Bah! Humbug...

I think my “Christmas spirit” was shipped off with the rest of our stuff, Y’all. I am finding it really hard to get into Christmas this year.  Normally this is my favorite holiday. I love the decorations, the get-togethers, the FOOD, and yeah, the shopping.

But this year, I don’t get to do any of that. (Except the get-togethers.) I can’t decorate because all of our Christmas decorations were shipped two weeks ago. I can’t cook any of my favorite holiday foods because all of my cookware is gone. And I haven’t been able to do much Christmas shopping because we don’t have room for Christmas presents in our suitcases. Anything we buy (or receive) for Christmas we will have to ship to England on our own dime since all of the rest of our stuff has already been sent.

So needless to say, Christmas doesn’t really feel like Christmas this year.

We couldn’t let it slip by without at least having a tree. We decided on one of the “Charlie Brown” variety. It aptly reflects our feelings this Christmas.

Yes, that is a towel being used as the tree skirt.

To add fuel to the fire, our Visas have not come in yet. (YIKES!) The British Consulate e-mailed me earlier this week to let me know they “did not receive” certain documents as part of our applications (although I know beyond a doubt they were in there). So I had to get more and overnight them. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?

Fingers crossed that the visas (and my Christmas spirit) come in time!

Moving Day No. 1

I really did not think this day would ever come. I saw this day from far off in the distance months ago when we got our orders. But I didn’t really think we would ever get to it. So as I stood in my living room while the movers were bustling all about me, wrapping my stuff, packing it into boxes, carrying it out of my life for the foreseeable future, it felt very surreal.

Now here I am in an unbearably empty and cold townhouse, with the sound of my fingers hitting these keys echoing off the walls and the very intrusive blaze of the overhead light interrupting what would be a normal, warm, relaxing night on my comfy couch under the soft glow of a table lamp.

But this is all just part of a process, right? A journey, or as I prefer to call it, an adventure! The step before this was filling out and sending in our visa applications. That was quite a nightmare. I had no experience with that kind of paperwork and (not surprising) no one at the base here could help me, not even the person who accepts the applications. Go figure.

So I did the best I could and turned them in. That was almost three weeks ago. (We were told the we would get the visas in three weeks.) Haven’t heard a word since. The man in the applications office informed us, as we handed in our paperwork, that me and the kids cannot enter the UK without the visas (yet he wouldn’t let us turn the apps in until we were less than two months from leaving …)Thanks for that, Mister.

Now, we are at one of the last steps in the moving process: shipping our stuff. The first shipment was yesterday and that was shipping all of our big stuff and non-necessities: all furniture, knick knacks, some clothes, some kitchen stuff. This, the biggest shipment, will take 2-3 months to arrive in the UK. It was packed away into plywood crates and is being carried off to the ship that will convey it to England (assuming there are no hurricanes, typhoons, or other crazy mishaps. Cross your fingers!)

We were “authorized” to ship 9000lbs at the military’s expense. So, for that reason, a full-size freight truck showed up at our tiny townhouse complex Friday morning at 9:00 sharp. I did not think we had enough stuff to fill up all of the crates it brought. I was wrong. I think our total came to around 5700lbs for this shipment and it took them all day…

They packed everything in sight. Even my dog’s bowl that I accidentally left on the dining room floor. Poor Luna has to eat out of Tupperware containers for now.

Even though that shipment is going out now, one month before we leave, we will have already been in England 1+ months before it arrives. The next shipment, which will be picked up on Monday, is our “unaccompanied baggage.” This includes all of our necessities that we will need as soon as we get there, such as pots and pans, towels, sheets, etc. We are “authorized” 1000lbs for this shipment and it will actually fly over on a plane.

Once it goes, we will be absolutely living out of our suitcases (all 12 of them) and eating sandwiches off paper plates for the next month. It’s going to be rough.