das Blog: I'll be home for Christmas

Thursday, December 1, 2011

I'll be home for Christmas

Well, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas on das Blog! And to kick off the festivities, I thought a post of my favorite Christmas ever would be quite appropriate...

See, when you tell people you're going abroad for a year, people get really concerned about the holidays. "But, you're coming home for Christmas, right?" most of them will ask. And my answer is usually a very solid "No, it's too expensive and too far."

Then last year, the stars aligned and I found myself with some extra money and ridiculously cheap flights. So, about 5 weeks before Christmas I booked my flight home for the holidays. But, in a stroke of genius, I decided wasn't just going to fly home, I would surprise my parents.

I was on high alert for the next 5 weeks, not posting anything about my impending trip home facebook, twitter or das Blog. I knew if anyone was impossible to surprise, it was my mom. She just seems to know things.

The most difficult task was covering for the time that would be spent traveling. I would leave for the airport on Christmas Eve morning, arrive in Atlanta at Midnight on Christmas Day where I would be picked up by and spend the night with a friends in the area till my brother and AJ picked me up early Christmas morning on their way to Athens. So I needed a good cover story for the suspiciously long time I would not be available on Skype on Christmas.

I told my parents that since Germans celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, a teacher had invited me to her house, and since this teacher lived further away, I would just spend the night at her house before heading straight to Nürnberg for Christmas day with the other Fulbrighters. And with such a busy schedule, I surely wouldn't be able to talk until Christmas Day afternoon.

With a little Christmas magic, Operation Holy Birth (what a clever code-name, I know) went off without a hitch. I made all my flights home (Frankfurt to Toronto to DC to Atlanta) and showed up to parents who had absolutely no idea what I'd been up to all month! I would try to describe the look on my parents face when I jumped out of the car, but luckily there is a video that captures the moment 10 times better than I could ever write it.