Friday — December 25
Days start early at Aunt L’s. Christmas Day was no exception. We had a nice breakfast, which included homemade scones that Aunt L had baked and Amish friendship bread that Mui had baked. (Here’s the story and recipe for the Amish bread; our thanks to Jen B. for introducing us to this very tasty treat.) After the dishes were washed and put away, we sat down to exchange gifts … many thanks to our two Santas for the thoughtful and fun presents.
Merry Christmas from Gardner!
The rest of the day was spent at home — more reminiscing, more conversation, more laughter. A quiet holiday celebration — just the way we like it.
Saturday — December 26
Another early morning found us at the breakfast table to start the day out. To yesterday’s treats, mom added a fresh-baked breakfast strata (think French toast casserole topped with maple syrup) — very yummy. Then it was off to do a bit of shopping before we headed north to Maine.
There was light traffic en route — nothing to hinder us from arriving in Kennebunkport in time for lunch. A light snowfall, with big fat flakes, added to the holiday ambiance of the charming town. Unlike the summer months, finding parking was easy and soon we were walking to Alison’s. Our timing was perfect. No sooner were we seated at a table overlooking Dock Square that the place filled up with diners. Of course, there was no doubt that whatever meal we ordered would include lobster in some shape or form. For Mui, that was lobster cobb salad; for mom and me, petite lobster rolls. Mom enjoyed her sandwich with a cup of clam chowder and I had a delicious French onion soup that was perfect on a cold winter day. Dessert for the two of us was a concoction called "Maine Black Bear" — black raspberry swirl with chocolate raspberry mini-melts in vanilla ice cream. Totally delish! Mui ordered the blueberry pie a la mode and deemed it excellent.
After lunch, we started out on a stroll around town, but the weather had chilled quite a bit. So we scratched that idea and went for a drive along the coast to see if our 41st President and Mrs Bush were home for the holidays!
Merry Christmas from Kennebunkport!
Sunday — December 27
All things must come to an end! And so has our Christmas trip. It was lots of fun! Thanks for hosting us Aunt L.
We left Gardner at 7:00a. The light drizzle that accompanied us on Route 2 changed to pouring rain as we approached the I-91 junction. By the time we reached Hartford at 8:30a, however, there was no sign of any wet stuff and the overcast was replaced by brilliant sunshine and blue skies for the rest of the drive. In fact, the day’s high was 54F (12C) — not bad at all for late December.
We had an itinerary mapped out, but we changed it on a whim, taking all kinds of scenic secondary roads instead. After our experience with the Tappan Zee Bridge on the 23rd, we took a more northerly route to avoid the traffic and crossed the Hudson River via the Bear Mountain Bridge.
Bear Mountain Bridge
An overlook near Bear Mountain Bridge provides a break from driving.
We reached Parsippany, New Jersey around 1:00p — time for a lunch break. We decided to take advantage of the nice day and have an al fresco meal. As luck would have it, we chanced upon the Veterans Memorial Park just off Route 46. After taking a few minutes to fix some of the stick flags that had been planted into the ground around the memorial, we sat on a bench and ate the ham & cheese sandwiches mom had made for us. Some Amish friendship bread and date balls for desert rounded out our simple picnic.
Parsippany Veterans Memorial
The rest of our drive home went smoothly except for two bad patches of traffic. First, when we were leaving Parsippany — structural damage to a bridge; later, when we turned off Route 15 onto I-270. The latter was frustrating, but expected. All in all though, it wasn’t a bad day’s drive and we pulled into our garage at 6:00p, ready for a quiet evening at home.
Mom, thanks for the “3-in-1 Softie.”
Happy 2010 everyone! May it be filled with love, laughter, happiness, and health.
mmmm....Toastie !!! :))
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