Or perhaps it’s a Christmas devil that’s been stealing my memories. Since I’ve returned home from the nursing home I can’t seem to find very many but I have dredged up a few. Some good, some humorous and a few scary but all precious.

One of my favorites is the Christmas when I had to work the holiday schedule. The family wanted to spend Christmas in California with my in-laws some 1800 miles away from our home near Seattle. A problem since I had to work. Our solution? We loaded the car with suitcases and other paraphernalia, strapped in the kids and my wife drove to her parents while I worked.

The idea was simple, I would catch a plane and fly down to be with them on Christmas eve and day but as with all simple ideas there arose a problem, presents! Oh we could hide most of the children’s presents in the trunk of our little car but not the giant plush black bear for our daughter. I wanted the bear to be a surprise but there was no way to hide something that large during the trip.

The bear was pretty cool and we wanted to surprise her. It was large about 3 feet tall with a zippered compartment in the belly that held a smaller plush bear as well as room for diapers and other emergency supplies. Not easy to hide especially with inquisitive youngsters near. In the end there was no solution except for me to take the bear with me on the airplane.

I have to say that airplane trip was the most pleasant I have ever experienced. From the time I arrived in the airport everyone it seemed wanted to see the giant bear I was carrying. At the ticket counter I was quickly escorted to the front of the line to check my luggage while every clerk in the place rushed to help and ask about the bear. Children stopped and stared while their mothers asked for details.

I carried the bear on board with me but it was too large to put in the overhead bin so I just sat it on my lap for the flight. Talk about service! Every stewardess on the plane constantly came by to see that bear. Of course they had to have an excuse so I got tremendous service and was continually offered just about anything they had available. Even the first class stewardess managed somehow to find me and offer some of their first class service. Boy was that a great flight and had I been single it would have been a great ice breaker!

I was coddled and pampered for the next hour and a half beyond my wildest flight expectations. Even the pilots visited me. As for the other passengers, they (especially the children) were perpetually reminded to not block the aisle while crowding about me and my bear.

In the end it was more than worth it. I’ll remember the surprise, excitement and smile on my daughter’s face for, I hope, a long long time.

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Tags: airline, family, Humor, travel

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 9:26 am and is filed under family, Interesting, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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