Christmas in Florida
Wednesday 01/06/2010 1:19 PM
When we got into Florida at 7:30 pm, it felt like 1:30 am to our bodies. Nevertheless, after loading up the luggage, we went to Village Inn to get an omelette for me and crepes for Alex. Village Inn has, by far, the best omelette I've ever encountered, and our Florida tradition is to have our first Tallahassee meal there every time we visit. After our breakfast-dinner, we drove through Oven Park to look at the Christmas lights, and then to Peter's were we were reunited with Freya and Calvin. We met Freya in the backyard since we knew she'd do "the happy dance" she does when anyone she recognizes comes home, and when she's really excited, she becomes a spinning canine fountain. When Peter brought her into the backyard, though, she eyed us cautiously and kept her distance for a few seconds before the recognition set in. Then she looked back and forth between Alex and me a few times like she was making sure it was really us. We had left her, afterall, five months earlier, and in her mind, we were probably gone for ever. Once she realized who we were, though, she was wiggling and spinning as we'd expected.
We stayed up a little longer to visit with Peter and Candy and get settled in, and then crashed. We all figured that jetlag woould entice us to sleep late on Christmas morning, but Alex and I were wide awake by, I think, 7 the next morning. I stalled him as long as I could and then he just HAD to go wake up Peter and Candy so we could open presents:
Once the coffee was brewing, he got to look for what Santa had left him. He went to the tree, looked right past the unicycle in front of it with a red bow, and started shuffling through the presents to see which ones said, "From Santa." Candy and I watched in amazement, asking, "But Santa's presents aren't usually wrapped, are they? Are you sure there isn't anything else?"
He DID finally spot it, though (roll eyes here). And then the present opening commenced. Freya's stocking had and elf hat, which she tolerated long enough for me to get this photo:
Peter and Candy had matching tshirts:
And Peter found Rausch chocolate in his stocking, which proves that Santa exists, since Shannon curiously wasn't able to find it ANYwhere in Frankfurt.
Alex with the Lego plane Grandma sent ...
... and looking like he's got some seriously mischievious plans in mind for the erector set from Grandpa:
Freya, my much-simpler kid to buy for, was perfectly content with her new tennis ball, and Calvin was just happy to have his boy back:
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A few days later, Heidi drove up for a quick visit, which obviously meant it was going to be a Wii Rockband night:
The next day, we spent some time at Lake Ella before Heidi headed back. We climbed a big ole tree by the lake and Alex practiced balancing on his unicycle:
And then it was a great lunch with Gil, who was both my and Peter's most influential high school teacher (I don't think I'm overstating the situation when I say that this man saved our lives back then), and afterwards, packing up for the long drive back to Ohio.
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