Yes its that time of year. But this year the entire country is in the middle of a horrific ‘cold snap.’

My daughter, her husband, and 3-year-old were set to fly from Chicago to Texas to visit our oldest daughter and her family so off to the airport they trudged. They had waited for this much-needed, much-deserved break to get away to warmer temperatures and they were so excited.

Upon arrival the excitement mounted. My vivacious grand daughter was overjoyed as she encountered Santa in the airport where the fun began. Mom even broke down and let her have a ‘Happy Meal’ (a rare treat) but hey they were in the airport and after that our effervescent girl got a snack out of the vending machine as well.

They all made it to their gate on time and waited for 6 hours and then it happened; their flight got cancelled.

“Why couldn’t they have told us that BEFORE we went all the way to our final Gate??” my daughter quipped. I told her “Well because sometimes they don’t know until the last minute what exactly to do. She responded, “Yea, the plane we were supposed to get on was circling forever in New York.”

Well, there you have it.

Then our precious girl spotted him. ‘Bubbles the dog’ was waiting for an airport flight too and provided much needed entertainment and fun!

My daughter informed me about how “wild” the whole place was- one boy kept looking at the digital reader board saying, “We’re gonna get on the plane soon-Oh no it’s cancelled then back to- Oh were still getting on the plane!” The final results were that the plane was in fact cancelled to which he bellowed as he fell to his knees- “CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED!”

Her exact text to me stated thus, “People were having meltdowns at the airport; literally fighting, crying, it was a mess.”

Trying to make the best of it my daughter and grand daughter broke into Christmas carols which brought a smile to several around them.

When they FINALLY got back home hours later and exhausted and still in Chicago where it’s -30 she declared she was tired and disappointed.

But the blessing is that in Texas, (where they were going to visit our other daughter) is 20 degrees right now and next week (for which they rescheduled) will be 70!

Our little grand daughter responded; Mommy that was so much fun but when do we get on the plane?

And there you have it!