The One With a Merry Christmas

 

 

Today is a Christmas Day 2024. We had a great Christmas.

We got up around 8:45 to open gifts. We started and took a paused around 10:00, when I went to Mass. We then opened a little bit more, than had our annual Christmas brunch, which is one of my favorite things. We finished up gifts. Bri and Chiff brought stuff to their rooms while Emmie and I watched Jingle Bell Rock with Joey McIntyre.

We took a walk, then prepared supper - roast and sweet potatoes. We played a few games, including Smart As! and a Gibberish, which was fun. We ate, and then watched A Christmas Story, which is one of my favorite Christmas stories.

We just wrapped up as I am typing this. All and all, it was a great Christmas Day!!!

Merry Christmas to all and God Bless Us Everyone!

 

 

The One With The Boston Christmas Trolley

 

 

Tonight, we did a follow up on an event we took part in this summer. We joined the Old Town Trolley of Boston for a Christmas adventure.

 Truth be told, we were not too sure what to expect for this event. We thought it would consist of mainly seeing lights in Boston at night and hearing a few stories about Boston at Christmas. However, it was a lot more than we expected. It consisted of two tour guides who actually played characters throughout the journey, including the main narrator called Little Star. She sang and danced and told stories. She was really into it.

We went through the city and even stopped at the Boston Common. We walked to the Nova Scotia Tree, where they took pictures of us under the tree. Then, we went to the Frog Pond where we watched people skate as well...which was neat to be so close.  The tour was a lot of fun and brought a smile to our faces!

The One With The Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas from the Peanuts Gang

Today is Christmas morning, 2021. It has been a fun and eventful day. We actually set a record by going to bed at 12:45 AM....the earliest we have gone to bed in 10 years.

 

I did get up early enough to get coffee brewing and cinnamon rolls on.

 

Then Bri and Kiff came down and opened their stockings. They were pretty Epic.

 

Bri and Kiff made stockings for each other, as well as Emmie and me. They shared it with us as well. Those were epic, too.

 

We are now getting ready for brunch (it is 11:16 AM). Wishing everyone  a merry Christmas

The One With the Ornaments

 

 

Earlier today, we all worked on creating a set of Christmas ornaments. Emmie had got these in the mail and we thought they would be a great addition to our season decorations. Here is the outcome of what we did....we really had fun making them.  Kif did the truck, Bri did "Peace," Emmie made the "Believe," and I did the other two.

 

 

 

The One With The Merry Christmas

Christmas 2019 arrived....it is 12:43, the kids opened all their presents and we are watching the Celtics!


Ahhhhh, Merry Christmas

The One with Our Christmas Activities Over Time

I was trying to brainstorm over the years the many different Christmas activities we've done as a family. So I decided to archive them.

Here's what I got so far:

1. Santa by the Sea (Danvers event) -  multiple times.
2. Danvers Tree Lighting - nearly every year.
3. Edaville - about three times.
4. Santa's Village - once at Christmas time...it snowed.
5. Enchanted Village - many times
6. Polar Express at Museum of Science
7. Seeing the Man Who Invented Christmas
8. Salem Christms Carol Trolley
9. Salem Grinch Who Stole Christmas play
10. Christmas Carol (at Hanover Theater)
11. Nutcracker in Boston - several times
12. Christmas Open House Danvers Library
13. Sturbridge Village Christmas by Candlelight
14.  Christmas at the Newport Mansions - twice

 

The One With The First Week of December

The first week of December is always an event, as we get ready for Christmas.

Here is what this week brought:

2 snow days
1 Christmas Tree Up
1 Charlie Brown Christmas special (always fun to watch)
1 First meeting of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for Bri
1 Cub Scout meeting where Kiff and crew built a game using Scratch.mit
1 Viewing of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer where we laughed at how politically incorrect it is now
1 Half day for Bri, Kiff, and Dad
1 Viewing of It's a Wonderful Life
1 Big Celtics win vs. the Nuggets last night
1 Bruins winning streak coming to an end in overtime.

WOW!

The One With the Merry Christmas

Here is wishing everyone peace, love, joy, health, and happiness on this Christmas and in the year ahead!

Merry Christmas 2018

The One With The Family Christmas Party

Today was the day of the family Christmas party.

Always a fun time.

A lot of good laughs, good memories, and good food....and great snacks.

I always look forward to this day!

We also got our backyard light display up....with the cool C-9 bulbs. Love those.

The One With The Tree Lighting

Today was the annual town tree lighting and - as in the past few years - we decided to venture out and experience some of the other things it has to offer. And we were not disappointed.

First, we made a stop at the Cherry Street Market. We got some delicious clam chowder that they had to offer. It was great. We never even knew they served chowder there, so we learned it was a must visit after that.

Next, we toured downtown and partook of a few of the goodies they had to offer, including meatballs, popcorn, chicken fingers, and cookies....all free and equally delicious. There were even a few treat bags for Bri and Kiff to snag.

After, we attended the annual Girl Scout caroling event, which is always a special take! It was a lot of fun....and only about 15 minutes, too, which was just enough time for us to head down and watch Santa arrive by fire engine before turning on the tree lights in the square.

We saw plenty of folks out that we knew, too, which made it a true community event.

We came home, enjoyed some grub from the 99 and we watched The Christmas Story (for the first time not on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but on DVD). All in all, a great day!

The One With the Christmas Puke

Surely, you have heard of the legend of the Christmas Poo...the story carved out by South Park years ago. Well, we have had our own story of the Christmas Poo (you can search this site for it).

However, Christmas 2016 was the holiday of the Christmas Puke...literally!

Poor Bri developed the stomach bug that Kiff had the week before. Of course, we were worried about that but thought we were in the clear until 4:00 AM on Christmas when we heard the pitter-patter of feet. Realizing that it was much to late for Santa's arrival, it could only mean one thing - someone going to the bathroom.

The next thing we knew, we heard the unmistakable groan of someone yaking!


And Yak she did...five times on Christmas....marking a Christmas we will never forget.

Sure, we did have many great memories in spite of the raging puke - from Kiff and I watching a Godzilla movie, to some neat snacks later in the day....but this one will go down as the year of the Christmas Puke.


Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

 

The One Where We Put The Christmas Items Away

Alas it has hit

That dreaded weekend.

The one where we put our Christmas trees away.

Always dark and depressing at first....but a hint of things to come.

Until next year, we bid you adieu Christmas tree, Christmas decorations, Christmas plates.


You will be here again before we know it.

The One With the Tree Lighting

Last night was Danvers annual tree lighting ceremony.

It was fun.

Emmie, Bri, Kiff, and I went down to watch. We got there just in time to see Santa arrive by a fire engine. Little did we know just how lucky we were.

We parked ourselves on the street side of the tree that is lit up. Unbeknowst to us, this is where Santa goes to hit the lights to light up the tree. So, as we were awaiting the countdown - viola - he was there.

We counted down and on ten, he lit the lights.

And beauty illuminated the night.