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Christmas Vacation

In: English and Literature

Submitted By tan2
Words 360
Pages 2
t was Thursday morning, December 23, and I rolled over and tried to focus a bleary eye on my alarm clock. I was 30 minutes late starting my Christmas vacation. Vacations are suppose to be fun, restful periods, so I had a strong inclination to do that and go back to sleep. But no, that’s not the American way. We have to go, go, go in order to get the most out of our vacations. We set schedules, make reservations and become slaves to them. I started wishing I were Samoan.

Many folks stay home and celebrate Christmas with family and friends, but not me. I am a bachelor who likes to take every opportunity to go places and see new things. I have no family except two sisters – one 500 miles away and the other 3000 miles away. I had a month off from work, and I certainly wasn’t going to waste it hanging around the house and watching myself grow old. I had packed the previous day and partied the previous night, so my things were ready but I was not.

It is difficult to overcome the urge to stay in bed and say the heck with plans. I’m not sure why I didn’t. I made my unsteady way into the bathroom where a hot shower put me in a better frame of mind. An hour later my dog Nina and I were in my truck and headed for the stable to get my horse and trailer. Nina and my horse are my immediate family, so I like to take them with me on vacation whenever possible.

At the stable a colleague of mine, Pam, was visiting my horse BJ. She watched as I quickly hooked up my trailer and loaded BJ. I made a hasty but polite departure and headed on the first leg of my journey, which was to my sister in Ohio – a 500-mile drive from my home in Eastern Pennsylvania. I had only gone about two miles when I suddenly realized that I had left my wallet and money at home on my dresser. Home was 25-minutes in the wrong direction.

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