Merry nanny.

Even with all of my time off in November for extenuating circumstances, my family was more than gracious about letting me go for Christmas. T did offer to host my family and provide and turkey and a ham just to keep me from leaving, but when I turned her down she dealt with it very nicely.

I had a brilliant idea during the four hours it took me to pack on Saturday night.

First, I thought I could put the Christmas presents in my standard suitcase and stuff my clothes somehow into a duffel bag or something. Then, when I tried this idea out I discovered that my presents would never, ever fit into that suitcase. I would have to use my GIANT suitcase with the broken wheels and the bent handle and the questionably sturdy zipper.

It was a scary thought.

But I could fit all my stuff into the one bag. My clothes, my book, the gifts, everything.

So, I opened it up and started putting in the wrapped boxes. Then, I spent an agonizingly long hour trying to make actual outfits since I couldn't pull my usual stunt and just through a bunch of crap into a bag way bigger than I needed.

But even with my frugal packing I was wary of stuffing the suitcase. That zipper is really not dependable.

The sister suitcase to this one died in Africa, after being forced to close around way too much stuff and then molested by airport security. She never made it back from Uganda.

I stood there for a long, long minute thinking hard and coming up with nothing. Then my eyes fell on the pile of unused Space Saver bags that I had been storing inside this useless suitcase.

Genius.

I packed my clothes the best way I knew how and zipped up the suitcase.

I was done.

It was 2am.

I got up at 5:30.

And I got dressed and was miserable and I called a cab and was miserable and I caught my train and was miserable and then .

AND THEN.

Well, then, I had to walk from Penn Station to Port Authority with this cursed suitcase. Going up and down escalators, dragging the broken wheels across dips and cracks in the sidewalk. And it was windy. And morning.

Ugh.

I cheered up on the bus and tried to nap before I was off to church and then into the whirlwind of activity that is an American holiday.

So far, so good.

I've been with family ever since and we are headed off tomorrow to be with friends who might as well be family. I have a replacement luggage set that was a gift from my mother to replace my horrible suitcase, so things are looking up. I'm back to work Monday, so have a nice week!

MeRrY cHrIsTmAs!!!!!