Santa Comes Early to the Ilceski Household!

There were many days throughout the beginning of Dave's break, before Christmas, that we found ourselves 'moping around'.  For some reason it just doesn't feel like Christmas when you are spending your days on the beach, wearing shorts and not seeing your family!   Although we tried to not show it, we were truly gutted knowing that we would be spending another Christmas away from our families. 

Don't get me wrong, we have enjoyed making memories together and doing things we may never do again... but for us, the hardest time of year is around Christmas. 

I am not sure others will fully understand our longing to be home, or the sadness we feel when we simply have to 'see Christmas traditions' through photos that others have posted; we have realized that sharing time with family and friends will simply be one thing we never take for granted again.  Where ever we are in the USA next year, we know we will be home for the holidays...NO MATTER WHAT!

About five days before Christmas eve, we received news that someone (who continues to remain annonomous) had purchased two tickets for us to fly home.  WE COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!   I am telling you, I haven't cried and laughed that hard, all at the same time, before....it was a moment we certainly will never forget.

So since we only had a few days to plan and pack, we decided to keep all of this secret. And I mean we told NO ONE!!!  We had thought about maybe sharing this with a few people to just plan and prepare, but we realized that  this may be a once in a life time opportunity...when will we ever have the chance to fly home Christmas eve, and surprise our families?  So for 5 days I said nothing...and was on watch to ensure I did not 'accidentally' blow our cover.

So we packed, picked up a few Christmas gifts and boarded our plan Christmas eve at 4am in Grenada (and had a connecting flight in Trinidad)

At Grenada Airport!

Waiting at the airport in Grenada!

Hahah looking a little tired!

SO EXCITED!!!! Haha Dave puts up with my need to be paparazzi everywhere we go...the guy behind us was not to happy lol!

 We had a few close calls in the Trinidad airport:

 * Not realizing there was a time difference (I think only about an hour) which  meant we actually landed, when we were suppose to be boarding our plane...instead of having the one hour layover we thought we had lol!

*me sprinting through the airport trying to find our gate so we wouldn't get left behind

*dropping my passport and tickets while waiting in the security line because I was shaking so much thinking we were going to miss our flight (which was boarding at the time).  Thankfully I have a calm husband who knows how crazy and anxious I get, and he located my passport and tickets.

* I shall also make a not here:  going through Trinidad airport was a bit of a blur. I was so nervous that we were going to miss our flight, I felt like a crazy woman.  Basically, I felt like it was survival of the fittest...the weak get left behind.  I can laugh at it now, but during those moments of not being sure we were going to make our flight, I was ready to fight to the death! There was no WAY I was missing Christmas and being left behind!

Finally we made it back to Canada, which was nothing sort of freezing  and had to make our way to Windsor. So we rented a car, and began the drive home!!!!   And yes, we were both still very excited at this point!!! EEEEEEEE it was getting so much closer to the big reveal!

Getting our rental car!

Getting our first 'Sprinkley' donut from Tim Hortons along the way!

Finally, after a few more hours of driving, we arrived in Windsor at about 7:00pm. What is so amazing about the timing of this gift, and our flights in general, is that every year on Christmas eve Dave's family does a huge celebration. Everyone comes together, has dinner, plays games and just spends Christmas eve celebrating with one another.   The greatest part of us flying in on Christmas eve is that we would be able to surprise Dave's entire family...and really make an entrance.

So at about 7:15pm (after getting gas and doing a few 'drive bys' past the house lol) we decided we couldn't take it any longer.  We walked up to the front door, knocked and walked in.

This is only one of the reactions we got from Dave's parents:

Dave's parents in utter disbelief

As you can see, they were truly surprised.  After many "No, I can't believe it" and "are you kidding me right now" we all gave each other a big hug and shared the story of how we got home.

I don't think Dave's mom let go for about an hour or so!

I cannot tell you how meaningful this Christmas was for us.  Although we knew we were missing home, we didn't realize how much we needed to be home until we were there.  There is just something about spending time with family, sharing in traditions and being a part of hussle and bussle that makes Christmas, Christmas.

To the person, or persons, that bought us our tickets: You will never know just how meaningful this gift was to us. It is something that we, and our families, will never forget.  We cannot say thank you enough for allowing our deepest wishes to come true. We hope that one day, we can pay this gift forward and share in the moments of seeing Christmas Miracles happen!

                                                                 Merry Christmas!