Some Trivia and There Will NOT Be a Test.

    2024 arrived here with several days of heavy rain and winds. Cities to the north are flooded, but they lie close to the Bay and usually flood when rains are this heavy and tides this high. We sit on a small hill that is about 18-20 feet above high tide and thus should be dry until we move or pass on. The water did wash over our dock. We went up to the daughter's house for Christmas. 

 We arrived the night before and did the traditional drive-by of the neighborhood light shows and then came home to eat dinner and watch "The Polar Express." This is a tradition hardened over the years and cannot be broken. In the morning we sorted gifts but did not open, waiting for my son and his family. After virtual Christmas mass from the TV, the guys watched football and the gals and the grandson home from RIT watched a comedy romance in the kitchen while we waited for the breakfast casseroles to heat up. It was NOT that cold. Just this family is always big in wraps.

Then when my son and his wife and the toddler arrived everything broke into celebratory chaos.

It was lovely with the 4 grandchildren and both of my children and their spouses. I did not cook a single thing and my daughter prepared easy meals. The gift opening is my least favorite part of the day. I usually forget what I had wrapped and I usually worry that I have no idea what they will want! (I of course have absolutely everything I could ever want on this day, so gifts for me are an aside.) We have a toddler now, and she stole the show. She still does not know what the holiday is all about but she had fun tearing off wrapping paper. It was exhausting and then the son and his wife and the toddler joined us here at my house for the garden in the lights display that is put up every year the week before New Year. This is a big deal and a good money maker for the sculpture garden. It takes them days to cover the two acres with lights.

The event had a perfect ending when we found a stuffed toy turtle on a stick in the gift shop and my granddaughter "walked" it all the way to the car!  She had just watched a cartoon movie about turtles the night before.

And above toddler's hand prints on my deck door was the perfect ending.