So this is Christmas

Here's our Christmas in brief :
Christmas eve -
Went for a movie at the dollar cinema. Watched The Pretige. Enjoyed it very much.
Had tacos for dinner at in-law's house. (family tradition)
Went for midnite mass at St John Neumann.
All of us stayed the night at in-law's house. Took presents down and filled stockings.

Christmas day -
Breakfast.
Digged into our stockings.
The boys distributed the presents.
Then took turns opening presents. Youngest member of the family gets to open first.
Finished opening presents at 3pm. Had Christmas lunch. Yummy!!
Went home. Gave Trouble his presents. Trouble got a new mat and plenty of kitty treats.
Husband gave me a radar detector so that I can drive faster without having to worry about being pulled over by the cops :)

Boxing day -
Slept till 10am

This Christmas was extra special because we had my parents with us.

Mele Kalikimaka

The presents are all wrapped. The stockings are up. The kids are ready and so are we.
We'll all be staying the night at my in-law's place so we can wait for Santa to come down the chimney tonight.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!

A little neighborhood get-together

We went to a little party at Robert and Linda's house yesterday. It is nice to know we have a group of wonderful neighbors. Each of us brought an appetizer so my mom and me spent the afternoon making tiny snowflake pastry dough and topped it with a mixture of egg and crabmeat. It was just something I invented on a whim so there is no real name for the dish. Glad everyone liked it .
And I ate too much chocolate fudge. Yes, I was greedy. How can one say no to fudge?

Kids N such

My nephew had his first Christmas concert yesterday. All of us went to see the boy in action. I spotted him right away in the second row with a reindeer hat. The song started. The boy would not sing. Instead, he gave a big yawn, dug his hands into his pockets and took out a piece of tissue to wipe his nose. Then yawned again.
Another song started, and he still would not open his mouth. And he yawned again.
Then, the kids were given some instruments. Cooper got drums. And he happily played away.

Jason brought home some Christmas goodies from work too. His boss had made some gingerbread cookies, cranberry cookies and pinwheels. That's the prettiest ever gingerbread cookie I've ever seen!!

Ho Ho Ho

We were doing some window shopping on Saturday at a furniture store and suddenly we hear a voice say " Hey !!! We know you people!!! Come on over here!"
We saw Santa taking photos with the kids. Turns out that Santa and his lady helper are our neighbors who live in the cul-de-sac up the street. They coaxed us into taking a picture and we did.

Back to the 21st Century

No more horses and clickety hoofs. No more fifers and drummers to soothe our weary feet. No more yummy hot apple ciders. We are back to civilisation. Back to our crazy world.Next time my cellphone rings, I will think it's the nightingale singing me a song. And when I eat peanuts, I will think of African beans.

A Revolutionary Experience – Part II

Today, we toured the Governor’s Palace which was the residence of seven royal governors and the first two elected governors of Virginia. It is shown as the home of Lord Dunmore, the last British Governor of the Virginia colony. We learned about the lives of Lord and Lady Dunmore, their children, and staff at a time when British authority was being challenged. The lovely gardens and courtyards have neatly trimmed hedges and a maze which I did not go into.

We also toured Robert Carter’s house and the Everard House. By then, I had a history overload and came back to our apartment with my dad and father-in-law for some Chick-Fil-A and a dose of "have-to-pay" wireless network, whilst my mom and mother-in-law continued to immerse themselves in the 18th century.

Tomorrow, we will have lunch with Mr “Thomas Jefferson”. And oh, there were atleast four fire engines on the street today because the famous Peanut Shoppe and 2 other neighbouring shops were on fire this morning. No, the firemen did not come on horses.

Up North we go

We drove another 2.5 hours north to Mount Vernon – the home of the first U.S President, George Washington. His home grounds expand to 8000 acres. We toured his mansion which was built in 1754 with a breathtaking view of the Potomac River and wharf, the outbuildings where slaves used to work spinning wool and linen, shoeing horses, curing meat and many other jobs that supplied the services necessary to keep a large plantation running. The walk also took us to a fruit and herb garden and nursery and his tomb. George Washington died in 1799 in the master bedroom.

Lunch was a delicious bowl of thick peanut and chestnut soup at the Mount Vernon Inn. Close your eyes and imagine melted Peanut Butter and chunks of peanut and water chestnuts. Our waitress was a chatty lady dressed in 18th Century costume and our table was in the living room beside the crackling fireplace. Very nice.

As it was past 3pm, we decided not to drive further up north to Washington DC which is just another 15 miles or so because of rush hour traffic. So we headed back to Williamsburg.

A Revolutionary Adventure

We left for Williamsburg, VA on Saturday morning. Stopped at Dinwiddie to drop Carlton off at his niece’s place and proceeded to Williamsburg.
Sunday, we embarked on a revolutionary adventure in Colonial Williamsburg to experience America’s past. We walked through the charming streets, parks and gardens that have been restored to an entirely different era. We came face-to-face with people who “live” in the 18th century. Men in three-cornered hats, horse-drawn carriages and traders all grace the streets, taverns and the market place. We sip on our mug of hot apple cider to keep warm and eat fresh ginger bread cake.

At 5pm, we walked to Bill Barker’s home for a holiday party. Bill Barker is the cousin of my father-in-law. Each year, he hosts his famous Christmas party in his home. He lives in a restored home which is known as the Edinburgh Castle. He plays the role of Thomas Jefferson in Williamsburg. There, we met “Benjamin Franklin” and a few other men and women in 18th century costumes. It was rather interesting.
Later in the evening, he announced for us to grab our coats and head on outside the front door to watch the fireworks. We joined the rest of the crowds on the street and oohed and aahed at the spectacular fireworks display which lasted for atleast a good 15 minutes. The last time I saw something this amazing was the fireworks on Harbour Bridge in Sydney on New Years Day. I love fireworks. It never fails to ignite that magical feeling. Too bad Jason could not be here.

Will post pictures later when I’m back in Charlotte.