Christmas, and another video clip with some news you probably already know...

A Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to all! We've had a wonderful holidays thus far and are still enjoying another week of break. Some of our neighbors have already tossed out their trees, but ours still looks lovely in the corner of the living room. I decorated it a few days before Christmas, only to have it tip to a lovely 45 degree angle when I had seven or eight ornaments on. Fortunately, Megan and Brian came over to help me right it in the stand (Nick was off butchering and Holiday Night-ing at the Village).

I also had a fun afternoon cookie baking with my mom and Andrea. I decided to make candy cane cookies (I remember making them as a kid). My dad volunteered to crush the peppermint candy that would go on top. After deciding that a rolling pin just wasn't good enough, my mom suggested a hammer. His hammer was in the car, so he opted for the sledgehammer in the garage. Definitely one of my favorite moments of this Christmas.

We each spent a few chilly nights working Holiday Nights at the Village, and are going to a concert later this week (BNL on New Year's Eve - yay!!). Christmas Eve and Christmas were both lovely - we managed to stay awake through Midnight Mass (I had not taken a nap that day, so I was worried about dozing off).

The video I'm posting today is from our trip to Florida last month. It's about 90 seconds long, but has a little bit of everything - drama, comedy, spectacular double takes, and an expert tackle by my sister. The Lions really ought to scout her for next season. Hopefully the Wildcats will fare better than the Lions in tonight's Alamo bowl (it's tied in the 3rd quarter as I'm writing). This coming Sunday is also Annie Christmas - Anne finally comes home on Thursday!!

The Trip to Florida...

I'm afraid this post might drift into a vague homage to my cousin Rob's trip reports, but not be as cool. Here goes anyway...

After hardly any sleep on Tuesday night, we were up at 4:15 on the day before Thanksgiving, ready to go. We drove all day (and night) finally arriving in Florida at about 2 in the morning. I drove for a few hours in Tennessee, and we watched a lot of movies.

By about midnight, Anne called us about every half-hour for a progress report. When we arrived, she was on the curb waiting for us to get out of the car. We said hello to Angie, Melissa and Uncle Paul, then off to bed - exhausted!

Later that morning, we had a good time visiting and getting a yummy Thanksgiving dinner in order. Melissa and Amine's house is adorable, and they were very gracious hosts. The Thanksgiving spread was awesome - Melissa's first turkey came out great! That evening, we went to the Grand Floridian to check out the Christmas decorations, see Annie's restaurant, and see the fireworks from Magic Kingdom. All in all, a wonderful evening.

The next day, we decided to go to the Hollywood Studios for the day. We were there first thing, and hoofed it right to Toy Story Mania - this was my favorite ride of the day. It's a carnival-style game, and so much fun. I beat Nick's score, and thought mine was pretty good, until we compared with the rest of the fam. We also got to see another of my favorites, MuppetVision 3D. In the evening, we saw Fantasmic, then went over to see the first night of the Christmas lights. The "New York" block of the park is completely covered with lights that are cued to music, and there's fake snow. It's pretty much awesome. The best part for me, though, is seeing how much my dad loves this. It's seriously one of his favorite things ever.

The next morning, a little visiting with Melissa and Angie, then we took Annie back to her apartment, and hopped back in the car. Yikes. The driving wasn't bad, but I think it wouldn't have been so crazy if we hadn't been in Florida for just two days. Oh well - seeing Anne was worth it. Enjoy the video.