Thursday, December 27, 2007

Merry Christmas!

We had such a wonderful Christmas weekend! It was a whirlwind of food and friends. On Monday, we visited my dad in the afternoon for a delicious lunch. On the way to his house, "The Little Drummer Boy" by Bing Crosby and David Bowie came on the radio. A and I love that version. When it got to the part, "I pray my wish will come true, for my child and your child, too," the tears welled up in my eyes. I was just overcome with love and thanks for my boys. They are the only presents I've ever needed or wanted.

After my dad's, we headed to Edaville Railroad to meet up with lots of our friends for the lights display, rides, and a train ride. It was magical! First up was the ferris wheel. Here are some views from atop the wheel:



When I wasn't clenching my jaw in fright because R was wriggling around in the seat, I was able to crack a smile for a nice family photo. :-)


I went on the Jolly Caterpillar ride with R. A took him on the space capsule and flying elephant rides.


The best part, of course, was the train ride. We managed to squeeze all 15 of us onto one car. R and his friend Z chatted together and had their faces pressed against the windows the whole time in absolute wonder at the lights. It was so sweet.


After a few more rides, we headed indoors to warm up and to try out the "cranberry" ball pit (the whole park is surrounded by cranberry bogs) and a walk-through maze.



This was our second year going to Edaville at Christmastime, although our first on Christmas Eve. It's definitely going to be a yearly tradition for us!

After several days of keeping R up late, we were blessed with a somewhat late morning on Christmas Day. R ended up in our bed and opened his eyes at 8am. He rolled over, gave me a huge smile and a sweet little kiss and said, "Mehwy Cwistmas!" And, once again, we could have just given him his stocking and he would have been completely happy. He loved the train ornaments we got him, and he hasn't parted with them since he opened them.

We really did make an effort to limit the number of presents this year, but we forgot to take into consideration the gifts from family and friends. R was a bit overwhelmed by it all, but he got really great gifts that are all things we can play with together as a family. Next year, I think we'll probably just get him one big gift and then if we're tempted to get anything else, we'll save them for his birthday.


I was very proud of how little waste we created, though. I was inpsired this year by another blogger who wrapped all of her family's gifts in pieces of fabric. I didn't have any fabric remnants around, so we used R's old baby blankets and some kitchen twine. It made me feel so good not to have a huge garbage bag of ripped-up paper to throw out afterwards.

One of our favorite gifts for R was an extension kit for the marble maze we got him for his birthday last year. I highly recommend these things. We have so much fun together with them - creating different maze designs, constructing it, and then feeding the marbles in and watching them go around and around. It's mesmerizing.


It was a lovely, mellow Christmas. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, too!

9 comments:

sandwhichisthere said...

And so you see why the cake goes with you. If it is in the house, I cannot sleep. Its subtle, siren song pervades the night, drawing me from the bedroom to the kitchen. Now I know how the blue camel felt.

kc bob said...

Great pictures from the Ferris Wheel!

Seasons Blessings, Bob

Greg C said...

We had a great Chrismas as well and ours was quiet and full of joy. I love that song too and remember seeing them sing it on TV when I was very young. Whenever I hear it I start to tell my sons that I saw them sing it but they cut me off and say "we know Dad you heard blah blah blah."

Nice blog

Ericka said...

Hahahahaha.... I love the fabric wrapping story. It makes me feel better, since I had to wrap a wok for Drew. Unfortunately, I had nowhere near enough paper, so I wrapped it in old torn up sheets & this really thick black tape (Gorilla Tape). It was very obviously a wok, and pretty ugly to boot - but Drew always does weird wrapping jobs, so I think he liked it. Miss you guys!

shaun said...

COOL< I am so glad you guys had a great Christmas Ours was really good( I think Johanna is Finally kind of comfortable with my crazy family.
God Bless

LEstes65 said...

Oh wonderful!!!! That night out with Z and family looks so awesome. I can't believe what a little boy R is now. No more "babies" I'm afraid.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful day. I love you. 18 days until I'm up there!!!

Trish Ryan said...

That looks so great...R is adorable. What an amazing Christmas :)

I want a marble maze (maybe next year I'll ask Santa!)

Johanna said...

Oh, how sweet, especially last picture of Daddy and R-Edaville looks so cool! The lake thingy was just being constructed when Michael lost Mike while in line for the ferris wheel, while I ran to get a sweater from the car(he was in the ball pit). I miss you guys so much, and I'm glad you had a great time- I also notice"Christmas Overload", present-wise. Umm, Zillow 11714 Chicago Ave, New Port Richey FL 34654. It's across the street from me, foreclosed on, auction is asking $156, and the house has what looks like 2 additions, Zillow is WAY behind on updates, and it's on like 2 acres, zoned agricultural, 2 minutes walking from me. Heh heh, just a thought. 10 minutes from interstate to Tampa. And 30 mile long bike path. And totally free babysitting. No pressure. Boston has really great nightlife, and restaurants. But not like Sonny's Barbecue. Where my husband works. Heh Heh again...I love you guys.

Johanna said...

Connerton and Longleaf are right near here, also Water's Edge, which is built on an old ranch property right across from Moon Lake, but it's really a buyer's market here, people are getting foreclosed on all over the place, and EVERYTHING is for sale, so new construction is expensive, but the older houses bioniceleaj(that was from AJ)are all pretty cheap, and "old" here is like, built in the sixties. And you know, mobile homes are really not the 'trailers" I thought they were, they have fireplaces and jacuzzis and giant bedrooms-even our sad old one has a wet bar, built in bookcases, the one we rent out has all gas utilities, and just imagine what life is like when your mortgage is $268.87 per month. And your taxes are under $500 per year. But again-hahaha- there are draw backs to everywhere, I miss MA. Everyone here has breast implants, it's like getting your wisdom teeth out. So I'll keep randomly sending really cool properties to you,(much like Mom used to do to me).:)And keep expanding on the family farm and organic restaurant that supports us all, the one that exists in my head.