Florida Festivity

Hey, look at me! I'm finally starting to blog about Christmas! Only a couple weeks past due, but hey, what can you do.

After we arrived in Florida, preparing for Christmas was at the top of our agenda. We had postponed all purchasing of presents until we arrived (a stupid decision, we realized, as we later ran around like crazy people trying to finish up shopping at the last minute), and of course, we were unable to decorate for the holidays until we settled in.

While we waited for our belongings to arrive in Florida, however, we were able to kick off our Christmas preparations by trimming my family's Christmas tree with my dad and sister. Usually this is a Thanksgiving evening tradition, but they decided to wait for all of us to be there to help. It's always so much fun to decorate that old family tree, the one with the fun bubble lights and cheerful gold garland, the one that is filled with all the ornaments of our childhood. One by one, we pull each ornament out of that ancient old 13" color TV box they're stored in, remembering where it came from or when it was made and hanging it with care. So many memories on one tree!

Eric and Heather looking through ornaments

Miss Piggy! She's ridiculous and deliciously tacky, but she's a classic and always earns a spot front and center.

Left: Hanging ornaments with my sister; Right: the finished product!

When our stuff finally arrived, we got unpacked and hurried to set up our own Christmas tree in our living room. Given that she had been in bed for the family tree trimming, it was Ellie's first tree-trimming experience!

She's pumped.

Watching how it's done

Here, let me try!

Hanging her Pooh Bear ornament

Ta-da!

That evening, we decided to continue the festivity by going to see the lights in Downtown St. Pete. My dad joined us, and we had a very nice little evening stroll through Straub Park. They had some fun photo ops:

Family in a wreath

Left: in a wreath with my dad; Right: Christmas tree!

Wait, hold on. I'm sorry, but can we just look a little closer at Ellie in that last picture?

Oh, how I laugh!

Anyway, they also had lots of fun light displays:

Happy Holidays, says a teddy bear in a box!

Santa playing baseball with an elf

...a large Christmas tree:

Pretty tree

...a nice nativity scene:

I'm a sucker for a nice nativity.

...and a lovely little area that was lit so nicely, it felt like a sparkly Christmas wonderland:

Enjoying the lights with Ellie

Family fun

After seeing the lights, we couldn't help but stop and have a little fun with the mini golf display outside the Museum of Fine Arts. Giant Ellie terrorizes the Sunshine Skyway Bridge!

Beware, commuters!

It was a lovely little holiday evening.

Of course, I also prepared for the holidays by seeing a couple of classic Christmas shows: The Nutcracker, thanks to my mom, and A Christmas Carol at the Freefall Theater, featuring my beautiful and talented sister! Both were fantastic, of course.

Enjoying my yearly night of wishing I had never quit ballet lessons

Featuring HEATHER BAIRD! She's awesome.

In non-holiday shows news, it also bears a quick mention that I have actually been lucky enough to see two other shows since arriving in Florida: Sister Act, thanks to my sister, and Mary Poppins, thanks to my friend Kristina! With all these shows, it's like I never even left New York! Hooray!

Oh, and speaking of shows, my sister is in a production of 9 to 5: The Musical at the Show Palace Dinner Theater in Hudson right now, through February 24. If you're in the area, GO SEE IT! Tickets are $49.50 for dinner and the show, or $38.45 for show only. I hear Heather is amazing, although this is hardly a shock to me. I can't wait to see it myself.

So anyway, that was all our Christmas preparation upon arriving in Florida. I have to say, I regret moving during the holiday season. I felt like everything was so crazy and hectic that I really didn't get to slow down and enjoy the season as much as I would have liked, especially with it being Ellie's first. There was no time for baking cookies or watching Christmas specials or just lazing around, listening to Christmas music while staring up at the tree. I would have liked more time to do those things.

But, we did what we could and overall, I'd say we did a pretty good job of getting into the spirit despite the madness of moving. I will tell you all about our actual Christmas later this week, so stay tuned!