Christmas 2022 came and went. While I was really hoping to wrap up 2022 on a high note, quite the opposite happened. The whole story is almost too exhausting to type out. Our family had such a tough year; we really needed our Christmas break to be something magical. We booked a 7-day cruise to Mexico, leaving on 12/23, which meant that we would not be home on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day for the first time in 9 years. The month of December was busy (as it is every holiday season) and we were all looking forward to some downtime in the sunshine.
On Tuesday, 12/20, we went over to Grandma and Pop Pop's house for our "Christmas Eve" dinner. Everyone was in good spirits and we enjoyed appetizers, pasta, salad, chicken and sausage, and desserts. Grandma is known for making copious amounts of food! Taylor complained of a stomachache that evening, but Tommy and I passed if off as heartburn or indigestion from all the food. We stopped at the store for Pepcid on the drive home, and Taylor finally fell asleep with a heating pad on her stomach.
On Wednesday, 12/21, Grandma and Pop Pop came over to our house for "Christmas Morning." We ate bagels and a breakfast casserole and opened presents. Taylor was hunched over for most of the morning, complaining of stomach pains. By this point, I am getting the stink eye from the other adults, suggesting that Taylor needs to be seen by a doctor before we leave on a 6:00 flight to LA the next morning, 12/22.
After we finished opening gifts, I begrudgingly took Taylor to the Urgent Care facility by our house. I was in a hurry because I had 1,000 things to do before leaving town the next morning. Thankfully, she was seen by a lovely doctor right away (he even did a pirouette when he saw her Nutcracker sweatshirt). We discussed her symptoms, and he did an exam of her tummy/abdomen. When he pressed on the lower left side of Taylor's lower belly, she about jumped off of the table. He suggested that I take Taylor the ER to rule out appendicitis... he said it was 50/50 that she had it.
So, Taylor and I jumped back in the car and drove to Swedish Hospital in Issaquah. Once again, the doctors were amazing and got her in right away. An ultrasound showed nothing, so they took Taylor back for a CT scan. I will never forget when the ER doctor came back into our room and said, "I have great news! It is not Taylor's appendix!" Just as I breathed a sigh of relief and started packing up my things, he said as an aside, "...but the CT scan showed air in her abdomen, which is not normal, so we need to admit her for observation for 24-48 hours and you need to cancel your cruise." Even weeks later, as I reflect on that conversation, I am trying to understand why in the world the doctor burst into our room and said he had good news?
What the doctor did not know was that our flights to LA landed 30 hours before we were scheduled to check in at our ship. We were planning to spend Thursday, 12/22 sightseeing in LA. Given Taylor's hospitalization, we had to cancel our Thursday flights, but thankfully, Tommy was able to move all of our flights to Friday morning, 12/23. If all went well, Taylor would be released from the hospital after 24 hours of observation, and we would be able to fly out a day later AND still make our cruise.
Because the hospital in Issaquah did not have a pediatric unit, Taylor was transferred to the hospital in Seattle. I had to sign a release form to transport her myself (in lieu of an ambulance) from Issaquah to Seattle. Admittedly, I was having a little PTSD after our long hospital stay with Brayden over the summer, so I called for Tommy to tag in on the transfer. I drove home and gave him the car (and Taylor) and crawled into bed with my boys.
The next day, we received good news. Taylor had an X-Ray which did not show air in her abdomen. Yay! The doctor felt that the situation had resolved itself. With some prescription-strength Pepcid, the doctor said it would be safe to travel over the holidays. Hooray! I hung up the phone with Tommy and had allowed myself to get excited about the cruise again. About two minutes later (I am not joking - two minutes!) I received a text from Alaska Airlines that our 6:00 AM flights the next morning had been cancelled due to a pending ice storm overnight. I called the airline immediately. I spoke to an agent who basically said there were no flights that could get us to LA by 2:00 the following day. At this point, I started crying and crawled into bed. I told Tommy that I was not coming out until 2023.
Our family was so so so bummed out. Not only were we going to miss our cruise, but it was also 12/22 and we had already celebrated Christmas! Every gift had been opened! Tommy and I tried our best to stay upbeat, but man, we were depressed.
When we woke up on Friday, 12/23, the ice storm proved to be a big deal. We tried to go on a walk but slid down our cul del sac. Cars were sliding everywhere. There were all kinds of Tik Tok videos of Seattleites sliding and falling. It was a small comfort to know that our flight had been cancelled for a legitimate reason. By mid-afternoon, both Tommy and I were a big funk and knew we could not spend the next 10 days in dark, rainy Seattle. We started researching last minute trips to anywhere - Paris, London, Mexico, Costa Rica, etc. There were ZERO flights out of Seattle available. So, we did the next best thing and rented a Surburban. Ha! Our Volvo was at the Volvo dealer for service (best laid plans - I thought it would be perfect to have the car serviced while we were on our Mexican cruise). Since our other car is a sedan, we needed a big car for a family road trip. Thankfully, there was a Suburban available, so Tommy and I picked it up on the morning of Christmas Eve, loaded up the kids, and took off on an adventure.
We spent the next several days driving through California. We spent Christmas Eve in San Pablo, (outside of San Francisco), Christmas Night in Los Gatos, the 26th in Santa Barbara, the 27th in Los Angeles, and the 28th-30th in Manhattan Beach. Here's a quick recap:
- We saw "Aunt" Emily on Christmas Eve and partied in our hotel room (complete with Chinese food at 11:00 PM and "The Christmas Story" on TV).
- We went to brunch with Emily on Christmas Day in San Francisco and walked around the city.
- We went to Christmas dinner at Brian and Kristen's brother's house in Los Gatos. They hosted almost 50 people and had an incredible spread of food. We ate dinner outdoors (can't say this about many Christmas dinners).
- Our kids went for a midnight swim back at the hotel on Christmas night.
- We met our friend Steve Gray (from grad school) for coffee in Santa Cruz.
- We drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, taking in the beautiful scenery and heart-palpitating cliffs.
- We stopped in cute towns (San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara) to shop and eat.
- We stayed at a brand new Marriott in Santa Barbara (it opened the day we stayed there). The kids enjoyed the pool while Tommy and I enjoyed the pool bar.
- We went to Magic Mountain (Six Flags) in Valencia and rode lots of roller coasters. It rained the whole day and the park closed at 6:00 instead of 9:00, but that's okay, because by 5:00 PM we could walk on to any ride. Taylor, Matty and I rode the Batman coaster 3-5 times in a row!
- We walked around Santa Monica, dipped our toes in the ocean, rode the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier, showed the kids our old stomping grounds, walked around UCLA.
- We hiked to the Hollywood sign (in the mist), drove by Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake's homes, walked through the Beverly Hilton, and ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Cholo.
- We rented bikes and rode from Hermosa Beach to Dockweiler State Beach and back. Brayden and I enjoyed watching the airplanes take off from LAX. All three kids got in the ocean (Brrrr).
So, in a nutshell, Christmas was not what we envisioned it would be, but we made lemonade out of lemons. Thankfully, we were able to reschedule our cruise for Spring Break, and all of our airfare was refunded.
Peace out, 2022!
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