Christmas (Part 1)

It wouldn't be Christmas if we weren't in Massachusetts with the family.  But before I get to all that, let me wrap up our time here in Florida before we left.

I planned a Christmas Scavenger hunt for the church which took place on 12/7.  Great time was had by all with Isidros coming in second place.  

We visited the neighborhood in Winter Park near our old, old house that has the house with a 100,000 lights.  

Also in the neighborhood is this house that has a giant village set up in their garage.  Only half of what they have!

On Monday, 12/11 we took a field trip to Santa's Christmas Tree Farm.  We had never been.  It was terrific and I'm sure we will go back next year.

They had a little petting zoo there.

A hayride.  As you can see from my jacket, it was indeed chilly!

A giant bounce pad

One of the family members that owns the farms, gave a talk on the Christmas trees.  They grow them here and you can come buy one, even cutting it down yourself.  Unfortunately, they aren't the kind of trees we typically buy like a Frasier fir.  Those don't grow in Florida.  

We met a bunch of friends there including Frank, Lupita, and Nathan, our old neighbors.  Good to see them.  They are now homeschooling Nathan.  I'd like to take a little credit for that...insert smiley face here!

This is seriously my favorite picture of Colby.  This was a zip line and the lady asked him if he wanted the "slow" or "fast" ride.  He was probably frozen with this look on his face for a good 45 seconds.  He finally found his voice and said "slow."

He loved it.

We departed for up north on Thursday afternoon, December 14.  We had a 2:00 pm flight and Allen was kind enough to take us to the airport.  Of course, at moments like these, it stunk that we had moved since it would have been that much easier for him!  

We **only** checked nine bags on the way up....two of which were carry on size and three of which had gifts and clothes we were passing on to the Brace kids.  I thought we did pretty good especially since one duffle just had ice skates, jackets, and boots.

My favorite tradition that we started last year...bringing Jennifer's cookies on our trip to give out to airline staff, UPS drivers, etc.  It seems like such a simple thing but honestly, the people that get one are just blown away by the gesture.  

Too pretty to eat!

The flight was great.  We finally worked it out that Aubree and Colby would sit with me and Calleigh and Brady with Duncan.  There was no question that Colby would sit with me.  He remains wholeheartedly a mommy's boy, much to my delight now.  When he was a baby though, it was a bit of a nuisance.  Okay, a lot bit.

Both my parents picked us up since we needed two cars to get back.  And so began Christmas 2017! In a change up from previous years, Camille and the kids were already at my folks, arriving earlier that day.  Shawn came down after church on Sabbath and Ricky, Ana, and Bre arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday (Ana and Bre flew while Ricky drove from Mississippi).

There wasn't a ton but there was SOME snow on the ground at least when we arrived.

In an effort to save time, I'll try to review the trip mostly via pictures.

Friday was a low key day of unpacking and playing with cousins.  The kids also figured out that deer like to eat pumpkins and Papa helped them cut some up that were leftover from Thanksgiving and put them in the back yard.  At one point, there were five deer munching on them.

We went to church on Sabbath in Norwood.  Sadly, Papa wasn't preaching.  Calleigh and Bruno entertained themselves with the dot game.

The sermon was very, very long and I was extremely jealous of Colby here.

Ron and Elaine drove up to Pennsylvania for Christmas and decided to bring Duncan's sister, Kristin, and her boys Derek and Tyler for a visit.  We hadn't seen Kristin since Brady was a newborn.  This was us hanging out watching everyone else skate at the pond near my folks. Afterwards, we went to Patriots Place for supper.

Sunday morning, Duncan, Colby, and I met up with Ron, Elaine, Kristin and the boys for breakfast before they headed back to PA.  Kristin had to work on Monday so it was a short visit but wonderful.

The kids decorated some gingerbread houses.  Calleigh and Winnie were on one team.

With Acadia, Colby, and Aubree on another team.  Not sure what happened to Brady and Camden!

Calleigh and Aubree introduced Acadia and Winnie to Mix and Match-Its which my girls have gotten into the last few months.

On Sunday afternoon, Duncan went out with my dad and Shawn to get himself some skates.  The last time he ice skated was about 18 years ago with me at the RDV.  He doesn't even remember that but it was just as well because it was not an impressive performance.  But, I have to hand it to him. Since his children are all into ice skating, he decided he needed to start skating himself.  So he got himself some hockey skates along with Brady who had been using figure skates up until now.  Aubree also got some handed down from Bruno.  Duncan totally surprised me with how well he did!  I mean, not that he isn't a stud or anything but it had bene so long since he had done it.  

This is a manmade pond owned by a guy a few miles away that my dad used to play hockey with.  It's in his back yard but he lets people come any time to skate.  It even has lights!  They all probably skated 6 or 7 times here while we were in MA.  We were so happy that the weather stayed cold enough right until the last few days to keep the pond frozen.

Even though he picked it back up right away, that's not to say there weren't a few times he was laid out on the ice.

I think Winnie skated a little bit a few times but Colby didn't end up going at all.  It was cold and he doesn't skate too much despite the lessons and I didn't think it was worth the effort.  

This year it didn't work out for us all to go to Newport.  So one of the things we did with our **extra** time was to go on a sleigh ride in Jaffrey, New Hampshire on Monday.  It was a cold, cold day but it was so beautiful.  It was just the 13 of us on the ride and we sang songs including "Dashing through the snow, on a TWO horse open sleigh."

Tuesday morning found us at Patriots Place for some shopping.

With a stop at the Pro Shop.  I was exceedingly disappointed to find that the only kid jerseys they make are Brady, Gronk, and Edelman (all which we already have). The kids wanted Hogan, Burkhead, Lewis, and the list goes on and on.

Tuesday evening we went to Edaville Railroad.  We didn't go last year and I for one, had missed it! We were able to bring a canned good and get in for $22 and that was a good enough deal to entice everyone back (although I think it was partially a scheduling conflict last year).  Some adults, who shall remain nameless, try to come and go as quickly as possible but I love it here.  So many lights and Christmas music playing.

The kids loved the rides, of course, but Brady specifically remembered the fried dough from two years ago and kept asking for it.  I ended up having to wait in like a 25-minute line to get some.

I will end here for now.  Stay tuned for Part 2 coming (hopefully) soon.