i'll be home for christmas... if only in my dreams

i realize that christmas was over a month ago, but it hasn't been until now that i've actually felt like discussing it...

let me just cut to the chase. i almost quit my job on christmas day. i actually looked at the flights to get to dallas and tulsa (only about 2 hours from where my grandparents live) and even thought about buying a ticket home. with all the flights full and my conscience repeating "you won't have a job or any form of income and you can not move back home," i decided to go to work like a good little flight attendant and pretend that it was just any other day, which is why most of you didn't get a warm holiday wish from me this year!

i had actually come to terms with not being home for the holidays. "it's part of growing up," my friend keely said. christmas 2008 just wasn't going to happen for me. it didn't exist. i was going to pick up a 5 day trip and turn it into a money-making experience. well our crew website failed me and the window to pick up opened a little late, causing me to miss my oportunity to get that trip. so when i saw the dallas layover i thought, "why not? my mom, resa, and kevin were all on their way to oklahoma and my dad might already be heading to the lease, but kathy is there as well as many other friends." when my mom found out she turned that expedition around and bought a full christmas dinner. hell almost froze over at the thought of judas cooking a meal, much less one so extensive such as christmas dinner.

i woke up at 4am on christmas eve and didn't even mind. i was so excited! not only did i get to be home for christmas eve but i was working a trip with two of my friends and i was first class girl! we only had to do the atlanta turn and then we'd be on our way to dallas. that's where my luck ran out. our captain showed up over 3 hours after we were supposed to take off. stuck in traffic without an apology for us or our extremely delayed passengers. then we had other complications like a 757 that was blocking us and of course the battle of trying to make our way into the overcrowded new york airspace. naturally "they" (crew scheduling/the man) re-crewed the flight from ewr to dfw and the three of us were back where we started the day. christmas eve in jersey.

knowing i'd get an assignment for the next day, i tried calling "them" for a trip that would give me a long dallas layover on the 26. donna who must be from the UK said, "since you're not coming in from a day off you can't pick up a trip. sorry!" needless to say that night was spent at the bar down below partaking in many many libations... spirits to lift my spirits!

i was assigned a trip and it turned out to be a lot of fun. my first time to work a 767 and i was up in first class with two hilarious guys. we had a blast with a new galley theme each day - christmas songs in opera voices, 80s tv show themes, and then of course all things cher!

it was this experience that made me decide i have to have a different job. i grew up with my dad working weekends and many holidays, but i am just not cut out for that. those of us in the customer service industry are just not appreciated enough to make it worth missing out on some of life's greatest moments. i firmly believe that christmas is a season, and even though the actual day was lacking, almost every other day filled me with the spirit. hopefully next year will be different!