Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and A Few Days More

After another leisurely morning on the beach and hanging out, the family headed out to see a lighthouse.

It was closing early for Christmas, so we had a half hour. My long-suffering brother ran up the lighthouse stairs while my sister and I watched the children, and then he tag-teamed us so we could go.

It was only the equivalent of 14 flights of stairs, but, whew, I am glad I don't live in a 14-story walkup! It is a family joke that wherever we go, we have to climb something, and we have climbed towers and lighthouses and enjoyed the view and the good natured groans.

Almost directly across the road was an Alligator Farm. Their claim to fame was that they had all 23 varieties of crocodilians in their park, one of the few places around the world to have that. It was quite well done, with carvings and, say, a crocodile mummy mounted near the Nile Crocodile. And, yes, there are markably different snouts and sizes between the different types. The largest in the park made me gasp out loud. Because of its size, it was disturbing.

Isaiah, keeping with his interest in animals, petted the alligator. I did too: a leathery skin.

That was my favorite day of sight-seeing. Two very nice parks, and a quick pace. Isaiah had thrown up on Monday night, but I dragged him along, and he trooped all over, even to the top of the lighthouse. By dinner on Tuesday, Abraham wasn't feeling so good.

Phil had gone to midnight Mass at the oldest parish on the continent. He came in very late, and sometime after that, Abraham found his way to our bed, too. Because of the arrangement of beds, we already had both Caleb and Joe in bed with us, so to add Abraham definitely made us feel like the rhyme, "There were five in the bed and the little one said, 'I'm crowded. Roll over.' And they all rolled over and one fell out." Phil didn't quite fall out, but he didn't have many inches of room in that King sized bed.

My Mom had come prepared with little stocking stuffers for us all. It was fun to actually put the oranges, chocolate bars, and little gifts in our socks, and then line them all up on the bench.

Christmas morning, the boys were looking better. A few of us walked to the pier maybe a half mile away, open for free for the day. I loved the pier, out over the waves. It was overcast, with the light rays poking through. Birds, spray, grey and blue.

When we got back, the rest of the midnight Mass-ers were up, and so we started opening presents.

In my family, we start with the youngest and work our way to the oldest, opening one at a time. With 17 in Florida, it took about five hours (though we ate lunch in there, too).

I love that time: seeing what we thought to get for each other, what we asked for. I like that I might open a present only every half hour: it allows a little space for that new item to sink into my life a bit. Isaiah was happy for a different reason: he opened a book early on that he had been eagerly awaiting, and he read, with almost no distractions, for the rest of the present-opening.

I get to be the "Santa Claus," ensuring that each person gets a present when it's time. With Caleb connected, I didn't stand up much this time.

It was Caleb's first Christmas.

He didn't even attempt to open his presents.

Joe got a Richard Scarry book. Phil was more excited than Joe—it was a book he had owned as a child, and has missed occasionally.

Almost as soon as presents were over, my sister-in-law came down with "the plague" as we called it, and, sick and exhausted, she took few photos during the second half of our trip. Below is one of my favorite photos from the trip.

The day after Christmas we all just laid low. I was feeling a bit under the weather. Caleb was more fussy than usual. By Friday, I was still out of it, and Joe wanted nothing but to sleep. So while most of the family went to the most famous St. Augustine landmark, the Castillo, I slept all afternoon with Joe and Caleb.

The three of us did make it there on Saturday, a quick 20 minute trek shortly before we went to the airport and returned home.