Life is A Journey...Come Follow Our's: Our Holidays...Part 1

WARNING...This Blog Contains A LOT of Pictures...

Aren't the holidays just fabulous? I mean seriously, when else does the entire world come to an almost stop (or extreme slow down) all at once? When else can you go on vacation and know you're really not missing anything because everyone else is on vacation too? When else can you blame good meals and good times with family and friends for your 7 pound weight gain and the rest of the world understand? They're fabulous. To top it all off, this was the first year in as long as I can remember that our trip up North to Wisconsin and Illinois did not have sub-zero temperatures. It made our trip that much better!

This year was our year to spend Christmas in Illinois with my family. We started our trip at my dad's house in Mendota (you might remember from previous posts...the Sweet Corn Capital of the Universe where they worship the sweet corn goddesses and the mayor gets on stage drunk at the annual Sweet Corn Festival...it's classic). Typically, Mendota is not a place you can stand to sit around in for more than a few hours, but this year, it was quite enjoyable. Quinn entertained us all, Anthony played the guitar (with Quinn's assistance), and we were able to truly relax. We did make it out to the Lodge at Starved Rock...enjoy a few pics (okay, maybe a few too many)...

Dad, Quinn, and Me

Brad, Maria, Quinn, Anthony, Judy, and Dad

Quinn Loves his Grandpa Cotton

My Favorite 19 month old and me

So interested in the reindeer

Oh the laughs and giggles at the dinner table

Our Happy Little Family

We then headed up to La Grange where I was raised and my mom still lives for Christmas Eve. In the Italian tradition of the Seven Fishes where you indulge in 7 different fish dishes on Christmas Eve, Mom prepared an amazing meal of seafood. It was ridiculous to make 7 courses for the 4 of us who were eating Christmas Eve dinner, but we did manage to have shrimp cocktail (1), scallops (2), shrimp scampi (3), and my favorite, linguine with calamari, langstino (baby lobsters), scallops, clams, and shrimp (4 or more depending on how you count it). AMAZING! Best part was all of us (we missed Lisa and Ryan until Christmas morning) just sitting around the dinner table. Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the year and this year was no different. Great food, great company, great excitement for the BIGGEST day of the year...Christmas!

Even Quinn Loved His Christmas Eve Dinner

Mom, Maria, and Anthony

Christmas Day is always somewhat anti-climactic for me after all the build-up to Christmas, but this year, having Quinn around changed all that. It was so fun to have all the presents under the tree and for all the excitement that surrounded the day. Okay, let's be honest, Quinn couldn't have cared less except for the fact that he had lots of paper that he could tear into hundreds of tiny little shreds. I, on the other hand, was so excited to see him get excited over Christmas (there's always next year).