Ho, Ho, Ho
Another holiday season has come and gone for us here in Bermuda, and boy, did it fly by! It seemed there was always something on the go – Ryley and Josh both had a few Christmas performances at their school, we indulged in our usual office parties and dinners with friends, held our own open house party, and to top it off we took a trip to New York, Florida, and Philly with the kids to spice things up a bit. Whew!
This year the holiday season was officially kicked off by the annual Lancashire kids’ Christmas party. It was a chilly night (don’t laugh, Canadians!), which was fitting, and everyone had fun watching outdoor movies and eating Christmas cookies. Santa even made an appearance – the first we’d see of him this year!
That same weekend (the last in November), we foraged deep into the forest (aka Sousa’s landscaping) and found this year’s official Wilson family Christmas tree. By the end of the weekend, the house was in full Christmas effect – complete with stockings hung by the chimney (with care). Our trusty Christmas “Elf on the Shelf, Eddie, also made his first appearance on December 1st. (he was punctual this year!)
We’re getting good at these!
Over the course of the next few weeks, Warwick Academy held their annual Christmas performances. Ryley had an assembly at school where they sang a few Christmas songs for the parents, one of which was her favorite song of all time, “Let It Go“! Not long after, both Josh and Ryley did a little Ceilidh dancing with their schoolmates, and before school was out for the holiday we also got to see them perform in the big Christmas concert! Josh was selected to be a shepherd in the play this year, while Ryley was one of the first-year singing sheep. Great performances, all!
This year we held a pre-Christmas open house party at our place, so we could see a bunch of our friends that we hadn’t seen for a little while. We had a great turnout, the weather was ideal, and I think everyone had a great time (I know we did)!
Not long after, on Christmas eve, we were invited to have dinner with Will & Fran’s family, and it was fantastic! After our evening of food and fun, it was home to put out the nanaimo bars Á egg nog for Santa and put the kids to bed before Santa arrived!
A cool NYC tour!
Christmas day was great – the kids made out like bandits per usual (lots of Skylanders for Josh and an American Girl doll for Ryley – and of course Lego for both as well as for Jenn!) Following the gift opening was our annual pilgrimage to the beach… and then another fantastic feast with Joel & Kandis’ family that evening! To top it off, after Christmas dinner Joel set up a ping-pong net on their dining room table (ping pong being a Christmas tradition in his family), where we had a mini-tourney on the mini-table. Lots of fun!
But wait… that’s not all! One of the gifts we gave to the kids (and to ourselves) was a surprise family trip! We (ok, Jenn) had arranged a trip with my parents to meet up with them and my sister in Florida for a Christmas getaway. We worked in a few days in New York before heading down to Daytona Beach to hang out with my folks, brother Kyle, and sister Cass and family.
New York at Christmas sounded like it could be fun in that fairytale sort of way (though I was admittedly a little skeptical) – so we took a shot at it, at least to say that we did. It didn’t work out quite as well as we would have hoped (big crowds, no snow, and cranky kids)! We did, however, do some ‘New York Christmas’ stuff, like seeing the Rockefeller Christmas tree, skating at Central Park, and of course went to see the Radio City Christmas Special! Looking back, it was good – though perhaps would be better when the kids are old enough to appreciate it!
The Wilsons in Florida!
No matter – onwards we went for the main part of our trip – Daytona Beach! Nana & Papa used their timeshare points to get some suites at the Wyndham Ocean Walk hotel. Having a hotel right on the beach should have been ideal, unfortunately mother nature had other plans and kept the sky overcast and rainy for most of the trip. We made the most of it, though; bowling, golfing, shopping, and a day-trip to Orlando for a Circue du Soleil show at Downtown Disney kept us busy. And of course there were a few game nights with the family, Nana’s favorite! (It was fireworks and Monopoly on New Year’s eve this year!) Nana brought a bunch of Christmas baking down with her as well, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. Mmm… nanaimo bars…
The last stop on our trip was in Philadelphia, where we stayed overnight in order to see Disney’s Frozen on Ice before coming back to Bermuda. A pretty good end to what was overall a pretty good trip!
So there you have it – Happy New Year everyone – check out the gallery below from this year’s Christmas season!
