As I’ve said before, I love, love love love Christmas. Celebrating the holiday at my grandparents’ farm in upstate New York is my favorite day of the year, every year. (Although June 20th 18th is a damn strong contender this time.

But first, of course, we had to GET there. Traveling on the 23rd of December? Notsomuch.

I left my office at 2:30 pm…

We finally pulled into my parents’ driveway in Massachusetts at 3:30 am.

And have I mentioned that the flight from Baltimore to Providence… is an HOUR?

It was so unbelievably painful. Our flight, which was supposed to take off at 6:55? Did not actually take off into the air until 12:45 am. Apparently, our plane was coming from the Midwest, which was getting hit with snow. There were two other flights leaving for Providence that night, at 9 and 10. They both left hours before ours did. *&*#Y%(Y*!(*@%PCY!(%*&

Yeah, we could have stood in the 50-person line and tried to get on one of those flights, but I already knew every flight out to Providence, Hartford and Manchester (all a similar drive to my parents’ place) was sold out. So, we did what any sane person would do…

Stooled up at the bar and got wasted.

It actually worked out pretty well- we met a really interesting guy, Dave, who was one of the security guards in the airport. He was on our flight as well, so the three of us spent 3 or 4 hours getting to drink each other under know each other over the large oak bar top. We seem to have quite a knack for meeting characters while traveling, although Dave never shot a 6 year old (whether they deserved it or not).

But of course, we did eventually make it home, and in the morning, I was absolutely thrilled to see that I was guaranteed to have a white Christmas:

My parents’ back deck:

At least, it all seemed beautiful… until we realized the ice on the roof was forming a dam, and water was leaking into the kitchen. So, against my father’s protesting, B climbed out on the roof (Dad can’t fit through the window) and chipped at the ice dam with a sledgehammer and rock salt. Thanks to him, not one drop of water dripped into the house while we were at my gramma’s.

I did get out there to help for a bit… and to photograph his plight. Have I mentioned that I’m a great girlfriend…?

Best. Snowball weather. EVER. Lemm, I brought this back for you…

Somebody had the right idea, curling up by the fire:

Then we finally got to grandma’s for the big day. Here’s our stockings pre, on Christmas Eve…

Stockings Post, on Christmas Day… Impressive, no? Christmas always has a theme. This year was penguins…

There’s been monkeys, howdy doody, flamingos, wax lips, you name it. And of course, there’s always the obligatory picture of the entire family wearing the ‘theme paraphernalia’… but I’ll spare you that. (Really, I’m sparing my fam the humiliation, but shh, don’t tell them.)

And finally, here’s the always-enormous Christmas tree, stacked to the hilt with presents (there’s usually ten or so people involved, so Christmas morning is kind of a big ordeal).

And under the tree after the pets got to it. (Definitely the pets, and not me…)

Sigh. It was a very Merry Christmas, y’all. I hope yours was just as much fun.