December Cruisin’

We spent the week after Thanksgiving packing for our first cruise. I read a cruise tip to pack all of your summer clothes and swimsuits instead of storing them for the winter. I never got the chance to do that! Annabeth was splashing around in her pool while Dad washed his car a couple weeks ago. We left for Cocoa Beach the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Annabeth had her first swim lesson at 9:30am. We stopped at Bojangle’s for breakfast biscuits and drove 6 hours to our hotel for the night. Parking was included in our hotel stay, so we took a shuttle to port and boarded the Harmony of the Seas Sunday morning.

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We had some fun but 7 nights was a little too much for first-timers. It would have been much more enjoyable if Annabeth were older or if we were traveling with family and/or friends. The weather was gorgeous and we loved the white tablecloth dining. Annabeth could have spent every waking moment in the hot tub or saltwater pool.

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We disembarked on Sunday and drove straight home. Cooper was being taken care of by a neighbor and he was ready for us to come back. We felt like Christmas came and went too quickly, so we’ll try to skip December vacations unless they include Christmas. We didn’t even have a tree up until a week before Christmas. Annabeth didn’t mind and that’s really all that matters. We had friends over the Sunday before Christmas to paint pajama shirts and decorate cookies. In Colorado, we got the kids together and painted Christmas morning shirts. The people you thought had zero artistic ability seemed to decorate with surprise talent. The messy paint party has become my favorite newer Christmas tradition and we were happy to have some friends here to share in the fun. Plus, who can pass up wings and sugar cookies?

T.J. had some leftover vacation days and ended up being off for 5 days for Christmas. Honestly, I was ready for him to go back to work and get Annabeth back into our regular routine. Sorry, Dad. We love you but you sure do mess things up! I spent the week of New Year’s programming the “Dad” out of Annabeth and catching a whole lot of mumbling, “Dad lets me.”

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Annabeth’s belief in Santa for the first time was a bunch of fun. It was also ammunition to keep her on the straight and narrow. Santa brought small trinkets every night if she behaved for that day. He left a few notes in place of treats encouraging Annabeth to follow instructions for a change. She was genuinely saddened by disappointing Santa but Mom was pleased to see the refreshed motivation to listen. That back-fired on us when it was Christmas Eve and she ran to us in tears realizing that she had not yet sat on Santa’s lap to share her Christmas wishes. Thanks Miracle on 34th Street. I was too busy baking so T.J. brought her to the mall to meet Santa. He arrived just as they placed a sign after the last kid in line that Santa was taking a break in an hour. The line was that long! They ate pizza, went shopping for Mom’s Christmas gift, and snagged a spot at the front of the line. Christmas was a lot of playing with Barbies, a new obsession with Polly Pocket, and a conversation with Santa about those Crayola Glitter Dots in Annabeth’s stocking. Now on to 2020!

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