Christmasy Stuff

On Christmas eve, we stopped in Lynchburg at Rachel and John's so that we wouldn't have to be on the road or in a motel over Christmas day.  We left there in an unplanned rush Christmas night when we found out a terrible snow storm was coming through much of our travel  route to New York.  It was supposed to hit Pennsylvania by early afternoon and we really needed to be ahead of it.  So we left around 10:00 at night Christmas night and drove through the night till almost 4:00 the next morning.  We stopped at a motel in Pennsylvania for a few hours of sleep before getting the rest of the way to Johnstown, New York.  It started snowing there that night and snowed and snowed.  Kaelyn was so excited.  We were at Wal-mart 

grabbing a few necessities when it started to snow and as we walked out to the car, she had her head turned all the way up to the sky and she said, "WooHoo!  It's real snow!"  (In Florida around Christmas time, "snow" is usually soap bubble snow made for poor deprived kids who have no real snow.  Thus the excitement over actual snow falling from the sky.)  Kevin had just bought a snow brush for the car when we were in Wal-mart and he got to try it out right away.  So as Kay stood there catching snow flakes and dancing around, Kevin brushed snow off the car. He was not nearly as enthusiastic about the snow as Kaelyn was.  :-) 

Kaelyn and Wyatt looking for special ornaments on the Christmas tree.

Time for presents!!!  :-)

Talking Tom and Ben pals.  

These characters started out as apps for smart phones/tablets.  Kaelyn loves playing with the apps because Talking Tom and Talking Ben repeat what you say but in funny voices.  She was quite thrilled when she found out that they had made them into plush toys, or pals as she calls them.

The pictures directly above and below are from when I opened my main present from Kevin.  He COMPLETELY took me by surprise this year!  It was a good-sized box but when I opened it, lying on top of a bunch of random "filler" items, was an envelope.  Inside the envelope was tickets for the opening night of  a Broadway performance of Mary Poppins down in West Palm Beach.  I didn't even know the show was coming anywhere near us.  I was so shocked and excited.

On a side note, this Tuesday night is the big night.  We are going to have dinner and then go to the show.  I am so excited!!!

More expressive moments  :-)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

:-)

As I already mentioned, Kaelyn was thrilled with the snow.  New York didn't have much snow the week that we were there last Christmas so she was really hoping that it wouldn't be like that again.  She didn't need to worry about that.  There was an abundance of white stuff while we were there.  Unfortunately, it was bitterly cold most of the time so it wasn't real pleasant to be out in and play in for the most part like it is sometimes.

She talked us into building a snowman when we first got to Kevin's parents' house the next morning.  We weren't really dressed warmly enough to be out in the cold for a long time or to actually get down in the snow too much so we just built a baby snowman.  She seemed plenty happy with a little one and we were happy we didn't have to get totally soaked and miserably cold being outside in the snow for hours.

Kevin's niece, Larissa, making one of the balls for the snowman.

He's starting to come together.  :-)

He gets a mouth first...

...then some eyes and a nose.

A happy little girl with her little, baby snowman.  :-)

Larissa and Kaelyn

Kay and I

The three --- uh, four of us.  :-)

Christmas at home

Our Christmas this past year was kind of in "spurts" at least as far as opening presents.  The Friday before Christmas was the last day of school and work for Kaelyn and Kevin.  We were originally going to try to be ready to leave by the next day but between Kevin and I battling the flu for so long, we were short on energy and behind on things.  So Friday night, we lazed around and opened 3 or 4 presents.  Saturday, we started working on some packing and cleaning and then we spent the evening watching Little House on the Prairie Christmas episodes.  We ended up leaving Sunday evening and getting just a few hours up the road before we stopped for the night.  

Kay opening an Annoying Orange dart game.

Kev and Kay goofing off about one of Kevin's presents.  I was frustrated that the picture turned out blurry (as so many pictures I take turn out because my hands are shaky so often when I go to take pictures) but I wanted to keep it and share it anyway because I thought it was funny/cute.

She's growing up so fast!

We got Kaelyn a dollhouse for Christmas.  Since we were taking most of our presents with us to open on Christmas day (and at stops along the way on our trip to help with the MANY hours on the trip), we had to open a couple bigger ones before we left.

These pictures aren't exactly in chronological order I guess.  These next few were from sometime a bit earlier in December.

Santa Mickey sugar cookies..and milk...on  festive seasonal paperware.  :-)

Angry birds - a new ornament for Kay's little tree this year.

A Christmas shopping trip to the mall.  Kaelyn had no interest in seeing the big, jolly guy there but she very much enjoyed riding the train set up next to him.

The big tree in the middle of the mall.

For years now, I have tried to get Kaelyn interested in wrapping presents.  It has apparently never "clicked" with her what we are doing and she loses interest after 2 or 3 minutes.  When she saw me wrapping presents this year, she was curious and she said, "How are you going to turn those things into presents?"  I guess it has never dawned on her how wrapping things worked.  She was very interested in the "process" and even wanted to help.  As I posted on Facebook back around that time, the best part of having a seven-year-old girl helping wrap presents, is that one of Kevin's presents was wrapped in pretty, pink princess wrapping paper with a big gold bow and a name tag (almost as big as the present itself) that said "NO PEEKING".  :-)

ESE Christmas Party - and Germs :-)

If I recall correctly, the last time that I posted about one of Kaelyn's school Christmas parties was back in 2009.  She was still in an ASD pre-school class in Jensen Beach and the teacher asked me if I wanted to go to the party.  So though I'm repeating myself somewhat, it's from several years ago.  

The Knights of Columbus in our county hold a Christmas party every year for all the special education classes of any type for all of the schools in Martin County.  Kaelyn has gone every year since pre-school but this was the first time I had been back since her first year attending.  The last couple school years, Kaelyn has said several times that she wished I could go on field trips. I finally did the necessary paper work and background check this year so that I could go along as a chaperon when her class goes on field trips.  The Christmas party was pretty much the same as it was when I went with her before but it's just such a nice time for the kids and there is quite a bit of money and effort that is put into it.

They start out by serving pizza, drinks, and then ice cream sandwiches to everyone.  Every child has a coloring book and crayons at their place so they can color while they wait.  Or they can walk around and visit different characters.  They have people dressed up as Frosty, Rudolph, and the Grinch.  They get to go up and see Santa and he gives them each a gift bag that is filled with all kinds of goodies:  a disposable camera (those are always a huge hit with the kids), candy, paddle balls, $5 in an envelope to develop the camera etc.  I'm not sure how they raise the funds or how much it all costs but I certainly have a lot of respect for how much they put into it!

Kaelyn eating her [first piece of] pizza

For some reason, though Kaelyn likes to see almost any character having to do with anything no matter where we're at, she is still really hesitant about Santa.  She barely got close enough and sat long enough for a picture before she popped up and was out of there.  :-)

She LOVES the classic Rudolph story and all things Rudolph right now - still - even after Christmas.  And of course by now you know that when I say she loves something, that pretty much means it's a bit of an obsession/fascination at the moment.  But I digress - So this was pretty much her favorite thing about the whole party - getting to see Rudolph.  But that's okay because she sure does look adorable in this picture!      

:-)

Coloring while waiting for the ice cream sandwiches.

Kaelyn and Ross

Kaelyn and Mommy

They all got these adorable headbands in their gift bags.  Kay wore hers several times throughout the season.  There were several different characters in the different gift bags.  Ross had a reindeer one.  They were cute too but I didn't realize that he had them on backwards before I took the picture.  :-)

Kaelyn talked Ross into getting a picture with her with the snowman.  Actually, I don't think that she really had to do much talking.  He usually listens to her pretty willingly.  :-)

I love the Grinch in all his "grinchosity" so once everyone was leaving so I didn't feel silly following him around with a crowd of 15 other little kids, I got a quick picture.

You like my new word, don't you?  GRINCHOSITY.  I think the word could be used for other people at other times and places perhaps.  :-)

So we rode the bus back to the school and got to go home a little early... and then I got a really bad 2-week  flu bug (probably from the bus or a kid), gave it to Kevin, who had to go see the Dr. before we left for our trip, and then Kay finished it off with a milder version of what we had.  And we all lived happily ever after with our coughs, fevers, antibiotics, and cold medicine.  And Mommy, while happy she was able to join Kaelyn and all the other children at the nice party, decided maybe she will dress as if going in for surgery if she attends the Christmas party next year!   :-D

Welcoming Christmas

The first weekend of December kind of started the Christmas rush for us.  We had the Hobe Sound Christmas parade on Saturday; Saturday evening we took the rental car (convertible) we used in the parade down to Palm Beach Gardens to look at Christmas lights; then Sunday evening we went to the Singing Christmas Tree at Hobe Sound.  From that first weekend of December up till Christmas, everything was pretty much a quick blur as it usually is leading up to Christmas.

 

 

Saturday morning, everyone gathered at the office to eat some lunch and get ready for the parade at 1:00.  There were a lot of people coming in and out and running around.  These two little cuties made great little door-holders as stuff was being carried out to the convertible.

 

MANY things were hauled out of the office into the car - frisbees with HSBR's name on them (people LOVE getting those); bags of candy, business cards, and Chick-fil-A coupons; and of course lots of bottles of water for all of our people walking - remember, this IS a FLORIDA Christmas parade.  :-)

 

 

This was the first year Kaelyn walked in the parade.  She was very eager and ready to get started.

 

 

 

The sign always comes first.

 

 

 

Chick-fil-A always joins our "float" and so we usually have a Santa [eat more chickin'] cow as well as coupons that we hand out for a free chicken sandwich.  This year we had a Santa cow and his little elf cow, which was quite cute as far as elf cows go I guess.  :-) 

 

 

 

Kaelyn had a buddy, Kristin, to walk with her and help keep her going and on focus.  :-)  Kristin is one of the daughters of one of Kevin and Rod's employees.

(The parade is usually a whole family affair for HSBR so there are lots of kids and teenagers helping to pass stuff out.)

 

 

 

Mr. HSBR himself tossing out frisbees.   :-)

 (The other Mr. HSBR was driving the car behind Kevin.)

 

 

 

Three cows.  :-) 

The smaller one on the left is supposed to be the elf cow and of course the one on the right is the Santa cow.

For you northerners who might not have Chick-fil-A restaurants near you, their marketing campaign uses cows that hold signs, paint billboards, etc. encouraging people to "eat mor chikin" thus, saving their lives of course.  I'm sure you have seen a lot of pictures of us the past several years at various times with the Chick-fil-A cow and so if you have wondered what that was all about, that's what it is.  (I know a few years ago when our Christmas card picture was us with the cow some of our friends from the North were confused as to what it was about until we explained it.)  :-)

 

 

 

The bosses - and Rod and Kevin.  :-D   Just kidding!

 

 

 

Kay has always loved the cows.  She has outgrown some of her enthusiasm but she was still happy to pose with them and tell them about how we have videos of the Santa cow holding her and dancing with her a few years ago at the parade when she was just three.  :-)

 

 

 After the parade was over and we got everything cleaned up, we went home and rested for a bit and then went down to Palm Beach Gardens.  We always try to make it down there to see the lights at a couple different places but it was particularly fun doing it in the convertible that the business had rented for the parade.  We didn't have to return it till Monday morning.

 

We put the top down once we got down there. For a change, it was actually a bit chilly that evening and even sprinkling a bit off and on but not so badly that we had to put the top up.

Kaelyn was pretty much in awe as most people are when they see this.  We have been going to see this particular street for years now but I'm not sure she really remembered this.

 

 

 

I've never been able to figure out any particular story behind this.  The street is called Snug Harbor.  At the very end of the street is huge fences and double gates leading into a huge, fancy house.  I can't ever seem to find details online about who the owner is but it is obviously someone very wealthy.  He hires a company with cranes and stuff to come in and not only decorate all around his place but all the way up and down the street and in the yards of the other homes on the street.  The other houses on the street are quite normal and not particularly big or fancy but the whole street looks AMAZING!  And why not?  If someone wanted to put elaborate lights and decorations in my yard and up my street, I would certainly let them!  :-)

 

 

 

Pictures on a simple camera don't even begin to do justice to the street but just suffice it to say, it's pretty breath-taking and we usually circle around and go through it a couple time.  We also pull off to the side and walk around a bit to get pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

All the branches have the lights hanging off them that move to look like snow besides the fact that every tree is covered in lights.

 

 

This is getting closer to the end of the street where the big house is.  I just realized, we didn't even take pictures of a LOT of the things set up in each yard.  As you drive down the tree-lit road, everywhere you look to the right and left there are things set up: trains, nativity scenes, snowmen, reindeer, Santa and his elves riding on all sorts of things, and even a Noah's ark.  All along his fences he turns them into "Santa's toy shop".  It starts up the side and goes all the way around.  There is a right turn as you continue to drive along his property.  You then turn right on another street and ake a circle back out to the main road.  The last two years, there have been local police at the entrance monitoring and directing traffic in the evening.  Some of the people that live on the street were sitting outside when we were there this year and we overheard them telling some people that were out walking through the street that the guy that does it also pays to have the police come out to help with traffic.  Like I said, I don't know who he is or what he does but he has a little bit of money.  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the gates that go back into his garage, house, etc.  If you peek back through them, you can see and enormous place. 

 (Not that we would try to look back there and see or anything...)  :-)

 

 

 

This castle is actually back in up his driveway behind the gates.  You can see it if you are driving by on the street but not real well.  If you get out of your car and look through the gates, you can get a perfect shot through the bars of the gates, or so I've heard.  ;-)

(Yep, I'm the guilty culprit that stuck my phone through the bars so I could get the picture.  Kevin, on the other hand waited until a vehicle used the keypad and went through the gates and hurriedly snapped a picture before the gate closed behind the vehicle.)  :-)  We're tricky like that.

 

 

I love these two bears decorating their Christmas tree!

 

And if you are really curious and interested in this (and maybe have time to kill besides), which I doubt you are, here is a link to a video someone posted of driving through the area:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c_361hGmKY

 

 

Kaelyn's little tree and room decorations went up last but she was thrilled of course to have them up.  They will likely be up for a few more weeks as she usually isn't ready to take them down and she wants to leave them up through January.

 

 

And last but not least, the Singing Christmas Tree.  We always have to rush over to the center of the church as soon as it's over to play in the "snow".  Sunday night is the last night they do it so they usually just let the snow machine go until it's empty, much to all the poor Florida kids' delight who don't actually have any real snow.

And once we've had the parade, and been to the Singing Christmas Tree, we officially know that the Christmas season has arrived!