It's a Wonderful Life!

Christmas Day has come and gone
And still the parties linger on...

We are now on Day 5 of holiday parties. I think this is the last day. We have a short break before New Years. It is going to be quiet as usual. Just hanging around at home.

The kids pose on Chelsea's trampoline in their Christmas finery. This was a rare quiet moment in the last few days. I love how Chelsea is putting her arm around Travis's head.

I made this icy display for my mom. I froze cranberries and greens in a bundt pan and put a candle in the middle. I got the idea from a magazine. I am not sure I like how it turned out. The cranberries were not cooperative and kept floating up. So I had to place them upside-down so they could be seen.
Chelsea got a Belle doll from Santa. She loves babies. She was so happy that she had one with hair to brush. The only problem is that it comes with a dolly pocketbook and everytime the pocket book fell off of Belle's arm, Chelsea threw a fit!
Chelsea's expression when she opens a gift:
Travis takes a look at all of the packages from Santa and makes his excited face. This is a face I never tire of seeing. I dread the day this stops and I am certainly glad to have captured this moment.
Here is Mimi (my mother) with her three grandchildren. Next year it will be four! Oh...not me! My brother and his wife are expecting again! Everytime Chelsea heard me call my mother "mom" she would get angry and say "No! Mimi!"
Santa also brought Chelsea a one-person trampoline. The kids love it and are pretty good about taking turns.
Chelsea stands with Bumpa at the railing of his loft. He took the kids and I to Disney on Ice the day after Christmas. Chelsea was enthralled. Travis loved it, especially when the Incredibles were on the ice. We had great seats and it was a successful trip.
The look on Chelsea's face is proof that one of her favorite people in the world is her Tita (my sister-in-law).
Here is Sweet Caroline with Tita. Caroline is a big hit with my kids. Each time Travis went near her, Chelsea would block her and say, "No! Mine!" At one point all three kids were in the tub together. They would swim and play. The water, as you can imagine, looked pretty murky when they were done.
Here is another picture of Caroline. Mimi gave her a Wally the Green Monster doll that sings "Sweet Caroline" for Christmas. She made us listen to it a few (hundred) times.
Travis shows off his mile-long lashes and his cute little pout.
Here is Chelsea with Mommy and Mimi... three generations. Travis took the picture. Not bad. No thumb in it and he didn't cut off our heads. Those are my biggest issues when I take pictures.
Grandma BJ gave the kids each their own tents. As you can see she hit the nail on the head with what each loves most.
Travis was finally able to give Mimi her gift. He found it out shopping with me and immediately thought of Mimi. It is a miniature park bench. It looks somewhat like the one she sits on to watch him ride his bike in her driveway. Travis also told me that it is a great place to relax and eat popcorn. I think Mimi loved this gift. She burst into tears when she opened it.
Here is Chelsea and Gwyn playing with the Littlest Pet Shop Toy Gwyn got for Christmas. Chelsea is always happy when the bigger kids let her play.
Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Peg sit back and take in all the excitement of Christmas Day. It was packed at their house. Everyone had a terrific time.
Nobody can make Chelsea laugh like her daddy!
Travis graduated from Lego Duplo blocks to the little kits with a zillion pieces. Santa brought him a Lego Train Set. I don't know who is happier about these Lego's... Travis or Daddy. They finally got a chance to put it together on December 27th.
In the meantime there were plenty of things for Travis to do. He also got a Thomas the Tank Engine playset from the movie "The Great Discovery". He spent a lot of time playing and making the trains go all over the place.
Chelsea and Travis enjoy some time in front of the fire before the action starts on Chrismas Eve. This is another change this year. For as long as I can remember we have had the Christmas Eve gathering at Gee's house. Now that she is in a much smaller appartment, we went to Mimi's house. The same cast of characters were there and it was a blast.
No matter how many toys he gets and how many cousins there are to play with, to Travis Christmas will always be about the the Christmas Train around the tree.
We saw family and friends and ate great food. The kids played with their cousins and went on little trips. We are one family who considers itself to be truly lucky. Thank you to all of the party hosts: Mimi, Grandma BJ and family, the Horrigans, Bumpa and Nancy, the Callahans, and Diane. I can't believe we have to wait 11 months to do it all again. I guess it is the anticipation of those 11 months that make this time of year so magical. So...

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

And God Bless Us, Everyone!

Sweets for the Sweet

T'was the day before Christmas and what do you do
With two over excited children...I haven't a clue!
It's raining outside and everything is wet
Let's sugar the kids up...and see what we get!
A gingerbread house with sweet stuff galore
and candy shingles, windows, chimney and door.
From cleaning and work, we took a reprieve...
And made a merry sweet creation this Christmas Eve!

Let It Snow...Let It Snow... Okay, That's Enough!!!!

The first true snow storm of the year is upon us. It would be so much more enjoyable if it weren't on the tail of the big ice storm. There are acutally people who still haven't gotten their power back yet and haven't had heat or hot water for over a week now. I am so thankful that we got ours back fairly quickly. We probably have a good foot of snow right now. And guess what we are supposed to get tomorrow... more snow! And the true season of winter hasn't even started yet!
Here is our little house braving the elements. We didn't lose power during this storm. I guess some people who had just gotten their electricity back, lost theirs again last night. What a tease!
This is next to my back door. To me it just screams "Winter is Here!" It is just a little bittersweet and pinecones in a planting basket. I think the snow makes it look very pretty and Christmasy.
Travis decided to brave the storm at the height of the action. We decided to have our neighbors come down to have some drinks and appetizers and John had to clear a path for them to get to the house. Travis took one look at his dad out in the snow and had me dress him up. He came in a little while later cold, snowy, but very happy.
When our neighbors' kids visit, their favorite game is to play dress up and put on shows or do a parade. Chelsea, not to be left out, decided to dress up in Travis's old Halloween costume. She looked the part of Miss Incredible!
Chelsea was thrilled to be allowed out the following morning. It was very chilly, but she stuck it out for a while. She loved to dig in the snow.

Travis tried sledding. I don't know why it was such a bust. Maybe the snow isn't sticky enough or what???? He got a few good runs in, so he was fairly content.
Here are the kids trying to figure out the sledding issues. Let's hope this isn't the weather pattern for the whole season. It is pretty and a little fun. The kids love it! But Travis hasn't had school for over a week. I only taught on Thursday. At this rate we will be going to school until the last day of June. I guess there is no point in worrying about that now. Just enjoy the White Christmas!

Art by Travis

Here is Travis's picture of Santa. We have another day off from school and my son has recently taken an interest in coloring and drawing. I thought this was precious and plan to put it in a frame. I am sure every year I will appreciate remembering how he drew this at 5 years old.

Christmas Road Trip!!

As has been our tradition for the last several years, we have taken little field trips at Christmas time. Usually we go with my husband's grandparents. It started a in 2005 with a trip to Bright Nights in Springfield. The next year we went to Edaville Railroad. I was on maternity leave with Chelsea that year, so we also took the kids to see Candlelight Christmas at Sturbridge Village. Last year we took a ride on the North Pole Express at the Essex Steam Train. The plan was to go back to Edaville this year, but alas, Jack Frost thwarted our plans. On to Plan B!

In a spontaneous decision, we decided to take advantage of school closing due to the storm and my husband having a full day off and take a ride out to the Yankee Candle Village in Deerfield. Santa is there and it is wintery and festive. You can walk through the doors in mid-July and feel like it is Christmastime. The only question is would the kids like it???

Here is the complex lit up for the holidays.

The kids loved the big stuffed animals. They would have loved to take them home. Given their cost (it would have been cheaper to go on a real safari) and the fact that we live in an already-stuffed house, we had to settle for just a quick visit.

The kids stopped to try out the hammocks. You would have thought they were at an amusement park given their laughter and smiles. Again, this proves that kids can be entertained by the simplest things.

My children have a fascination with ramps. Each time we go anywhere they find the handicap ramp and run up and down the little hill. Yankee Candle was no excetion. Here is Chelsea running towards the ramp.

Here it is... one of the trains. Would any trip for us be complete without a train-sighting??? Travis was tickled by this. Several of the rooms had trains that circled the ceilings. John lifted Travis up so he could take a closer look.

Chelsea finally found a place where she can be treated like the princess she is!
After dipping their own candles, the kids decided to explore the room. Here is Travis posing behind the wheel of an old fashioned car. The crazy look on his face makes me a little nervous about what will happen when he gets to drive for real!!

Snack time!!! While we ate our ice cream we were entertained by the "Candle Mountain Band". They were automated and, to be honest, a little creepy. But the kids loved them. Especially when they sang about "Bruce the Christmas Moose". On the way home we hit Cracker Barrel for a stick-to-your ribs supper. Exhausted and happy, Chelsea fell asleep. Travis sang along with the Chipmunks. Another successful Campbell Christmas Road Trip!

The "Perfect" Christmas Weekend... gone awry!

We had planned a great weekend full of Christmas festivities! We were to be busy...but not too busy. The kids were to be entertained, but not overstimulated. It was to start on Friday after school with a visit to Santa (or as Chelsea calls him "Mimas Tree") and a ride on the little Christmas train. Travis had a play date arranged for Saturday afternoon and I was going to try to fit some shopping in. On Sunday I was going to sneak off on my own to try to finish the Christmas shopping and then we were going to visit Edaville Railroad to ride on the train and see the lights display. Our plans were over before they could even begin.

On Thursday night the ice storm began. We had lost power by the time I got home from a concert at 11:30. The rain and sleet were coming down in sheets and with no power, we would have no workable sump pump in the basement. We rescued the kid's Christmas presents just before they were soaked. By Friday we still were without electricity. Travis and I had no school. The house had stayed reasonably warm throughout the day as the water poured into the cellar. Last time we checked it was right above the first stair. John got his hands on a generator and started pumping. We had an interesting sight to behold when we looked outside that morning. Many trees had fallen, taking wires with them. I thought our neighborhood was in atrocious condition, but it turns out that we didn't get the worst of it. Here is a little of what we saw from our yard:



After a frantic call from my mother, we packed up the generator and our bedding and headed into Holden to sleep by her fire place. It always looked so cozy when the cast of Little House on the Prairie huddled around the Ingalls' fireplace. It would be like that for us, too! John needed to head to work and at least my mother and I would be together with the kids. Meanwhile John taught my mom how to run the generator to get the water out of her basement. It was a fullish moon that night and it was a beautiful, chilly view from my mom's front door.
We kept the fire going all night as best we could but it was still about 50 degrees inside the following morning. How did Michael Landon make it look so easy??? Oh yeah...it was just a TV show!!! John had to work again and was getting sick. Chelsea had woken up with a low-grade temp and a nose that was running like a faucet. That was all I needed to convince me that enough was enough. We were lucky enough to get one of the last rooms at a local hotel. Hot water, heat, lights that worked... in our opinion it was the lap of luxury. Here is Chelsea hanging out watching TV
Travis and Chelsea finally got to take a dip in the pool. It took two days to get his bathing suit. I hadn't packed one for him, as I was freezing when I was packing and swimming was the LAST thing on my mind. We hung out and watched Christmas specials on TV. We even ordered ice cream from room service.
Finally our power came on on Saturday night and we were able to light the pilot light on the furnace on Sunday. On Monday we had no school again and I felt that it was time to make up for our lost weekend. The kids and I headed to a local mall to see St. Nick and ride the train.
The kids were excited to ride the train. The didn't mind that they were seated in the caboose.
When it was time to see Santa, Chelsea sat with him but was shy about talking to him. Travis told him a few things on his list (no surprises for Mom, thank God!). In true Campbell form, the kids left Santa's pavilion and started running. Chelsea fell on her face and ended up with a bloody fat lip.

As for our experience with the storm that I have heard reporters calling "Operation Big Ice" it made me all the more symathetic for what the Katrina victims must be going through. We have been hung up for a little over four days. For the people of New Orleans, it has been over 3 years! I can't imagine. It was a wake up call to appreciate things that I take for granted, like hot water and a warm house. It made me grateful to be with my family and be able to keep my children safe and relatively comfortable. It proved to me AGAIN what strong and capable people my mom and husband are. So I guess the weekend wasn't a total wash after all. Inconvenient? YES! Uncomfortable? At times! But maybe we all are a little more thoughtful about what we have. Maybe we are a little more neighborly to the people who surround us on a day-to-day basis. Maybe we are more appreciative of our families and friends, who worked together to help each other during this mess. And if that stuff is now in the forefront of our minds, isn't that a large part of the meaning of this season?