Christmas, Vacation, Airport bike ride, stuck in Adak

So, Christmas came and went. It was enjoyable as always and I say it again; there is no greater pleasure in this world than witnessing pure and innocent joy of a child. Isabel came downstairs and quickly checked to see if Santa had eaten the the cookies and Egg Nog she left out (ya, Santa went for the Egg Nog this year. Still follows the basic traditional structure, right?). The generosity of family and friends kept Isabel busy for a while opening presents. We discussed how we weren't going to spoil Isabel this year and only get one present for her in addition to stocking stuffers. We discussed this at length and weighed the pros and cons of seriously limiting the number of presents that she receives from Mommy and Daddy and Santa. It was decided. ONE present from us. So, after Isabel opened the fifth or sixth present from us, we acknowledged that we have failed and justified each and every gift as "educational" and "Something she can use for years to come" which blanketed our shame for the most part.
The gift of discussion is, of course, her bicycle. To say it is pink is a gross understatement. It looks like Pepto Bismol is doing some sort of cross marketing with children's bicycles. And in case she wasn't pink enough, we topped her off with a bright pink helmet. We immediately walked down to the only pavement that was not covered with snow; the airport. Isabel is slowly getting the hang of riding her bike and although we had images in our heads of her refusing to let go of the bike and calling her back from the end of the runway, she was more entertained with running away from her bike and playing on the taxiway.
Christmas was, by all means, a success. Our 32" Christmas tree still looks plastic and bright and Isabel decided that she was going to give away some books to some other kids for Christmas and that has made us happy (although she made it clear that she is not going to give away the stuff she really likes).
With Christmas break upon us, we are scheduled to go into the big city of Anchorage today. It is with a heavy heart and a great sense of Karma that I announce we are not making it into Anchorage today. The plane was cancelled. It has been cancelled in the past due to extreme weather which is completely understandable. Today, however, the plane is not cancelled due to extreme weather. It is cancelled due to the airline not KNOWING the weather. The weather system that is used to report the weather is broken. In this event, the back up plan is to call the highly qualified weather reporter on the island. It just so happens that the man that can fix the weather station and the man that reports the weather were actually scheduled to return on the plane today. I truly hope that the question of "So how is the plane evr going to land on Adak again?" has popped into your head, because it was my initial response also. We will see what happens, I guess. So I am stuck on an island with an incredibly beautiful woman and an adorable little girl that keeps me smiling. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas break, actually!