The Grinch Stole Christmas: Or...No Room For Them in the Inn: 2011

This Christmas was destined to be an odd one.

For someone who loved to have her kids all around her at Christmas time...well all the time, it wasn't going to happen this year. Jada and Shammai were off to Seattle to be with Adriel and Naarah, so I asked Lasha if she'd have us at her house on Christmas Day. I knew she intended to have her first Christmas with her own tribe, so I told her we'd come on Christmas Day.  Dennis and I decided to drive. We timed it perfectly, I packed the trunk with gifts and cookies... and we drove 2 days through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and finally Missouri to get some grandkid time on Christmas Day with Lasha's family.

This would be Dennis and my first Christmas eve alone. So I found a bed and breakfast close enough by Kansas City, in Wichita, so the drive Christmas morning would be short, but long enough to give the kids time to get their act together. I found a bed and breakfast: Serenity Inn in Wichita...



Don't Even Think Of Staying Here! EVER!



Before leaving Arizona, I called Ken, the owner, to see if they served dinner on site so we could have a quiet evening and it would all be planned. Ken said they served dinner on site and he emailed me the menu telling me how excited he was to show off their cooking for us.

We were excited... we bought each other gifts...and looked forward to having a special Christmas Eve.

So, we were on our way through Texas... after a night in Amarillo, maybe in Oklahoma... it was noonish...Christmas Eve. We were expecting to get to Wichita at around 4. I get a call from Ken telling me that he would not be able to take us in. !!! I was in shock, angry and well...in shock... Some excuse that they weren't going to be there to take care of guests, so he hired someone and they had a family emergency. I don't think he even apologized. I felt insulted that he couldn't come up with a better story than that... If it were me, I'd lie and say someone close to me died and I had to go out of town. At least I'd feel sorry for him and cut him some slack. I hung up as quick as I could not wanting to waste my time talking to such a creep.

It appears there was no room for us in the INN....in a way at least. 

He offered a number of what he called an equally nice B&B so we obviously called and made arrangements to stay there. I hung up as quick as I could. The woman said she had a lovely cottage that people choose over all her rooms and would only charge us what Ken charged us. She usually charged more.

Well... then we drove to her place, College Hill Bed and Breakfast. All I could hear was Dennis saying, wow, the houses are getting smaller and the neighborhoods are getting worse...I had hoped we were going to come into a nicer, country club area soon... as that was the street it was on. Not so... we found the house... a small bungalow, next to a lot of other small bungalows near downtown... not a nice neighborhood... and pulled into the driveway... It was quite small and the old one car garage was made into a "cottage" guest room... YIKES. Sort of manger-esque... one might say... But it was not for us. If you look at the website, it doesn't show the outside of the home, on purpose... nor do they show the cottage made from the old one car garage.

I called the woman with the cottage and told her we decided to go to KC instead. She wasn't happy, but then no one was, now were we.

We drove two more hours... almost three and stayed in Overland Park south of KC at a Marriott, ate at a Japanese Steak House with a lovely family of 5. It was a pleasant Plan B. We actually hope to adopt this new family...meet them here every Christmas eve... They didn't seem to mind our company.

I still love the idea of doing the B&B thing on Christmas eve... I will try again.