Merry Christmas...TWICE!!

Wow...Christmas was a very busy day!

Keith came home from work at near 4:00 pm on Christmas Eve. After getting packed, eating dinner, and bathing Austin...we needed to wait until Austin's bed time prior to hitting the road and traveling to NJ for the night. The drive was a wet and windy one, but the conditions improved as we got closer to our old "stomping grounds". Once we arrived in Montvale, NJ, we procured a room at the Courtyard by Marriott right off of the Garden State Parkway (we are staying there now instead of in Park Ridge because it is more recently updated and has HD flat panel TVs). We went to bed by 1:30 in the morning, only to wake soon thereafter.

Austin woke up at 7 o'clock in the morning, which meant that we woke up at 7 o'clock in the morning. Christine went to church while Austin and Daddy entertained themselves to the best of their abilities until her return around 9:30. After breakfast, it was time to get back in the car and drive into Queens.

Things were going well until we got into the city, and because we were traveling via a different route than we are accustomed to (and Keith failed to look at the map prior to leaving with the appropriate attention to detail)...Keith got off on the wrong exit after the Throgsneck Bridge. You see, things are a bit counter intuitive and you need to travel East to go West, and Keith forgot and ended up going West too far North of where he wanted to be (translation: Keith took the LIE west instead of East after the bridge...he was trying to get to the Jackie Robinson west...so he had to continue on the LIE west to the BQE East to take Woodhaven south to the McKenna's neighborhood). So...we were in the car an extra few minutes, which ended up being no big deal because the McKennas were at church, there was no traffic to contend with and it gave Austin a little bit more time to nap in the car.

Once we arrived at Queens, we helped ourselves into Aunt Angela and Uncle Ed's home until their arrival...Austin ate lunch with Mommy and Daddy watched the Rocky marathon on the Versus Network.

Austin hadn't even finished his lunch before the family (Aunt Angela, Uncle Ed and Elizabeth) came home...Austin was to be doted on and loved for the rest of the day, especially once Grandma and Grandpa Shewciw arrived shortly thereafter. As is customary at a McKenna affair, there was an abundance of delicious food which we all enjoyed. Unfortunately, time flew by though, and it seemed that we were leaving again as soon as we had arrived...but not before Austin was showered with what seemed like an endless amount/pile of gifts varying from toys to clothing. Thank you for everything...we promise that it will all get put to good use!!!

We have included a slideshow below...sorry for not posting showing individual images, but it is time consuming, and I am trying to do a few postings today.


So...we hopped in the car at 9:30 pm and hit the road back to Chittenango, NY. No...usually we do not make our stay in the Tri-State area one of such short duration, but Keith had to work on Friday. Generally, we won't travel for a single day (especially since Austin's arrival), but we really wanted to get down this year; we know that eventually there will come a time when we won't be traveling on Christmas day (once Austin learns about Santa and we have him open his gifts under the family tree on Christmas morning). So it was important for us to make the trip this year...especially when the weather was kind enough to cooperate and not snow. As a matter of fact, it even warmed up enough after Christmas to melt all of the snow by last weekend, only to have another 12+ inches fall on earlier this week.

Anyway...the ride home was very smooth, and for some reason, seemingly less taxing (despite having little sleep the night before and traveling farther and later than the previous evening). After Keith worked his usual 10 hour day on Friday, we woke up to celebrate Christmas yet again...this time with Keith's family on Saturday. Everyone came over a little before noon and we had some appetizers before opening gifts. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and once again, Austin made out like a bandit. Another lazy man's slideshow is below...mostly of family pics that we took because Christine was busy occupying Austin while Keith handed out gifts (but we captured everything on the camcorder on a tripod in the corner of the room).


All in all we had a wonderful Christmas holiday. A big thank you for everyone so generously spending their time with us. It was a very Merry Christmas.