(the lush and fertile farmlands of Ohio, as seen from I-75)
Growing up in Toledo, we were a good hour or more to our grandparents in Lima, Ohio (home of GLEE!) and Greenville, Ohio (home of Annie Oakley!). For my brother and me, Christmas was spent in the back of the car zooming down I-75 to the grandparents. The flat and seemingly never-ending farmland of Ohio rushed by behind fogged up windows. At night, we'd stare out the windows and see how many Christmas decorations/lights we could see from the car. And then there was that one year with our Japanese exchange student Hiroshi and my brother Doug tossing up an entire can of undigested black olives in the jump seat of our station wagon. Good times, really.
Actually, neither one of us minded going to the grandparents, as some of my best memories are from family celebrations on Pierce St and Martin St. Each set of grandparents have a special memory for Christmas.However, since we are now parents, we decided to put our feet down and have made it known that we will NOT travel on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with the kids. If you want to see us, we’ll be here at home… enjoying the holiday in our own beds (sometimes) and eating the big meal in our own dining room.
I spoke with some friends of mine, and they retold similar stories of holidays on the road. My one colleague bemoaned the fact that he would open up all his presents and then have to bundle up, pick just one toy and make the long drive to his grandparents. “What fun is that? You open up all this cool stuff and then you have to leave!” We agree. So, for me and my family, you’ll find us here in Jackson, and you are more than welcome to stop by.
Bring cookies.
Thank goodness Santa always brought all of our presents except one to my Grandma Fairly's house. Erin, John, and I always had all the presents all day at grandma Jackies... our poor parents then had to lug them all home but what an awsome christmas experiance.
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