A Connecticut Christmas

This post is brought to you by the generous spirit of Taffy Bowes. When it became clear that we had forgotten our camera, she was kind enough to allow us to commandeer hers for the entire time we were in Connecticut. This took extra courage since the main person taking pictures had just showcased her responsible habits by losing her phone and entire wallet within hours of landing on the East Coast. That circumstance also explains why this post begins right on Christmas morning and doesn't have any particular lead in. We were a bit preoccupied.

In any case, Christmas day arrived, much to the joy of the Bowes girls. They were already excited because this year we stayed at the Balestraccis during our time in CT. This maximized their cousin time to the extreme. It's just a good thing that Michael and Brendan were able to retreat to their bedrooms every now and then to get a little alone time. Katie, Chris, Michael, and Brendan were truly wonderful hosts.



As we sat in front of the stockings on Christmas morning, Callie was fired up and Reese was definitely intrigued. They had on their matching "Santa I Believe" jammies and boy did they look cute. And fortunately Callie had no problem waiting for the whole family to gather before we starting the present-opening frenzy.


You will see in the next two pictures that Reese's go to moves for the morning were sitting on presents and holding onto anyone's small stocking items while walking around and uttering some sort of primal roar. Some thought it was cute, but there are times she scares us. She certainly has not picked up on the opening gifts aspect, but Callie was more than willing to help her out with these tasks.


First it is important to point out that Reese is sitting on a present while wearing a tiara. Reese's tiara was fitting, since it fit the present Callie was opening right at that moment. When Callie ripped the paper off of her Santa gift, a Cinderella doll, she exclaimed, "This is exactly what I wanted!" Somewhere nearby, Santa's helpers smiled. It was fun to see how much joy she got out of opening up the gifts brought by Santa.


After the Santa gifts were opened, we took a moment to hang out. This presented an opportunity to gather almost all of the grandkids on the couch with Nana Banana. It is safe to say that Nana Banana was quite pleased with the situation.



There are a couple of key things to notice in this picture. One is that Brendan is wearing the red bathrobe that apparently is his version of leisure wear - certainly knows how to embrace winter vacation. Second is that in the moment this picture was taken, Michael a.k.a. Mike, was willing to shed his cool high school vibe and embrace the craziness that came with the presence of his cousins. Third is that the picture is not complete.

This Christmas marked the first time we got to meet Zoey Berkeley Hannen. It was pretty darn exciting, and we think Reese was particularly interested in a being smaller than her. She and Callie loved to see Zoey and try to play with her. We were pretty taken by little Zoey as well. Keep this picture in mind in the future when no doubt there will be quite a few other girl cousin get togethers.


Zoey did not fly to Connecticut alone. Indeed, she was kind enough to allow her parents to join her. Brian and Suzy looked like naturals as parents, and it was so great to see the three of them together. Zoey, like Reese, is not yet into the unwrapping aspect of Christmas. But they also shared the generosity of the entire family where they had to ship a package in order to get all their goodies home.




Here we have the lovely and talented Balestracci family as they basked in the glow of Christmas morning at their house. It was fun to be able to spend this visit in their new house. Normally we only get to see them at the times the whole family gets together. And this year every time they turned around in their house we were in their face. I'm sure Chris and Katie needed some alone time once we departed. And Brendan and Michael are very happy to have their bathroom back.


The picture below captures not only the cuteness of Zoey but also the pure joy that Zoey brings to Suzy. It was so wonderful to see.



Zoey made a point to bring her special brand of joy to more than just her parents however.

Reese was very intrigued by Zoey. To be completely honest, we were a little nervous about how Reese would interact. However, we figured that our ornament strategy might just work in this case as well. Amazingly enough, it did. Reese didn't grab, poke, pinch, lick, or otherwise harass her younger cousin. She just looked at her and waved. This made her parents very proud.


Every now and then one of us got the chance to hold Zoey. And if you were really lucky, you got to hold Zoey and Reese at the same time. And the presence of both little ones seemed to draw Callie like a moth to a flame. What was interesting to us, however, was that Callie had an awareness about Zoey that isn't quite there with her sister. In other words, she was gentle with Zoey and knew it was good to give her space. There was no need to tell Callie not to squeeze, pick-up, or grab Zoey. This is not the case with her sister. Intriguing, isn't it.


The original plan called for Christmas morning at the Balestraccis and then dinner at Nana Banana and Sport's house. However, this all changed when the oven broke at the Bowes residence on Christmas morning. At the end of the day everyone agreed that it was a blessing because we had a great day hanging out in one place. And the dinner was still prepared by the team of chefs that would have been in the kitchen anyway. Here are the three primary members of that squad. And the food tasted so much better because it was prepared by three people who clearly had fun in the kitchen.

The day after Christmas we headed over to Nana Banana and Sport's to meet up with John's Uncle Tommy and Aunt Terry. We always have dinner with them around Christmas, but this year we also got to spend a few more hours together before we went out to eat. It was fantastic to have that extra time to just sit around and chat.



Reese got all dressed up and was on her best behavior for two distinct reasons. First, she has heard that Tommy and Terry are the generous bestowers of Bitty Babies. Second, and much more important, Reese knows how much we would all love to have Tommy and Terry visit the Bluegrass. She didn't want to give them any reason to rule out such a visit.

We always talk about how much fun Callie has with Michael and Brendan. But let's be clear. That whole Balestracci family is a bundle of laughs. Callie had a lot of fun at dinner. She sat far away from her parents, for one. And she got to sit next to Nana Banana. Once she had eaten her fair share of shrimp scampi, she started hopping from lap to lap. Needless to say, she enjoyed herself and found a ready companion for fun in her Uncle Chris.


When Reese saw how much fun Callie was having, she decided to join in. Clearly she inspired Sport to get goofy for the camera. All in all, the two girls were fantastic at dinner. We were at the restaurant for almost three hours and they were excellent. Clearly all the nights we eat out for dinner and don't cook at home is paying off.


We have a few things to say about this group picture. First, it is wonderful to have these moments when family gets together and we are able to record it with a photograph. Now that we have the sentimental stuff out of the way, there are a few other observations. Contrary to what it may appear in this picture, Uncle Tommy is not four times the size of the rest of us. This is what happens when fifteen people cram into a small restaurant lobby to take a picture. And let this be a lesson to anyone who is ever asked to take a group photo like this one. It is completely unnecessary to have the three feet of open space at the top of the photo. Focus on the people and tell them that they don't have to crouch. It's all about spacing. Seriously, go back and look at the picture we have from four years ago when Callie was two months old. Different restaurant, same result. One day we will perfect this.

On the last night we were all in Connecticut we stayed true to tradition and the fourth year in a row we headed out for the sibling dinner. It was great to be able to fit this important event in to a hectic holiday schedule.



The only difference this year brought was instead of going elegant we went brewery. It was just what we needed to relax and catch up without having one of the five collective kids needing something.

And while this post is going up in 2012, it really wraps up 2011 for the Kentucky Bowes. We are blessed to have such wonderful lives. We just hope that in 2012 things slow down a tad so that we can better enjoy these blessings.