Christmas in PA, 2006

The Lights at Longwood

Cody and Dylan excited on Christmas morning

Zoe and Danny just before Christmas dinner

The big spread for xmas dinner: Standing Rib Roast, Pop-overs (yorkshire puddings), wild rice, scalloped potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, pecan salad, and chocolate mousse

Cubby opening his gifts as Cody, Dylan and Craig look on

Ewald, Lynne, Rick and Beth by the Christmas Tree

There’s nothing like a real wintry Christmas with all the trimmings and traditions from your childhood, so Zoë really got into the spirit this year, spending the first Christmas with friends and family in America for five years. The lead-up to xmas was a lot of caroling, we must have sung songs about 6 or 7 times here and there, and a lot of xmas lights and displays in the area. As mentioned before, it seems to be the only possible positive outcome to the development of such a beautiful, formerly rural area: the glitzy and cheery lights strung under eaves and all about the yards. We also went to look at the lights at Longwood Gardens with Beth, Cody and Dylan. This world renowned garden puts on a dazzling display of lights, decorated trees, living wreaths (of orchids, cacti or other exotic plants), some music and an ice skating show that we really enjoyed. We went caroling at a Quaker nursing home in West Chester with my dad and musician friends who have been making the xmas rounds for about 20 years. We were also in town for the old fashioned Christmas parade that same night, Craig getting his first taste of a small town American parade with high school marching bands and grandfathers in fancy antique cars. We even visited the gigantic tree, skating rink and nearby window displays at Rockefeller Center in New York. We were deep into Christmas cheer by the time the actual day rolled around.

Our great friend from Australia, Jocelyn, came down to spend the holidays with us from Boston where she is currently working and living. It was really great to share Christmas together and she got to take the Zoë-background tour as well.

On Christmas eve, we went over to show Jocelyn the site where we hope to get married next September. We were trying to visualize it and think things through when a minister arrived at this small chapel deep in the woods, declared us all Christmas elves sent from the sky (I think it was ‘cause both Jocelyn and Craig are redheads) and we set about helping her prepare for a Christmas mass. So, we had a big sing along type of xmas mass in a delightfully unintended way. Then we went round to friends Robbie and Mary’s for a xmas eve dinner.

We awoke at 7:30 on Christmas morning and went downstairs to watch Zoë’s nephews, Cody and Dylan open their stockings and presents. We all exchanged some gifts and had a big breakfast where Jocelyn joined us as well. The day was a bit grey and rainy, so we spent in indoors, getting ready for the big feast. There was a brief family drama where it appeared that Zoë’s grandmother, Danny, wouldn’t make it down to Beth’s house for xmas dinner. She has some erratic sleeping patterns and had apparently been up all night on Christmas eve. So, Zoë, Craig and Jocelyn walked through the woods to her house to sing her every Christmas carol we knew. We sang them all, (except Rudolph which Danny quickly told us she did not like), humming when we didn’t know the words. This was a particularly fun part of the day. The family was joined by Zoë’s dad, Cubby, and Eileen and Ewald, totaling 13 people who came over to Beth’s house that night, and we feasted with merriment.