On the Road Again…
When you have no family in town, you spend a lot of your precious vacation time in the car. There’s even a name for this sort of travel–it’s call the “oblivacation,” a mash-up of obligation and vacation. As I type this, we’re pulling ourselves together from a lovely week spent in Omaha with the Sey side of the family. I’m doing all the last minute things we do to get ready for the six-hour road trip home–searching out the Christmas presents (which the kids have flung far & wide), gathering up our pie dishes & cookie tins, & seeking out the missing shoes & laundry.
All these check lists have put me in a Quick Five frame of mind, honestly. So without further ado, here’s my Quick Five Tasks to do before Heading Home:
1) Do the laundry. I like to go home with my suitcases full of clean clothes. It’s such a luxury to unpack straight into the drawers instead of having to face mountains of laundry upon returning home. And family are probably the only people you can visit who don’t look sideways at you if you ask to do a quick load or two of laundry before heading home.
2) Find your dishes. I never travel home–to Mr. Sey’s home or mine–empty handed. I come bearing food, & in this case it was pies. My sainted mother in law put on Christmas dinner, but I handled dessert. We complement each other nicely, the original Mrs. Sey & I. But this meant I had to transport my favorite pie dishes & rolling pins, plus all my tattered & stained recipes to Omaha for the holidays. Which means I have to gather them up again. Wish me luck!
3) Do the returns. I believe in Christmas miracles, but there is no power on heaven or earth that can produce a return-free holidays. So I try to bring all the receipts & deal with all the returns & exchanges before leaving the scene of the crime. It’s so much easier to handle this stuff in person than trying to return a sweater long-distance.
4) Locate all our cords & chargers. It’s the age of technology & between Mr. Sey, the kids & me, we probably have a dozen Things That Charge. Then there was all the battery operated stuff we received for Christmas. If you want to avoid a howling weeping fit 200 miles down the road, it’s best to make sure you have that little robot’s charger before you pull out of the driveway. Again, you might want to wish me luck.
5) Go to the movies. Because you totally deserve a little brain break after dealing with all the hassles of putting the show back on the road. So you should definitely zip up your suitcases, pack the car, then head to the movies for your last night in town. Nobody should cook, either. Just go out & enjoy.
How about you? What are you top five must-do tasks before heading home after a holiday out of town?
All images courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net.
