Perfect Kick off to the Holiday Season

Once again I had the pleasure of having my nephew, Seamus, join me for the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It has been a whorl wind so far. 

We packed up from grandma's house, duffle and Coda, and we drove back, about an hour, to my place.  My nephew didn't stop talking.  He calls himself a 'chatterbox'.  Actually I don't think I know another kid his age (8 years) that could keep up with him.  He has an uncommon way of transforming a conversation and taking it off on tangents and all of a sudden he will say "hey, how did we get here?".  He's done it about three times in the 24 hours since he's arrived.

Thursday night isn't much, get a tour of the house, find all the light switches, reaquainte him to all the nuiances of my home so he will feel comfortable. 

Friday began with baking cinnamon buns.  It was really cute, he read all the directions including setting the clock and timer.  The Dough Boy helped out and Seamus placed the buns on the baking pan.  Mr. Eagle Eye kept watching the clock and the oven and thought it was really cool to see them rise.  Ding went the buzzer and we pulled them out - perfection was only a few dribbles of icing away.  He ate four of them along with a big banana and Aunt Patty's special/secret organge juice. 

Ok - we make the list of items to do, take care of chores and help Bob the Builder with several items he needs to take care of while we are gone.  There was lunch at Steve's; go to the Library for movies and books and get Aunt Patty's library mail; watch the movie at the Library; back home to get ready and then the real treat - go to see Santa turn on the lights!

The Festival of Lights has been my favorite thing to do since I moved to the Hartford area.  It's my way to kick off the holiday season; I get an enormous dose of holiday spirit all in one shot.  This year, the event was moved from Constitution Plaza to Bushnell Park to enable the growth of the event.  In that spirit, citizens gathered at the Plaza and walked through the city streets singing carols and picking up Santa along the way (riding a Zamboni machine) to the park. Traditions evolve, it's how they stay traditions!

So Seamus and I did just that.  We met some of the Wolf Pack hockey team and some of the cast from "A Christmas Carol", in costume, opening that evening at Hartford Stage.  We met Hartford's new mayor.   Mayor Pedro E. Segarra is a lovely man.  He took several moments to answer my questions about the downtown improvement and pointed out some of the upcoming highlights.   I introduced Seamus to the mayor.  He spoke directly to Seamus about the science museum and what a good time he will have.

Before long, the group of us began the march to the park.  Hartford's finest were on motocycles;streets closed off as we walked and sang.  Meeting up with Santa was really cool.  We moved into the park, obtained our complimentary hot cocco, and awaited the turning on of the lights.  There was a skating demo on artifical ice, and more caroling.  Hartford mounted police were there too.  It was a short lived program, a few dignitaries.  In my opinion, we need more pizzaz and I'm sure with the change in venue we will see improvements over the next years.  Since the carousel was open we walked over only to find the line was a couple of hours long.  We peeked through the windows and could see all the horses going round and round.  I promised Seamus we would come back at a time when it wasn't as busy.

We treated ourselves to IHOP for a quick dinner.  We laughed so much and then it was home, jamies and to watch part of the movie before getting ready for bed.  We said our "we are thankful fors"; I had to cut them off at ten as he'd never get to sleep.   All in All - it was a perfect day - sweet dreams.

PS  Before I forget, my eyes are heavy ....  things he wants to do for next time - ride the carousel, go ice skating, skateboarding, bake cookies, cook dinner, work as Santa's assistant, read a book, learn more words, do more math examples; make some crafts in my studio, go to Steve's, go to the art museum, make some art, then...he said .." I, like, maybe can stay at your (my) house for five weeks because KC will like me better",,,  the list goes on but I'm getting the giggles thinking of the great day I had.  Tomorrow will only get better.

PSS  This was a good one - he wanted to know... (you just can't make this up) .." if  grammie Kovack married Aunt Denise's daddy would the Filosa cousins be my cousins?  That would be cool, you can not have enough cousins".   Hey PopPop and JoJo - are you listening?