For Thanksgiving this year, we were originally planning on taking a trip down to Virginia to visit Ben's sisters for the weekend, leaving Tuesday night and returning Sunday. We thought it would be nice to spend the holiday with family, enjoying the company of some of our favorite people. Henry was thrilled about the chance to play with cousins and even celebrate his birthday with them!
But then we had a better idea. It would probably be a lot more fun to wait until Wednesday, late afternoon, when Thanksgiving traffic reached its peak of festivity, and then take a five-hour drive to Connecticut (normally a two-hour drive). When we got to Connecticut, we could stop at Friendly's for a delicious dinner, then sleep over in a hotel. Then, on the morning of Thanksgiving, we could eat a lovely Dunkin' Donuts breakfast (the only place open on Thanksgiving) before braving the traffic for our 3 1/2 hour return trip. Then we could get home around 2:00 on Thanksgiving day and sit around for the rest of the day.
Some of you may say this Plan B doesn't sound quite as great as Plan A. Some of you may argue that we could go to Friendly's and Dunkin' Donuts here in Massachusetts, without the added "hassle" of 8 1/2 hours of driving. Well, you obviously don't know how much fun it can be to stay in a Comfort Inn.
Okay, so that is what we did for Thanksgiving. But it's probably not quite how we would have planned it had we had our heads on straight. On Sunday I came down with what we think was Swine Flu, which Henry had suffered through the previous week. By Tuesday I was feeling nowhere near ready to pack for a trip to VA, so we called off our plans for the time being. By Wednesday afternoon, we were feeling so sorry for ourselves, knowing that we were going to miss Thanksgiving completely, so we decided to stock up on hand sanitizer and medical masks - so as not to infect our entire family - and we packed in an hour and got out the door. Well, as I mentioned above, we got to CT in 5 hours -- which was supposed to be 2 hours -- 1/4 of our entire drive. Worst traffic day of the year, apparently. When we stopped at Friendly's for dinner, I took Ellis out of his car seat and he was roasting. I checked his temperature, and he was a steamy 101.6 degrees. Knowing what Ellis was in for if he was only beginning his bout with the flu, and seeing the gloomy foreshadowing of horrible traffic to come, we knew we could never go the rest of the way to Virginia. Rather than suffer through traffic for another 5 hours home, we got a hotel, tried to make a party of it, and watched movies in our room until we fell asleep.
The next day when we made it home, a few friends saved the day by bringing over two plates of Thanksgiving food. We were pretty bummed about missing our trip, but the turkey and mashed potatoes helped ease the pain. I was still in serious recovery mode, and Ellis was pretty sick, so we didn't do anything major with the rest of our weekend, but we did try to make it fun, mostly for poor Henry's sake. We got a Christmas tree, made a paper chain for Christmas, and celebrated Henry's birthday with just the four of us. His birthday was on Saturday, and by that day Ellis was pretty miserable (with a double ear infection on top of the flu symptoms), so I took him to the doctor while Henry and Dad had a little one-on-one at the science museum. I actually think that was the perfect treat for Henry. Ben is his absolute favorite, and the science museum is like paradise for his curious little mind.
I am thankful for pretty paper.
And for this little 4-year-old who was very patient and understanding.
Henry is thankful that Ellis knows exactly what to get him -- yet another "Car Show" car.
Ben is thankful for Tinkertoys and mouthwash. Did you know that Ben is the only one in our family who swishes with mouthwash, and he's the only one that didn't get sick? I've heard that swishing with mouthwash regularly can prevent Swine Flu. Anyone want to argue with me on that one?
Christmas morning was pretty exciting around here! Henry LOVED the race track Santa brought him. That was the major highlight of the day. Don't believe me? Watch the video clip below.
Henry's first experience with the great disappointment in the toe of the stocking. "An orange? Why did Santa give me an orange?" He sat there bewildered for several minutes, and then finally asked, "What should I do with it?"
The punching balls were a hit! We had the kids play with their balloons while dancing to "Move Your Arms Like Henry" by the Wiggles (thanks, Kati!). Other exhilarating games included:
