Christmas Day. – Just regular folks.

Christmas Day started off with some slight issues. First, Edda was inadvertently locked in her bedroom. Luckily there was a screwdriver in a kitchen drawer and we were able to remove the doorknob at 6 am.

Jeremy, who debated endlessly about whether to bring his bike or not on this Christmas trip and finally decided – yes! I’ll bring the bike, discovered about 12 hours before our flight that the bike bag which I’ll call “The Big Bag” was about 10 inches too big to be compliant with Southwest’s baggage policy. After swearing many times about how we should have never booked on Southwest, I offered that he himself purchase another flight on another airline which would take “The Big Bag” and he said – I already checked and it would be $900. To which I was like (in my head) no, but (outwardly), oh, that’s a lot, but if it’s that important to you… And then he grumbled and said – I’m not going to bring the bike. And then he couldn’t sleep and at one am he got up and moved the bike from “The Big Bag” to “The Smaller, Less Sturdy and More Prone to Bike Damage by Tired and Hardworking Luggage Handlers, yet still Large Bag and Now Compliant with Southwest’s Inane Luggage Policy Bag “. Which was just as well because – remember we sold our minivan? – we had to hail an Uber XL to get to the airport with all our crap which includes not only the three of us, but a bike, a bed, a wheelchair and the Uber XL would absolutely have not fit “The Big Bag” and barely fit “The Smaller…Bag”. Anyways, this is a very boring story as are most life stories – it turns out during the bike bag transfer drama, he forgot to pack his front axle. And then Jeremy was a little bit bereft (literally like a kid who didn’t get the Cabbage Patch Kid or PS5 or whatever) on Christmas Eve with his 95% bike which was completely unrideable. But it was not all lost, he did manage to find a bike shop in Albuquerque (after many, many phone calls) that had the part – five hours away – but his brother was in town ready to drive his family towards us and procured the exact front axle that let Jeremy have a very nice Christmas morning bike ride.