Christmas at Home

Last year Christmas was warm, sunny and dusty.  This year I am back to the complicated travels that only  a Yours-Mine-Ours family has around the holidays.

Right now I am on the train to Philadelphia.  I will finish my overdue expense reports, have lunch in the city, then take a train to Washington DC at 330pm.  By 6pm, the Metro should have me in Silver Spring MD where my wife will pick me up at the station and take me to her Dad's house.  I will be with my wife, both sons, and step-daughter Iolanthe for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Somewhere around 5pm, my daughters will drive down from Lancaster to Silver Spring.  We will exchange presents and have dinner together.  Then Lauren, Lisa, Jacari, Nigel and I will drive back to Lancaster around 9pm.

The next morning, we will go to Church in Lancaster.  I will go to the bike shop, Bike Line of Lancaster and pick up my latest bike, a break-apart frame Surley bike that is legal for riding on Amtrak--no more driving to New York.

Around 2pm the five of us will drive to New York City.  Every year I take my daughters and their friends to NYC to shop the day after Christmas.  This year we are delayed a day because Christmas was on Saturday.  We start at Century 21 Department Store at the World Trade Center and walk up Broadway to Times Square where we are staying at the Crown Plaza.

On Tuesday we drive back to Lebanon PA where Jacari and Nigel will spend the night and the next day with Jacari's foster mom Melissa.  I will work in Philadelphia the next day and Annalisa will return from Silver Spring and pick up Jacari.

Then we can start working on New Years Eve.

Merry Christmas.