Christmas in Connecticut

Hello! Doug and I are back from five days in the lovely Nutmeg State, and I have to say that our stay was indeed lovely. I've never spent Christmas in any other state, but somehow Christmas seems right in Connecticut. This doesn't mean that I would be adverse to a Massachusetts Christmas... someday I think it would be fantastic to have the families up to our house for the holiday celebration - for us to do the cooking, cleaning, uber-decorating, and for us to have the houseguests. Once we get that guest room all set there will be no excuse!

Christmas in Connecticut this year started on Tuesday, December 23rd, and lasted through Saturday, December 27th, and Doug and I, once again, had a whirlwind tour of the state. We started in East Hartford, then Hartford, then Monroe, then Portland, then East Hartford again, which is where we ended up for the final leg of our journey. We get our money's worth out of our car over the holidays, that's for sure. But while it is a lot of driving that we do, it's all worth it, because we get to see so many people, and that's what Christmas is all about - hanging out with friends and family.

Day One: Tuesday, December 23rd
Day one started with me working a half-day and Doug sleeping for a half-day. Once those two chores were out of the way we began to pack ourselves (including the cats) up to head down to CT for the duration of our holiday. We left Massachusetts (are we the Constitution State? No, that's CT. But CT is also the Nutmeg State. So what's Massachusetts, besides the Tax State? I'll have to look that up.) at about 4:45pm and made it to the highway at about 5pm, which is probably the height of rush hour. Traffic was particularly bad, though - didn't let up until we got through the Sturbridge tollbooth on the Mass Pike. This meant that we were going to be late for our dinner reservations with two of my friends from high school, Tamera and Shannon, and their respective husbands/boyfriends. Doug and I made a few calls to try to reach either Tamera or Shannon to let them know of our tardiness (with Chris to our rescue - THANK YOU!), and after dropping off the three beasties in East Hartford (as we were going to travel down to Monroe after the dinner and spend Christmas Eve with the Siskos, and the cats aren't allowed there) we headed over to the Trumbull Kitchen in Hartford for dinner. I had never met Tamera's boyfriend, Timothy, before, and while I had met Shannon's now-husband, Kevin, before, I'd not seen him for a year. And plus, Tamera had never met Doug and Shannon had never met Doug in context of me. So it was a big meeting for all of us. I'd say it went well, too, despite us being late. Conversation was good, meeting Timothy was great, and Tamera and Shannon looked wonderful, just like last year. We visited with Shannon and Kevin (and Marley, their wonderful lab) post-dinner, and then headed down to Monroe. I wish we could have spent more time catching up, but there wasn't really time. I will say this, though - Tamera seems very happy with Timothy, and he seems like a great guy, so I hope good things happen there. And Shannon and Kevin spent a little time in Belgium for their honeymoon this last fall, so it was fun to share stories. Yes, a fun evening, and here are some photos - note that Tamera is in blue and Shannon's in white.

Day Two: Wednesday, December 24th
We woke up in Monroe, CT, to pouring rain. Merry Christmas Eve! We had a couple of last-minute gifts to get for Grandpa and Uncle Bruce, so we got those, and then spent the day visiting with Mr. & Mrs. Sisko, Grandpa, and Uncle Bruce. Doug and I hadn't seen Uncle Bruce since last Christmas, so it was good to see him. He never stays long, though, and didn't stay long enough to open our gift of a whole year's worth of vintage farm tractors (a new one for every month!), but we were glad to see him nonetheless. As always, Mrs. Sisko put on a great show, with plenty, oh-so-plenty, of food and drink. We got a great lamp for Christmas from the Siskos (photos below), and it looks just like we thought it would in our living room - perfect. So thank you! Here's something I noticed while at the Sisko house this time, though - in every room there is the same photo of Doug - his senior year photo from Fairfield High. There's one on the refrigerator in the kitchen, one in the sitting room in the front of the house, one in Mrs. Sisko's bedroom, one in the upstairs bedroom where we stay, and one in the living room. Everywhere I go there's Doug's high-school self to greet me. I wonder how he feels about that... But anyway, here are some photos to document the day:

Day Three: Thursday, December 25th
Merry Christmas! There seem to be new Christmas traditions each year, and this year was no exception. I think that this year established the way Christmases will be for the next few years, though - Christmas Eve with the Siskos, Christmas Day with the Sheridan side of the extended family, and Christmas night at my parents' in East Hartford with my nuclear family (minus my sister and her family, who will come to visit either a few days before or a few days after Christmas day). So on Christmas morning we packed up, left Monroe, drove to East Hartford to drop off all of our presents for that house, collected my mom, dad, and brother, and then headed over to Portland to celebrate the holiday with my dad's two sisters and their husbands, his brother, his two aunts, and my two cousins. There's always so much to eat there, and always so many laughs. My mother always said that she loved hanging out with my dad and his sisters because it was a laugh a minute, and it's true, really. Margaret and Mary have such great senses of humor. Christmas is always good for a little Elvis humor, too, and this year Elvis somehow showed up on the cover of Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father. Some scissors and a little tape can add humor to anything. Here's everyone hovering around the desserts:

After celebrating in Portland, we came back to East Hartford to exchange gifts between my nuclear family - Doug, my mom, dad, my brother, and me. My mother, the lucky one, is going on a cruise to the Caribbean in January, so she got a new camera to take along. Now we just have to teach her how to get the photos from her camera to the computer and she'll be set. My brother got a cool Monet figurine, Doug got a Chumby (that, unfortunately, came with a bum AC adapter, so he won't be able to really use it until he gets the replacement in the mail), I got a new coat, and my dad got socks, a sweater, a book, new shoes... we all made out well. Even Tyrone got something - a giant rawhide bone that will keep him occupied for days. Santa was good to everyone this year. Now for the photos.








Day Four: Friday, December 26th
What better way to spend the morning after Christmas, after eating all that food and sitting around on our butts, than to go for a brisk hike? There isn't a better way as far as I'm concerned, so we all got into the car and went to Gay City in Hebron to burn off some Christmas calories. After our hike we tried to go see Tom Cruise in Valkyrie, but it was sold out! We were amazed that there were that many people willing to get up and go to see Tom Cruise in a movie on the day after Christmas, but then again, we were there trying to do it so why wouldn't other people? We ended up getting tickets instead to the 7:10 show and then went to Marshall's to check out their wares before we went home to plan for my sister's family to come over the next day and to grab some quick dinner before the movie. Sasha posed for a few photos before we left for the movie, and they're inserted below. As far as the movie goes, we all liked it, some of us more than others. I actually liked Tom Cruise in it, and so did my brother. Doug was a little iffy on whether Tom was the right guy for the part, and my mother definitely did not like Tom cast as a Nazi (albeit a "good" Nazi). We were all weary of sitting through a movie that was going to try to be suspenseful even though we already knew how it would end (Hitler wasn't assassinated, everyone, sorry to say), but I think the movie was pretty good. It got 2.5 stars from Ty Burr in the Boston Globe, which was a very accurate scoring - not good enough for three stars, but not bad enough for two. All in all, we were very entertained so felt we got our money's worth. Now for the photos for the day (unfortunately none of Tom with his eye patch!):









Day Five: Saturday, December 27th
Saturday finally rolled around, the last day of our holiday visit to Connecticut. My sister, Mike, and the kids (oh, and Rose the golden retriever, too) came to my parents' house for brunch, and then opened all of their presents (there was no evidence of an ailing economy on this day, that's for sure). Uncle Jimmy and Madeline and Anna came over for the festivities, too, and we had a good day. Here are some photos that will give you a good idea of how we spent our time:













So, that's the end of Christmas 2008. Doug and I have yet to exchange gifts, but we may do that later this week. We're tired, and to be honest I'm a little tired of presents. Christmas is not about the presents to me. It's about sitting by the lighted Christmas tree in a warm room with family around, having good conversations, telling funny stories, taking lots of pictures, and listening to some Christmas music in the background. Oh, and of course eating Christmas cookies and wishing I had on elastic-waist pants. That's what I like the most about Christmas. So thank you everyone for your gifts, but thank you even more for letting us spend our holiday with you and for making Christmas 2008 such a good one.