Home for the Holidays: The Decorations

The decorations went up even earlier this year!   And we got the name of the exterior lighting company from our neighbors so we had the house and walkway outlined in white lights.   John lit and hung the giant wreaths in the peaks.  I'm not sure what I'll do next year if the Boy Scouts return to their pancake breakfast and stop selling wreaths!   One huge change with Christmas lights in the post-COVID and a hybrid work environment is that I am only driving into the neighborhood two evenings a week.  Seeing lights on the houses is definitely the bright (literal and figurative) of the dark winter commute.

Inside, Sir Albert Kristoff returned to his spot in the entry way announcing the Disney Christmas tree.  It was very late in the season before we got the Disney train set  displayed but William did have his advent calendar under this tree and used the lights of the tree each morning to unwrap his treasure.   I enjoy using it as the night light (or more appropriately, morning light) to gently wake up.  

 

In the family room, we got a new, bigger tree to better fill the space.   It was very realistic looking after John spent the time to set it up and fluff and fluff and fluff all of the branches.  And we added this year's nutcracker, whom we named Sir Edmund Rudolph.   I'm really torn on whether I want Home Depot to make this an annual tradition.....I'm going to very quickly run out of space to nicely display 8 foot tall music playing nutcrackers in my house!

While I don't spend very much time on the couch, one evening leading up to the holidays, I did sit down long enough to enjoy some cocoa that William made.  I'm sure this was one of the evenings that he and I were on our own while John was traveling, so we enjoyed dinner and a TV show together instead of each doing our own thing.

Couple more photos of the house after some snow.   Not all of these are holiday decor photos.   But I love how it feels like living in a snow globe!  Especially since we have an entire mantle of snow globes on display at Christmas.

On theme with Disney + nutcrackers, I got these tabletop nutcrackers this year to accompany my countdown calendar.   I never really played them, but thought they looked cute in the kitchen window!  Christmas morning there were two of us up early and one who was not.....which is actually a pretty usual day.   So we had coffee and started the cinnamon rolls baking and waited out our elf.   At least that's what I was calling him because I have no idea what time he went to bed.  I just know that there were a lot more presents under the tree and in the stockings when I woke up than when I went to bed and I'm not sure where any of it was hiding!

I forgot we had a photo of the tree before it was fluffed and decorated!   John took a photo of William when I was out of town since we was dressed up for his 8th grade graduation photo.  Sometimes (a lot of the time!) I can't believe how grown up he's gotten each year in middle school!

Lion King

Lori ended up with two extra tickets to The Lion King in Chicago one Sunday afternoon after her grandson got sick and Van was out of town to take care of his dad.   Luckily William and I were free to join her!   We had great seats and they included a lounge package that was drinks and charcuterie in a room in the basement that had its own bathroom, so pretty much all the things you need to avoid the crowd pre- and post-show!   It was a fun afternoon to the city.   

Posting both selfies since I'm blocking Lori in the one where William is smiling!   We saw the production in 2018 on Broadway when we were in NYC for Ryan and Tarek's wedding.   I was trying to remember if certain parts were different or if I just didn't remember them clearly.   The parts that I remembered loving - the big animal puppets down through the crowd - were as amazing as before!

New York Decorations

A return to travel for work means more frequent trips to the Big Apple.  Although I enjoy NYC any time of year (in the limited doses I visit), I particularly love the beauty of fall and the splendor of Christmas!   This year I had trips that pre-and post-dated the infamous 30 Rockefeller Plaza tree being setup and decorated.   Due to the crowds that the tree and the ice rink draw, building security has separate lines and access for tourists versus tenants.   With my employee badge, I can walk in and out fo the door that is much closer to the tree and get close - and crowd free - photos!   The trade off is that I have to show my badge constantly to get in and out of lines to access the elevator just to run downstairs to the corridor for Starbucks or to grab a salad for lunch.   But it's a fair trade off.

In early November, they were readying the platform for the tree.  They would have it all set up and decorated by my next trip! 

In December, the hotels around 30 Rock were either sold out or ridiculously expensive (must have been all those tourists coming in to see the Rockettes!) so I stayed in lower Manhattan at another hotel that I like.   Although the hotel gave away my king bed room and stuck me with two little beds, I did get an Ellis Island view room that overlooked the Hudson, which was cool.   

I almost always take a photo of Rockefeller Center when I visit it - multiple times per year.  It doesn't get old to me.   I need to ask my colleagues that work in the building every day (or these days....2-3 days per week) if they still do that seasonally.   

30 Rock tree:  the views from the street....and the badge access view (i.e. leaving the building by the employee-only exit). 

I had a team dinner in the Financial District, so had to get a picture of that tree with the Wall Street bull, as well!   It was raining a lot on the day/evening that I was out walking and would have had good opportunities to take photos of decorations so didn't do as many as I might have otherwise.    It was enough effort to get where I needed.   Since my closest million friends were also trying to get cabs, etc, the streets were pretty crowded and my time was limited.    But it's all part of the city experience!

Thanksgiving in Kansas City

We loaded up the car for the long drive home to Kansas City for Thanksgiving.   I have a picture of William asleep in the back seat tucked in between boxes of Christmas wreaths and computer bags, but I won't do him the disservice of posting it.  I will just say that teenager + hoodie + headphone over hoodie might be one of the funniest looks ever.   Even before a phone and headphones we wouldn't hear a peep out of him....now there is no chance we will hear anything from that kid when we travel!

John's sister, Amy, was gracious enough to host all of the siblings and their spouses and kids on Thanksgiving Day for a meal.   And everyone was gracious to let me pick Joe's Kansas City BBQ as the meal.   Apparently everyone else actually likes traditional Thanksgiving food though, so we ended up having both!   Sorry for all the work Amy!   Our contribution was a giant box of assorted chocolates from Paris.   You know...the traditional Thanksgiving dessert! 

The kids are all growing up!  This year there are three 8th graders, one 9th grader and two adults with jobs!  Time flies!

We also got to celebrate Addie's 10th birthday.  I got to deliver some Disney Magic with Grogu earrings for her newly pierced ears.   We also enjoyed spending time with Willie the Westie, whom we likely won't get to see again.   We don't know Willie as well as his predecessor, Casper, since he has only been around post-our-move, but of course he's family and we were happy to get some snuggles while we were staying there for the long weekend.  

While John and I stayed with Koudeles, William stayed with Jake at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  We picked him up on Friday afternoon for some outdoor time.   We went to the Overland Park Arboretum and found not only a beautiful day, but an entire trail of fairy houses!

Afterwards we drove to a brewery in Belton, MO for some refreshments.   The snack selection wasn't amazing, so the kids and I wanted something else.   Belton is a tiny town and the brewery was on the main drag (I don't recall if it was actually called Main Street).   There was a bakery next door, but it was closed.   We wandered down to the end of the street where we found a sticky diner that had an ice cream counter and ordered shakes and cones.   Another excellent save!

Saturday was John's birthday, so we celebrated with a fun dinner out!  And then Sunday we drove home.  All day.   And then we began the craziness that was known as December!

Christmas Card Photos

Our friend who did our photos last year moved to Florida, so she recommended a colleague for Christmas photos.   We did her Christmas mini session at the Abbey Farms Christmas Tree lot.   It's about 25 minutes from our house but that day we were in the area because William had a math contest at Marmion Academy next door.   (The Abbey is for Marmion Abbey, for the Benedictine monastery onsite.)   I thought that would be really convenient but it was only a little convenient.  I still had to do two round trips, and John was getting in the shower when it was time to pick up William, so he had to drive separately.   But at least I already had one family member in the right spot!      

First off I'll say the photos turned out great.   Second I'll admit that the behind the scenes is always as torturous as "they" say, which I will blogument for posterity.   The pictures were booked weeks (months?) in advance, of course.   And then I ended up having a business trip to New York where I got home late Friday evening and left again for Connecticut on Sunday afternoon.   So the pictures were sandwiched in between, and I wasn't in a great mood.   John was in an equally grouchy mood, and William is a teenager who despite me buying matching outfits however far in advance had not tried any of it on until he was at the school post-math contest.  There we learned that his belt doesn't fit his jeans - only his school khakis.   Then we learned that the shirt was too big relative to the jeans so he really did need to wear a sweater (I didn't like the first sweater I ordered him and had left it at home).  So he and I raced to find a Target or Kohls in the 30 minutes we had between pictures and math contest to get a belt and a sweater.  There were none nearby so we ended up at a Walmart.  The belts were all too big and there were no sweaters.   We found this gray henley and made it work.  That's right.  We bought that shirt 10 minutes before we rolled up for our photos.  And it was long enough that he didn't need to wear a belt.   John showed up in a different sweater than I had set out for him but it was an upgrade to one I didn't know he owned so that turned out well.

I seriously wondered if I should cancel the photos altogether when I saw the calendar.   But when I was comparing this year's to last year's photo and realized how much William had grown in just one year, I'm so thankful we pulled it together!