Merry and bright

We have been reveling in the glow of Christmas around here lately.

And, swimming madly to keep up with the rush of it all. A glorious, rich and beautiful rush indeed, but one that has left little time for breathing, much less keeping up with a blog.

Apologies.

Our Christmas, in pictures. And probably plenty of words too, because I can't help myself.

Glow at the Gardens

In the midst of my last week of school, while packing and wrapping madly, we managed to squeeze in a trip to the Gardens, dressed in our best, for the magic of Glow.  We missed Member's Night this year and found it all to be not quite the same... perhaps it's the free cookies and cocoa that make the night? Regardless, we enjoyed ourselves.  The gingerbread houses were magnificent, the darkened glasshouses were full of mystic beauty, and the tour of the garden by train was crispy-cold and snowy.  Hopefully next year they'll bring back the magical winter-wind room at the entrance to the glasshouses.  And Santa.  And the free cookies. No making me happy, is there?

 And then-- off to Aurora!  We left on the first day of vacation so the preparations were fast and furious, trying to have Christmas at the ready, 4 days in advance.  But the payoff were three relaxing days in NY, cousin time and family dinners and even time for shoe shopping at the outlet malls.  Good times.

We had dinner with Randy and his family every night but one.  I could get used to having so much time with them.

December 22nd: A day at the Science Center for the 5 with Lulu (and a few hours off enjoying 67 degree weather in Ithaca for Nat and I) followed by dinner at Wegmans, and then a sketchy meet up in the Cortland WalMart parking lot to buy a used Wii for Christmas morning.  What a day!

Jack is ready for guitar lessons now.

Decorating the tree at Lulu's

Cookie baking.  With 5 young children.  Wonderful madness.

These 5 are so good together.

Marring the perfection of our visit was the fact that poor Claire came down with pneumonia.  A doubly difficult illness for such an energetic woman-- especially at this time of year.  On the 24th we found ourselves with two energetic little ones and a tired Lulu who needed some alone time to rest.  So we went off to Bass Pro in Auburn,  thinking we'd just look at the fish and wander a bit... and we walked right in to an "only in America" winter wonderland complete with kid-friendly shooting ranges, camo-themed decor, and a wonderfully authentic Santa to visit (even Jack wanted to see him-- first time ever!)  No crowds, lots of dogs, fish-feeding demonstrations and free stuff.  It was a perfectly wonderful morning made all the better by the surprise.

 Then suddenly, it was Christmas Eve.  Time for the magic.  Traditional clam chowder supper, church with the Morehouse clan in Union Springs, then home to open Christmas PJ's and set out carefully labeled stockings and milk and cookies.  A surprise visit from another Santa rounded out the evening (Ivy noted that the second one was definitely the real one, because of the high heeled boots).

Anticipation.  My favorite moment of the year.  

And you get to anticipate the next post...  Christmas day to come!