Thursday, December 29, 2011

the bumps along the road....

Just in case you think everything went off without a glitch over here during the Christmas season...
let me tell you about a few of the little bumps along the way.

We made several trips across the border to pick up parcels before Christmas.
One of the packages had been shipped on December 1st...
 but had not yet arrived when we went down the first time.
A few days before Christmas we made another trip to Ship Happens...
with plans to pick up the last of the packages.
But I'm thinking it might have been on this Greyhound bus...

 ...which ran into troubles along the way.

We waited in a long line-up to cross the border into Sumas, Washington...
and then waited in a long line-up at Ship Happens...
where many Canadian shoppers were picking up parcels. 

While waiting to be served at Ship Happens...
one can amuse oneself by reading the sayings posted on their walls.


Or even taking photos of them...
so they can be shared!
I thought they were worth passing on.

We arrived at the front of the line...
only to find the package in question was not there.
Since that time...
Christmas has come and gone...
and a gift from American Girl is still missing.
Many phone calls and e-mails later...
the package has still not showed up....
and no one seems to have a solution for  finding or replacing the item...
which has been paid for...
of course.
Emme may just have another gift to open sometime in the New Year! 

There were other things that never went as planned!
Here's one we can laugh about.
I had made up a number of Christmas ice-cream cakes for several occasions over the holiday season.  
There was one totally untouched...
and so I offered it to Broni for the turkey dinner she was hosting on Christmas Day.
I packaged it up for her...
and sent hubby down to the basement to put it in the freezer.
On Christmas Day...
Broni came calling for her dessert.
Hubby went down to retrieve it...
and was gone for a very long time.
He could not find the dessert!
At long last he decided to look in the fridge...
and there it was.
An ice-cream cake that has spent five days in a fridge is not a pretty thing!
We did some quick thinking...
and found an alternate dessert for Broni.
Oh boy!


Stuff happens.
Sometimes we just have to laugh about it!

So...let's hear about the hic-cups in your well-laid plans!

11 comments:

  1. Poor Emme! Perhaps she'll receive a 9th day of Christmas or an 11th day of Christmas gift, but soon I hope.

    An ice cream cake in the fridge...that's a clinker for sure. LOL!

    My biggest bump over the holidays was having the oven croak. I should be out shopping for a stove, but can't bring myself to it. I need moral support.

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  2. Aside from my detour to sickieville, we have now learned that the gifts that Bernie thoughtfully ordered to be sent prewrapped with a card and shipped express to assure timely arrival to our out of town family members..didn't happened.

    The few things that did arrive before Christmas arrived without cards to let family member know what plain box was for which person (forget gift wrapping) and one techie gift arrived without any paperwork to clue the recipient as to what it was for (a solar powered battery charger).

    He shopped for three charity children, working off an age/sex/size profile; it wasn't until we went to drop off the gifts to the agency that I noticed the middle child was listed as male, yet was named Bella. Could be a boy...right?...although Spanish names end in "o" for masculine and "a" for feminine. Hope she liked her black jacket and boyish toys. Sigh.

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  3. This wasn't really a bump - but it was a surprise... I was doing last minute cleaning on the day of our family Christmas. I got hot and went to open the front door (we live in Phx). The wreath hid the top half of a man standing there with presents saying hohoho. I was so shocked it took me a second to realize it was my parents - six hours early for celebration! When they showed up again at the right time the house looked a LOT better! haha

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  4. Love all the sayings. We had some errant packages but nothing that was tear worthy. :0)

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  5. On Christmas Eve morning we noticed half of the tree's needles were on the floor. Upon further investigation we found that all of our presents under the tree were soaked. The tree stand had been leaking.

    Other than that, everything went well!

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  6. I think the biggest think when hiccups happen is to smile and take a big gasp...and smile again.
    My Christmas cards only got out this past week...in fact there is one still waiting for you.
    Things happen, own up to them, and let it go...but please I don't want a melted ice-cream cake.

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  7. I smiled at Marg's confession as I just opened up her card. I'm glad I was not the only one she forgot! That happened to me sending out cards and found I had forgotten someone on Christmas eve.

    Other than that. . .I might just write a post myself.

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  8. I'm just imagining the state of the fridge!
    This year I sent my nieces the same gift I sent two years ago - I guess i thought it was a REALLY good idea!

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  9. This Christmas went fairly smooth for us. I did enjoy reading about your road bumps, especially the ice cream cake meltdown. Things like that can happen so easily in the business of life.

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  10. Your cousins, Judy and DavidDecember 29, 2011 at 7:03 PM

    Note: If you purchased the item with a credit card - it will be insured, or you can ask for payment to be refunded. Our friend had an item break that was purchased with a credit card; and she was able to get a refund from the credit card company. Most items purchased with a credit card are insured through the credit card company.

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  11. I hope Emme's doll shows up soon! That is such a frustrating situation. I do like ordering from Amazon.com for that reason as they have such good customer service. I had to send back the Leap Frog charger I purchased for my oldest grandson's Leap Frog Unit birthday gift, as I bought the wrong one..it was very easy to ship back with a free shipping label sent by Amazon,etc.

    My holiday at home in NY was small, as it is only the three of us here, so luckily I did not have any mishaps. I always worry about flying in a major snowstorm, however, so I feel grateful when we get through the holiday without one!

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