Day One

The day started early with my plane departing Canton at 6:00AM. Proving himself to be a good friend, not only did Jim offer to watch my kidz for me; but he got up at the crack of dawn to get me to the airport.	Sunrise from high above
	I ended up with three suitcases on this trip - one with my clothes, one with the company laptop (so I could work while sitting around in the airports and airplanes) and another suitcase filled with presents!

The Propeller outside my window

The flight was smooth and uneventful. It was quite amazing to see how the Northern cloud-cover banged into the West Virginia mountains, with only tendrils of wispy clouds leaking through the narrow passes.

The Queen City - Charlotte

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for a closer view

My Mom (Celia) and her hubby, Dennis, were just beyond the security barrier, eagerly waiting to greet me when my plane arrived just after 7:00AM. After Breakfast, we went back to Mom's where we talked away the morning and afternoon before heading to my youngest brother's place for our Family Christmas Get-Together.	Dennis and Inky
	This is Sunny, Mom's rowdy dog. I didn't get a picture of little ol' Jack; but Mom sent one she took with her camera, along with a picture of her Christmas tree.

On my last trip home, I hadn't gone near Downtown Charlotte,
so on the drive across town, going to the party, Dennis took us through Downtown.

Christmas with the Bivenses

My youngest brother, Jon	The middle brother, Donny, and our GrandMother, Peggy
Mom's husband, Dennis, and Jon's Family Lisa, Jenny, Jackson	Some of the Jon Bivens Family in their kitchen

Getting ready to pass out the gifts
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for a closer view of my Mom

Trying to get a GOOD picture of all the kids

Presents for Everyone

The less said about this picture the better. My brothers (and Lisa, to her chagrin) will understand. ROFLMAO

As you can see from the pictures, a good time was had by all!

Day Two

I spent my second morning in Charlotte, playing with Jon, Jon, Jenny, and Jackson. As my brother and I ran all around the house, winging these foam blocks at one another (only hitting the Christmas tree a few times), it was all Lisa could do to bring order back to her house.

After things quieted down and lunch was over, I headed over to my Grandmothers, where I would spend the second night. My GrandMother ("Nana" to the kids) is doing quite well. Except for a little hearing trouble, she still gets around well - and quite a lot. From what I hear, she's never home and is even dating some! Although my GrandMother and I have gone through some similar situations that were quite bad (me dealing with losing Randy, and she with my GrandFather), the silver lining is that we are much closer because of those tragedies. I don't often really get the chance to talk about Randy and his death (It's no one's fault. It's just a sad subject and fortunately, most people can't really empathize with me because their spouses are still here.), so we had a very nice long talk about Randy, GrandDaddy and how we have moved on with life.

Day Three

The third Monday, I spent just chillin' with Nana. After lunch, we met up with Angie, Kayla, and Allison so that we could go watch Kayla perform at a ballet recital. By the time we reached the dance hall, the next oldest Bivens Boy, Donny, was outside waiting on us. While Angie filmed, and Donny looked on beamingly, Kayla danced up a storm.

Allison cuddled up onto my lap and watched me taking pictures of her sister.

Day Four

I don't have any pictures from the fourth day back home - I was pretty busy most of the day. First Angie and I dropped Kayla off at a Christmas event on a local farm, then we headed to the mall for some Christmas shopping. (I decided to give Charlotte coffee mugs to all of the co-workers that had gotten me the plane ticket. That way, every time they see the mugs, they'll get a happy feeling remembering what a nice thing they did for me, and what a happy time I had.) After shopping and picking up Kayla, Mom met us at Donny's and Angie's. Saying my goodbyes, Mom and I did a little shopping ourselves before meeting up with everyone for a final dinner together.

My goodbyes are usually a little tearful; but this one ended up not even happening. Earlier in the day, I had heard news about the airport. They had discovered a metal scanner unplugged there at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The airport was shut down for a few hours, nearly 5,000 passengers were de-barked and put through the scanners again, 500 flights up and down the East Coast were delayed, and 150 were totally canceled. And my flight was one of those canceled!! (Don't make me tell you about what a farce I think airport security is and what a waste of OUR tax dollars!) Early, Mom had wondered if it was going to be worth Lisa and Jon taking the kids to the airport since, with security measures, they wouldn't be able to watch me take-off; but now I was sure glad that they had come in with me! I had the choice of staying in Charlotte another night, or attempting some really weird travel arrangements that would have gotten me lost in either Atlanta or Cincinnati and not home until 3 in the morning. By this time, I was really tire, and geared up for going home, so although I could spend more time with my family, this was a big blow to me. Jon and Lisa quickly stepped up though, and took me home for a peaceful evening and the promise of another drive to the airport for my flight out the next day around noon.

But this story isn't quite over. Back at Jon's, I had to start making new arrangements for getting picked up in Canton the next day, plus going up to Cleveland to pick up Jodi and Ramone after their trip to Mexico for three weeks. When I finally got in touch with Jim, he informed me that he had been broken into just that evening! So he wasn't really in the mood to leave his house unattended to pick me up that night anyway. So I got things settled for my arrival and Jodi's and finally went to bed.

The Extra Day

Once more, I headed back to the airport (When mom asked if I called to check on this flight, I asked her why I should even bother. They lied the last time. LOL). This time, though, there were no snags - although I couldn't find my camera. (I figured I had packed it away too good and that I would find it when I unpacked.) We even had a tail wind and got back to Canton, OH 10 minutes early. Too bad I was sitting in the last seat of the plane (it was full with me like me, trying to get a flight back after being canceled the day before), because it meant I was the last one off the plane. But, I was back in town finally!

(Since arriving home, I found out that my boss' father, George Waikem, was scheduled to also be on the same flight I was to have been on originally. Small world, isn't it?)

Jim almost got in trouble for this picture below. The National Guard guy (there on the left) told him that NO pictures were allowed of the security area.

Of course, I wasn't quite "home" yet. With a quick 10 minute trip across town, we pulled up in front of my Home-Sweet-Home. And if you want to know if the dogs were glad to see me, just look below!!! I have to thank Jim for these pictures, since my camera was still missing.

MOUSEOVER for the CLOSEUP!

Merry Christmas!

But Wait!

There's still the matter of the camera to clear up. I unpacked everything and realized my camera was AWOL. I knew it couldn't have gone too far from me the whole time I was on my trip. So I called Lisa, thinking perhaps I had left it in her van during one of our trips to the airport. However, she didn't have it either! But she did know where it was! WooHoo! I had actually left the camera in Angie's van. I tried not to pester Donny with too many emails after he said he'd ship the camera "UPS Next Day"; but I'm sure he was tired of my little notes. LOL Plus he and his family were in the middle of packing for their trip to Florida early on Friday morning.

Even though you're not at home right now, Donny (cause you better be having a wonderful time at Disney!), and probably not checking your email, I hope when you see this, that you realize how thankful I am to you for sending my camera back.

Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year!