Christmas in Connecticut (Madtown)

On Christmas morning, 2007, we greeted our first Christmas as a family. We flew into Connecticut a few days before and had a schedule packed with visits with family and friends. It was Callie's first trip to the East Coast, and her first visit to Madison, aka Madtown, the location of so many stories her dad likes to tell and her mom has heard too many times. This trip also added to Callie's impressive travel experience. By 12 weeks she has visited both coasts and spent time in seven states.



Here we are on Christmas morning. Although you may not be able to tell, Callie gave us a wonderful Christmas present by sleeping for eight hours straight on Christmas Eve. This is something she had never done before, and something she hasn't done since. It was a Christmas miracle!


It had been at least 4-5 weeks since she had seen her Conntecticut relatives, and a lot about her had changed since their visits to Kentucky. Everyone had a lot of catching up to do. Here, Aunt Katie spends some time with Callie as other folks decorate the tree. Callie has become a lot more interactive with smiles, sounds, and movements aplenty.

Speaking of Madtown, we had the opportunity to get together for a couple of hours with many of John's high school friends, their spouses, and their kids. Thanks to Pete, Kim, Noah, and Aden Chorney for opening their house to the madness that ensued. The picture below captures just a small slice of the afternoon. All of the adults pictured are proud products of Madison. It was so great to see everybody and it was exciting to get all of the families together.



Among those in attendance but missing from the picture was Bill Woods and his wife Negin. But six days after this picture was taken Negin gave birth to their daughter Roshan, who will be a smiling face in the next gathering like this one. We are also expecting to add another girl friend for Callie when Michelle and Jason greet their daughter in February.


The Chorney open house was one of many surreal moments, as we now spend a lot of time with friends and their children. Pictured here is another example of that. Mike Skonieczny and John grew up together and now get to spend time watching their families grow up knowing each other. It's wonderful beyond words. Here Mike and his daughter Ella hang out with John and Callie.

A Christmas tradition for the Bowes family for the last ten years or so has been a dinner out with Grandpa Jay's brother Tommy and Tommy's wife Terry. Uncle Tommy and Aunt Terry always make it a fun outing, and the night is all about good food and good converstaion. And as the years go by the size of the table grows.



We were very excited to introduce Callie to her Great Uncle and Great Aunt. Pictured above is the whole gang in Tarrytown, New York. As a note, we did not eat in a restaurant with short ceilings. For some reason the fine woman taking the picture was not willing to back up a little bit to make sure people did not have to bend down to get in the frame.

Callie loves to spend time with Nana Taffy and her aunts. She gets so much attention, love, and care from all of them. Indeed, now that we have returned to Lexington I think she's a bit bummed that she only has her parents around to entertain her. Last night I caught her looking on Expedia for cheap tickets.


On her last full day in the Northeast, Callie hopped in the car with us and headed to Massachusetts. Over a very good meal at Mandarin, a Chinese restaurant in Sharon, Callie met her Great Aunt Mary Damon. They got along very well, to say the least. Callie also spent some time with her Great Grandmother, Nana Peltier. It was a full day and completed Callie's tour of the northeast for the present.




And now we have all returned to Lexington and are trying to get back on our own schedule. The next big step will be when Callie starts day care. We know that 2008 is going to be great and wish all of our family and friends the best in the new year!