It's been just over a year since my husband's mother passed away. She died mid December 2012. We were on auto throughout the 2012 holiday season. Since she died, we've grieved. We settled up her affairs. We did all the things necessary after a loved one leaves us. Last Christmas was surreal for us.
This year's holiday season has been different from where my family was two years ago when I wrote, "Well, I'm Forked". Last year due to my husband's mother's illnesses, we had a weird Christmas season, but this year; we took the advice in that 2 year old comment thread. Christmas this year featured: No mad dashes from South Florida to Central Florida. No crisis management scenarios. No family bullshit. No snide bitterness. No one said stupid things. No demands for us to show up to events with family members who really don't like or respect us. For the first time in years, from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day; we had Peace on Earth in the Wolverton household. In a contrast to the last 2 years - we had a lot of fun.
If you want the details, read on; but if you don't like those news letters you get with Christmas cards....I get it. See you next time. This diary is a report of how things improved for us over the last 2 years.
Due to multiple bouts of good luck, we were able to take a lot of time off this past holiday season. Writing comments on a Smart phone is difficult and a diary was out of the question. My tablet wasn't much better, so no diaries. I didn't write a TTFN diary as they seem to be frowned upon in this establishment these days. I can't say I'm sorry I missed most of the hoopla about Duck Dynasty.
We had a great 5 weeks. That isn't to say we didn't have to deal with the unexpected or some absurdity. My healthcare.gov account was horribly corrupted and making a new account compounded the problem. I had to wait while my problem was sent up the line to a database manager to fix it. So, that was a thing.
We went to the Orlando parks to celebrate my daughter completing her BA in Physics mid December - a good thing. We booked a 1 bedroom timeshare apartment, but got a 1 bedroom studio instead that featured 1/2 a living room 1/4 a kitchen and a sofa bed that hit the dining table when we popped it out. My daughter made the decision to pop it back in and deal - until she found out her blanket was an oversized brillo pad (I had a blanket in the car, so it wasn't too much of a problem). The dining chairs could only be pulled out 6" before they ran into a wall on one side of the table and 4" on the other side before it ran into the TV. The bath was in a hallway with a pocket door to close off the toilet and shower "stall" that was simply a drain in the middle of one side of the bathroom floor and a shower curtain that bisected the room. We had received 8 bath towels, hand towels and wash clothes, but there was no towel racks to hang them on once they got wet - unless you count the safety rail beside the toilet. There was no place to set your clothes while you showered except the toilet . Luckily the unit came with a washer and dryer. We had a cookie sheet that wouldn't fit in the oven, but did fit the dishwasher and a pizza pan that fit the oven, but didn't fit in the dishwasher. The "sink was 8" square and the only dish rack was in the dish washer, so hand washing dishes was a silly idea. The flatware tray was on the top shelf in the kitchen as there were no kitchen drawers and the counter top was occupied by the coffee pot and the newly relocated flatware tray. The closet racks were mounted waist high so I was glad I didn't have a dress or pants that had to be hung up with me. The room was hilariously dysfunctional, but since we only needed it for a crash pad - we didn't care.
We mailed our Christmas packages and cards prior to leaving for Orlando, but we still hadn't received the names for our gift exchange within my family. We got them texted to us while waiting to get on the new Transformer's attraction at Universal. No problem. One smart phone let us access the wish lists. Another let us find the right stores in Orlando. We discussed what to do over a fine meal at Mythos and took in The 8th Voyage of Sinbad (cornball show) afterward and got a snazzy picture of Frank of MIB fame later in the day.
The next morning we got the gifts, wrapping paper and found an empty shipping box. The people at the front desk where we stayed supplied tape and markers. She helped us wrap, pack and address the box - it almost made up for the "room". She directed us to the tiny post office in Celebration, FL. The postal worker wanted us to upgrade to priority mail. He couldn't "guarantee" it would arrive in the D.C. area by Christmas. Mr. Wolverton was amused as I said, "Apparently I have more faith in your services than you do (it was 12-17). The USPS delivers millions of packages on time in good condition and I have no reason to believe you will let me down this Christmas". He was a bit rattled but rang up the parcel post order. Little did I know Fedex and UPS were going to have a meltdown a couple days later.
That was the high point of drama for the entire 5 weeks. We finished up one day in Universal at MIB competing for high score. The wait was less than 10 minutes so we had a few rematches. We went through about 6 times and my daughter won most rounds. I had a Flaming Moe (and still have the cup) hubby had tea and my daughter had a Buzz Cola at Moe's Tavern to celebrate. Another day we took in the Blues Brother's holiday show and got a cup of glitter dumped on my head courtesy of Elwood because I was flirting with the saxophone player. Elwood stepped on my daughter's foot, but being the gallant kind of guy Elwood is, he apologized and dumped glitter on her too. Hubby was bemused and got glitterized too for being a good sport. Later that evening on the way home we wanted to pickup a coffee mug at the transformer's shop and became disoriented in the park. The Universal employee assured us that there was currently no wait for the Transformer attraction and said the "fastest" way to the souvenir shop was through the attraction. Absurd as that advice was, we took it. Surprise! There really was no wait. We walked through the lanes to the car. Got in and we had the car all to ourselves - that led directly to the souvenir shop. I got the mug.
We also had some really touching moments. It's tough to go through my Mother-In-Law's things, but it has to be done. At the end of the week we went to my MIL's home. There, propped up on the kitchen counter was a huge Christmas wreath. One of the last ones she had made. It was not sold in 2012 and had been returned. It was a nice reminder of her. We spent a few hours there cleaning, clearing the voice mail. My brother in law had come a few months ago to pick up the living room furniture and the spare room's bed and he took her sunflower dishes and a few other things. The emptiness was expected, but disconcerting.
We decided to take the Christmas dishes no one else wanted and packed up the car. As I was leaving the sun room I saw an old, hand crafted quilt that was on a quilt stand. It was old, it had a little girl wearing a sun bonnet motif. The fabric was worn very thin. It was turning yellow and had a few tears, but there it was on the quilt stand. I carefully picked it up intending to ask my Mother-In-Law's sister who should have it. It had to be important for where my MIL had placed it in her home. At the last minute I picked up the wreath and slid it on top of the pile. We delivered paperwork and judge's orders and signed the papers to put the home on the market.
The quilt was a random act of kindness. My husband's Aunt wanted us to stay with her for the night. We headed over and greeted her, settled in. I brought the quilt over to her to ask about it. She started to cry, "Are you bringing my mother's quilt to me?" I looked at Mr. Wolverton. He nodded. Turns out that quilt was made by hubby's grandmother sometime around 1935 and it was on the bed my Mother-in-law and her sister shared when they were children. The quilt found it's proper home. We had a good visit. As we packed the car to head home, my husband's Aunt saw the wreath and teared up again and told us she was glad we were taking it, "It needs to be hung up and enjoyed".
We had a busy, but peaceful Christmas week. The package we mailed from Celebration arrived in D.C. on time, Monday, December 23rd. That same day, Healthcare.gov finally had fixed my corrupted account and we signed up for our insurance. Later that night we met friends on the Carrie B a tourist boat that goes up and down the Ft. Lauderdale intercoastal for the holiday light evening tour. We caught up with everyone. It was a lovely time and no one had to clean their house to host it.
When I wrote "Well, I'm Forked" 2 years ago you [kossacks] encouraged me to find a way to tell my husband and daughter that I would no longer spend holiday time with people who would bring us down. I told my family they were welcome to go where ever they wished, but I was only going to hang out with people who were a good time. I didn't snub my Republican friends and family, but I did limit exposure to the ones who in the past, specialized in snide, bitter and unkind behavior. I called, wrote and saw everyone, but left early before it got awkward and successfully avoided emotional disaster. It was a good strategy. We went to people's homes, shopping malls and restaurants. We wrapped gifts and tried new things. It was a busy, eventful, enjoyable, lovely week. Mr. Wolverton and I were walking along Ft. Lauderdale's Riverwalk the eve of Christmas Eve. He was deep in thought. He said that this was the nicest Christmas he'd had in years. Success is a comforting, warm dish. That was the best Christmas gift I got this year. A happy husband.
After Christmas I had to finish up the health insurance thing. Apparently our information made it intact to our new insurance company because they had the information on their automated phone system and I paid our first premium on the 28th. We got a letter from the insurer on the 30th with a member number that allowed me to set up an on line account that let me print out our temporary insurance cards.
It was a wonderful Christmas season for my family. The world still has troubles. There are plenty of things to fix and rant about. There are many people who aren't so fortunate and I'm sorry for that, but for the Wolverton house we had a 5 week break from the crazy and the best Christmas Holiday season in years.