Happy New Year! We recently returned from our road trip to Florida. It was certainly much warmer than our trip last year, but a bit overcast and so foggy. Since both kids were off school, we decided to take a vacation after Christmas. The week before Christmas was busy with last minute preparations for the holiday.

Since Tom had been sick the weekend before and we cancelled the neighborhood party, we had some extra food to share.  We invited our good friends, The Plunketts, to dinner on Monday night. Tom and Allison were home, so they were able to cook and clean, although the house was already in order since we had planned on having a party that previous Saturday night. I was busy working and Scott was still in school. We enjoyed a wonderful visit, dinner and sharing gifts. We felt we owed them a bit extra attention since they graciously offered to take Cookie in over the Holiday break. All the dog kennels were full already. I also put Allison to work baking more cookies to eat! I had planned on having several desserts for our party, including cookies. Instead I wrapped it all up and gave it to my coworkers who were very appreciative. So was I since I did not have time to bake!

SCott really only had 1 day of school before Christmas. ON Tuesday, rather than attending class,  he joined 150 other students from the student government passing out food and gifts to needy families in our county. He had been spending time after school the weeks prior assisting with food collections. He was just happy to be done with school. Unfortunately for him, he was not done with schoolwork as he had a book report assigned over break, along with studying for a spanish test.

ON Tuesday there were lots of preparations for our upcoming trip and Christmas day! Lots of gift wrapping and clothes packing. Everyone was out getting haircuts, including the dog. ON Christmas eve, we decided to attend mass at the chapel on the grounds of the Charlestown Retirement community. After work I picked up my parents and we all met at church for the 7pm mass. It seems to have been a bit too much for my Dad as he dozed off halfway through mass. Even with all of those loud horns and the pipe organ playing great music. Being a retirement community, the staff is well prepared for any situation. They escorted Dad to my mini van in a wheelchair since he was so out of it. We drove him home and put him to bed. Afterwards, our family enjoyed a new kid's tradition of eating out at a Chinese food restaurant(they passed on our german sausage and potatoes tradition a few years ago). There was a very nice Chinese restaurant next to my parent's apt complex and we had it all to ourselves at 9pm. We ended up closing the place. Sadly, our Chinese Buffet restaurant closed last year. But dinner was great, and we had time to open up a few small gifts before going to bed(waiting for Santa!).

On Christmas Day we started our morning with lots of gift exchanges. The kids and Tom

enjoyed new clothes and shoes, as well as updating their technology and gaming systems. After cleaning up the post Christmas wrapping paper and chatting with family on the phone, Allison and I headed out to pick up my parents for dinner and more presents. They enjoyed some appetizers and speaking to my brother Dan via Skype. The day was quickly coming to a close, so we sat down to dinner. Unfortunately, SCott had developed Tom's bad cold and fever, so he spent the rest of the day in bed. Dad was still groggy as well and slept through dinner.

Cookie and Ripley all decked out for Christmas! Cookie had bells on her feet and collar and was afraid to take a step since she jingled. Ripley is sporting a new scarf. She could not stop eating the pom poms on the end.

Cookie woke Dad B up with a big doggy kiss which gave us time to open their gifts. Then I had to pack them up along with Cookie to drop everyone off. First I took my parents back to their apt and helped them get all their gifts up to their apt. Then it was off to our friends The Plunketts to drop off Cookie for doggy sitting.  They  have a new Cavachon puppy who adores Cookie(Cookie tolerates all the attention from the puppy). We were just happy to have a great place for her to stay while we were gone.

I will save our vacation update for the next blog! Kathleen