The Bad News Bears do Christmas

Honestly...if the Bad News Bears had done a holiday movie - it would look a lot like a certain week of my life. First of all, one should not even ATTEMPT 4 cities, 3 holidays and two families in 7 days. That is WAY too many times to taunt the travel gods. And so it was, as many of you know, that Portland, OR (where Rita's family is), got snowed in at Christmas. So despite MULTIPLE trips to the airport (only to be told that flights were canceled) and multiple plane tickets, we were NOT able to get home to Portland for the holidays. =( Then to top it all off, I didn't plan the present-thing very well - expecting to give Rita her Christmas presents when we returned to San Diego (as we agreed) after Christmas (turns out that celebrating AFTER a holiday makes the actual holiday a little ummmm...disappointing). So let's just say that Christmas week was not...exactly as we had planned:

• Can I just say - it's not like we were going to MIAMI to see Rita's family...has the city of Portland never heard of a snowplow???
• If you are interviewed on TWO successive evening newcasts showing families stranded by bad weather on the holidays - you have officially hit the hard-luck sweepstakes. (That's not Tivo - it's Maeve & Rita.)
• One good way to end up on a watch list at the airport? (well ASIDE from being named Mohammed) - go through security every day for four days. Couple that with multiple appearances on the evening news (see: stranded holiday travelers) and you are guaranteed a strip search.
• I don't care HOW much time you think you have til boarding....it is best that you are NOT on an un-interruptible work call when your partner finds out she is NOT going to see her family for the holidays. The correct response to "all flights to Portland are canceled" is NOT "I will be off this call in 20 minutes, I swear".
• I did get bonus points for the question "how long would it take to DRIVE to Portland"? (it's all the same time zone - who knew it was a 26 hour drive).
• No matter WHAT the agreement is on when the present exchange is...ummmm, bring a present for Christmas day, ok? In the relationship hierarchy - not having a present available on Christmas Day trumps breaking Christmas gift rules by a score of 7 to 1.
• As of noon on Christmas, the only thing Rita had gotten for Christmas was my cold.
• The one-year subscription to the savemethecall blog is probably NOT an appropriate present for Christmas day.