Our Christmas Vacation (by 7-year-old Brady)

Brady had to write a story about his life for school. It didn’t have to be very long, maybe 5-10 sentences. Normally he loathes even that short length, but for some reason this time he got on a roll. He would not be stopped until the story was fully told. He gave me permission to transcribe his work and publish it here.

Our mom was going to the airport but we thought we were going to get our Christmas tree but she surprised us but Kyle cried on the bus. Then, when we were dropped off at the airport, we ran to our number of the plane. We sat for a little bit and we got up to get in line and my board pass number was 161. And we went through the tunnel and found our seat. The plane went really slow but when it turned the corner it went really fast. We sat there for 3 hours. When we got off the plane we went to Five Guys and after that we got to another plane number and we sat there for 15 minutes and we got on the plane but this time we sat there 8 hours and we saw our aunts and their names were Kathy and Zue. They took us to their car and drived to their house and we watched TV for a little bit but right then we had to put our pajamas on and we had to get in bed. The next morning we ran to their car and drove to our grandparents and when Kathy knocked on the door we ran out from behind the car and said “Surprise!” and my Gramma cried with tears of joy. Later that day for a little bit I helped set up the party but right before then Aunty Kathy said “Nana is coming.”

I was about to finish sorting the plates and napkins. But we had to go back to our Grampa’s house because if she saw us it would ruin the surprise. When it was time to go to the party, Aunt Kathy was here to pick us up to go to to their house, me and Kyle were so excited to see our family and to have a snow ball fight. So we drove their house and surprised everyone. I went in and I ate meatball pizza and the most delicious macaroni and cheese. When we were done eating we put on our coats and went outside and we threw snow balls everywhere. But before Kyle can get snow, I struck Kyle in the crotch and when I did that we went inside and the snow ball fight was over. That was the best snow ball fight in the world!

I’ve been meaning to write the story of our epic Christmas surprise, but Brady really stole the show. My summary is this:

My grandmother, our Nana, loves nothing more than to spend time with her great grandchildren. Since I haven’t taken the boys back to CT since 2005 (and Brady didn’t even exist then) I thought it was high time to do that if we could work it out financially and schedule-wise. Aunts Kathy and Karen thought the the same thing, so we conspired to surprise everyone. Even the kids. Even my parents, who stayed with us for 10 days at Thanksgiving!

So, on the morning of December 20, we piled the kids into the (secretly) pre-packed car and told them we were finally going out to get our Christmas tree. They didn’t realize that something was up until we were in the parking lot at LAX. “How are we going to get the tree back to the car on the shuttle bus?” Brady asked. Since they still didn’t get it, I had to tell them. “We are going to CT for Christmas!” Brady was elated, but Kyle was not. “Christmas is at our house,” he said. And indeed, he did cry on the bus.

I tried to take that one in stride. I wasn’t prepared for disappointment. Lesson learned – for a schedule change such as this, a surprise might not be the best move.

It was amazing for my parents, however. And the rest of our family, and my girlfriends. The best moment of the whole adventure was when we showed up at my parents’ house on a random Sunday morning when my dad was reading the paper and my mother was quilting. Aunt Kathy snapped this picture of the moment they saw the kids:

My grandmother was equally overjoyed and talked about the surprise for weeks.

I hate traveling around the holidays, which is why we haven’t done it in almost 10 years. But this was worth it.

Pin me because I’m so adorable: