I expected the Holidays to be kind of sad, without Jaylee. But it wasn’t. Life goes on. And, it helps that I know she’s where she wants to be- having an adventure!
Jason and I have been crazy in love for months now. So, he went Black Friday shopping with me. It was weird- there were no crazy store hours or huge sales. It was just a little more crowded than shopping any other day. Bummer. But, we had fun! And, most of our shopping was done.
The following Friday, we took the train to NYC to kick off our Christmas. The only thing we had scheduled for the day was ice skating at noon, in Central Park. It was a fun, relaxing, enjoyable day. It was Jimmy’s first time in NYC- he was in awe. We drove 1/2 way there then jumped on a train. While waiting for our train, another train zipped by SO INCREDIBLY fast that Jimmy, literally, collapsed to the ground in fear. He did NOT want to get on our train, when it arrived. It was so sad. Then we jumped on the subway to Central Park. Here, we ice skates for an hour and then climbed rocks for over 30 minutes. I had to force the boys to stop climbing rocks and do “city things”, while we could. Jason saw a cute old time diner surrounded by sky scrapers, that he wanted to stop at for lunch. When we walked in, the waiters were wearing tuxedos! $120 later for 3 burgers, scrambled eggs and fruit. The rest of the day was sight seeing Christmas decorations, trees and shopping. The Lego Store was definitely our favorite. All the kids wanted Olive Garden, so we ate on the second floor of the Times Square Olive Garden. $120 again but it was so much fun. I think we got back on our train around 8pm, exhausted.
The following day, we saw the whole Liounis clan at Steve and Jennifer’s for Haley’s bday party.
On Thursday, Dec 8, Jason and I headed to Ifly in King of Prussia to cash in my tickets from last Christmas. I LOVED it. It stunk that we only flew for 2 minutes each, but for the 30 seconds where I was flying 20 feet off the ground, it was AMAZING. I was giggling like a little kid. Then we continued on to Atlantic City for two nights of dancing- SO. MUCH. FUN.
The following week was full of catching up with friends, partying and getting Jimmy’s elbow cast off. Then the weekend was full- Friday we watched Meg’s family in their church’s play and then Zoomed with the Stringhams, Saturday we went to Claire’s ballet and dinner, and Sunday we watched Morgan’s church program where her choir sang.
On the 19th, we found out that I need brain surgery again. I did not take the news too well. Luckily, Jason had 2 vacation days left, so he cancelled his trip out Pittsburg and stayed home to listen to my self pity. After 48 hours, I snapped out of it and got back into the Spirit.
Then, the day finally arrived… Christmas Eve! Boy was it COLD this Christmas. A cold front on the 23rd dropped the temperature from 50 to 7 within a few hours. It knocked out our electricity, and unfortunately our furnace never came back online. So, on Christmas Eve, the kids and I headed to Nan and Poppop’s at 1:00. Jason finally got to join us around 4, after the HVAC guy finished up:( Nan made us delicious Greek Manicotti and tons of desserts. It was very odd, racing Santa hone, in two separate cars. To make things worse, as soon as we got home, Jack told me that he had a UTI. So, our next 3 hours were in the Lititz ER, while Jennibelle and Jinny watched Christmas movies. Usually, on Christmas Eve, my kids are asleep by 7pm. This year, it was around 10. But, they promised Jack that they wouldn’t go to sleep without him. They quickly fell asleep!
And then at 4:07AM…
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
It was a fabulous morning… fun, relaxing, exciting, full of appreciation, love, jokes, no rushing, and Zooms with Jaylee. Just perfect. The funnest gift is probably the one for all of us girls… Jason is sending me and Jennibelle to see Jaylee!! Hopefully we can get there before brain surgery, or the girls will be vacationing without me. Jason got an XBOX so that he and the boys can play together when he’s away for work.
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