket of her scrubs, just in case.
As for that squeaky toy, welI, I am happy to report the puppy produced the rest of it that morning. Although, I think my dad would have rather had the puppy throw up. RUFF!
