Christmas Day 2022

The girls woke up around 7:30 Christmas morning & Santa had came!

Sadie got a Chromebook & Sophie got a Tick Talk Watch! Sadie was shocked because she didn't ask for one so I don't think it was on her radar. She really wants a phone but we told her not until middle school. She also wants a puppy but I have told the girls for years that wasn't happening. I know, mean mom!

Sophie on the other hand had been telling everyone for months that she was getting a watch. Ha! Sadie got one in 3rd grade & she really wanted one too. Thank goodness she got it! She has her own phone number & she can call or text anyone we approve & set up. It does not have internet, but she can stream music, take pictures, etc. She was just as excited:

Then we all dug through our stockings:

We all got several presents & of course we are all spoiled:

I made cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast & we had extra icing left over from our cookies so the girls had fun decorating their cinnamon rolls too:

Then it was go time! Our elf, Ellie, surprised the girls earlier this month to let them know that we planned a surprise vacation to spend Christmas in the city - New York here we come! I worked hard all week keeping up the laundry, running errands, even packing us early so we could enjoy Christmas weekend. But as soon as we finished with presents & breakfast I was hard at work cleaning up, putting up everything, making sure our laundry was done, dishwasher empty & our suitcases were loaded and we were ready to fly out by 3:00 that afternoon. We enjoyed a nice Christmas dinner at the airport then we sat around & waited for our flight:

We knew it might be delayed, but obviously we didn't know the extent of what we were walking into. Because winter storm Elliott blew in Thursday night & it was the holidays, the flights were a mess. So many had been cancelled or delayed. The airport was crazy busy with families everywhere. Most of the restaurants closed early & were short staffed because it was Christmas. We always heard flying on Christmas Day was easy & not crowded at all. Not this time! We tried to stay positive as our flight continued to be delayed. We were optimistic when a gate was assigned to us. Bryan even talked to the pilot & things were looking good:

Our plane was there & they switched our gates. We saw our luggage being loaded, the flight crew was there, 1 pilot was there but apparently they never found another pilot so around 11:00 pm, our flight was officially cancelled. Ugh. Remember, we left the house at 3:00 so it was a long evening. Thank goodness the girls were troopers & had good attitudes! It helps they had snacks & ipads to entertain them:

I'm not exaggerating when I say that even at midnight, the airport was bonkers. There were families everywhere - old, young, crying, bad attitudes, sleeping - it was definitely not a joyous way to end Christmas! The one highlight for me was that the airport was decorated so I enjoyed the twinkling lights & the Christmas music that played all night long:

The airport was extremely short staffed & it was some of the longest lines I have ever seen. We kept trying to call in but couldn't get through, so we ended up waiting in line at the airport to talk to someone. Thank goodness we are A-List with Southwest Airlines so we got in the short line. That didn't matter because there was only 1 agent working & it took us 2 hours to reach her. Again, the girls were troopers:

We ended up getting $200 travel vouchers for each of us but they couldn't put us on another flight until Wednesday. And our luggage? Well who knows about that! That is an entirely different situation. Because there were so many flights cancelled & they were short staffed there are literally thousands of pieces of luggage floating around Dallas Love Field. I have literally never seen this much luggage sitting in baggage claim before:

Of course we couldn't find ours & the long was SO long we didn't even attempt to talk to someone about it. We eventually caught a Lyft & headed home at 2:00 am. Needless to say we were all exhausted & there may have been some tears shed. It was definitely not the way we planned our Christmas to end:

I saw this article when I woke up this morning & was not surprised it was the top story of the weekend:

So here I am, the day after Christmas catching up on my blog & trying to figure out what comes next. As I write, it is currently 11:45 & the girls are still asleep. I still have no idea where our luggage is & if we are still going or not. We were going to spend a week in the city & I had planned all of it last summer. We had tickets to see Disney's Aladdin on Broadway, The Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes, tickets to the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Museum, dinner reservations with friends & so much more! I'm not sure if it will be worth it to fly out on Wednesday since we have already missed half of our trip nor do I want to brave the airport again & take a chance we make it this time. Or will we even have our luggage back before then? Part of me thinks the magic of Christmas has passed & we'll just have to plan this again another year & the other part says let's go & make the most of the few days we'll have. Who knows?! Either way, I wanted to document our adventure because this will definitely be a Christmas I won't soon forget!