The Inn on Ferry Street

I’ve had a wonderful time spending money over the past few days (weeks?) That certainly isn't’t like me, so maybe some justification is in order, if for no one’s good but my own.

When we moved back to NC in 2005, my husband and I had a somewhat unspoken pact that we would go to Maine (my family) in the summer and Michigan over Christmas break (his family). I fully concur that this skews heavily in my favor as I spend a month in Maine (Mike comes for two weeks) and we only spend about a week in Michigan. Now that we have decided to make an annual event of visiting the hospital in Cleveland every year -Lord willing- we cut another day out of our time in Mich. That being said, we have traditions in both states that take both time and money. We also have Christmas traditions that cost much more money than I ordinarily spend. You have heard me mention in the past that I truly believe that we all spend money on the things that are important to us. It may seem crazy that I refuse to spend over 59 cents for a can of tuna and keep my thermostat set on 67 in the winter and 80 in the summer but then turn around and spend $200.00 annually on a night out for the family at Fire & Sticks (a local Japanese steak house) and a live production of the Nutcracker. Could I give that up? You bet, in a heartbeat, in fact. But for the last 10 years or so, it has become a family gift that we all enjoy to varying degrees. (I won’t lie, the steakhouse makes the requisite formal dress and the Nutcracker tolerable for my 3 boys.) It has become such a tradition, in fact, that the kids have even joked that when I am too old to get out anymore; they will bring the Nutcracker DVD and order in Chinese. I also mail about 200 Christmas cards, a feat that becomes more time consuming and costly every year. This year I am late, as usual, but it will happen! Why do I do these things? Because they are important to me. I love traditions, and family and keeping in touch. I will save all year to spend on these things.

Another tradition for my husband and I is to leave the kids with Gramma and Grampa for one night while we go out for a reasonably priced meal and find an out of the way Inn. This year we happened upon The Inn on Ferry Street in downtown Detroit, and what a great find it was! Come to find out, the Inn is actually 5 old brick houses built at the turn of the last century that have been refurbished. The night includes a free shuttle and a sumptuous hot breakfast. We were dually impressed…the cost $111.00. We had the shuttle driver take us in to Greek town, which is actually just one street about 3 blocks long. We did have a fun dinner at the Parthenon, and the music playing in the background was the same music they danced to in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Too funny. It was a great night out for us.

As I mentioned, I could easily give up many of these traditions—well, maybe not my Christmas cards—or find more inexpensive versions of them, but for now, I am thankful to be able to do them and consider myself one blessed lady!