On Christmas morning we left Springfield for our pilgrimage to Andover to see my side of the family. I had hoped to be on the road by 7 AM (yeah, right) but we left at 8:15. Because of that we missed the opening of stocking presents (just for the little kids) and somehow I forgot my camera. So all of the pictures below are courtesy of my dad's kick ass SLR camera.
A couple of items of note. Cameron entered her pickiest eating phase EVER on this trip. I think she subsisted entirely on crackers and milk. Every time my mom put a new food in front of Cameron I would warn her, "Cameron won't eat that." But she would push it and Cameron would have the biggest melt downs. Sigh. I'm very glad we are back home so at least we have our fall back foods and a modicum of nutrition.
We also missed a white Christmas in Charlotte. Who would have thought that Charlotte would have a white Christmas? Fortunately the Boston area got 18 inches of snow on the 26th. I took Cameron out on the deck because she really wanted to go outside. As soon as we were out she insisted I carry her (of course) and she kept saying, "it's hot, it's hot." What she meant was that it was cold. So DH and I had fun teaching her the difference between hot and cold. Now everything is cold but we're getting there!
Cameron came over to her grandparent's house in her pjs. She got to open her stocking presents while all the cousins played around her. So that really meant DH and I opened her presents and she played with the toys strewn about the room.
Cameron got these cool sunglasses and actually wore them for a minute before abandoning them for another toy.
Here Cameron opens really cool spill proof (yeah, we'll see about that!) paint from Melissa and Doug that her Grammy and Bumpa gave her. We ended up shipping all of the presents back to Charlotte and they should arrive today which means Christmas all over again!
Here is a shot of the entire family opening presents. What do you don't see is the mound of presents under the tree. Grammy and Bumpa were very generous with their grandkids.
I was hoping that the group mentality would kick in for mealtimes. Unfortunately Cameron insisted on eating practically nothing. But she did eat her Happy Meal when we got McD's during the blizzard.
We had a family photo session on Sunday. Need I say that it was chaotic? There were many meltdowns, nose picking and I don't think the photographer got a single shot of the entire family smiling at the camera. Fortunately he said he can do some face switching so we should get at least one good picture out of the bunch. The best part was my sister Kristin attempting to put Ned into time out during the session and bribing her kids with Altoids to behave. Classic.
All in all, a good trip up to see family and friends. But I think we will be sticking to our plan of an every other year trip during the holidays. It was fun but exhausting!
3 comments:
I am an only child, so perhaps this is an only child thing, but I think all kids should wake up in their house and not be shuttled around on Christmas. That being said, I can't imagine the fun you all must have had together, Susan and roger must have loved it! But I would agree with your every other year at least. Joel and I already joke that we have the "come to us or have a happy holiday without us mentality" will probably continue when our children are older too! There is just something about waking up in your bed and being in your pjs all day that makes the holidays fun!
I think Drew can only say that because (1) she has the only grandkids, (2) she has a house big enough for guests/activities and (3) one set of grandparents are local. We always traveled as kids to Mimi and Papa's house because it could accommodate more people. I wish the altoids had worked. And Ned was only put into time out because he hit Penny. Which he did again today. Sigh. Cameron had fun at my house and ate grapes! Spend more time here next visit. :)
I have to say - you look fantastic in these photos! Really, you do. Kudos for taking care of you. Glad you had a good time - but meltdowns at this stage are just part of the plan.
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