Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Today was a day filled with excitement in anticipation of our new family tradition of visiting the Seiberling Mansion for the Christmas Tree lights celebration and arrival of Santa!

The day was a difficult start for Daddy, as he had to get up and go to work for a few hours, and by mid-morning return found some very excited little angels anticipating a special evening. Daddy was so tired, and Mommy let Daddy rest on the couch while you two worked on Christmas craft projects, and then we all got up and enjoyed a delicious lunch of ham and turkey (and oyster dressing for Daddy) from GiGi, and Daddy warmed up some sweet potatoes from Aunt Terrie.

After lunch, three of us (guess whoJ) went down for a needed nap, while Mommy worked on house cleaning. After what seemed like a short napJ, Daddy got up and worked on re-stocking the built-in bookshelf in the library/study Mommy and you, Ms. Bodhi, emptied the day before while working on the painting of that room. Mommy hurriedly cleaned the entire house (and it sparkled) so that we could prepare for our evening family tradition-adventure! Daddy invited Grandma and GiGi and GiPa to join us at the house at 5:30 p.m. so we could all go over together for the Seiberling celebration. Mommy and Daddy both attempted to call and make a reservation for a horse-drawn carriage ride, but when Daddy finally got through to someone we learned the last reservation had been made an hour earlier. The very nice woman suggested that we ask when we came to the holiday event if any opening might possibly exist, but she stated that was frankly not likely. Mommy asked Daddy to pick up a pizza and some bread-sticks for a quick dinner.

Just as we were finishing our dinner, GiGi and GiPa arrived, followed shortly thereafter by Grandma, and then Grandpa, so we all bundled up warmly and headed across the street to the neighboring Seiberling Mansion.  Grandpa opted not to venture with us in the cold :(   We arrived just in time for us to witness the arrival of Santa, then we made our way among the large crowd (seemed a larger crowd this year) in line to tour the inside of the mansion (Daddy spoke with the gentleman managing the carriage rides and was told he was welcome to periodically check in, but there had been no reservation cancellationsL).

We all enjoyed a walking tour of the beautiful Victorian mansion, all decked out for the holidays with a Christmas tree in nearly every room of the spacious mansion and live Christmas music throughout the mansion. After exiting Daddy asked everyone to wait outside on the porch together, and Daddy again struck up a conversation with the nice gentleman (a retired United States Air Force officer) managing the carriage rides, and the gentleman arranged for us to take a carriage ride (hooray!!!! JJJJJJJ !!!!) and we cuddled together under blankets and rode through the Old Silk Stocking Neighborhood (right by the front of our houseJ) and we all were enchanted by the ride! (Daddy spoke about Grandpa Holsapple's service in the Air Force, to which the gentleman immediately arranged a ride for us... Go Daddy!)

After our carriage ride, we went to the other building on the grounds where the two of you met Santa and we all enjoyed hot cider, fruit punch and cookies!!! Grandmoo and GiGi accompanied you both while getting your faces painted, a reindeer for you, Ms. Bodhi, and a Christmas tree for you, Buddha.   It was a fun-filled night for all (though you began to get cranky toward the end, Mister Buddha) and we all went back to our house before GiGi and GiPa and Grandma then eventually left to go home. Both of you grinned from ear to ear and said you had fun on our family tradition adventure, and so did Grandma, and GiGi, and GiPa and Mommy and Daddy, and we all pledged to repeat next year for another fun-filled start to our holiday! “Night, night!!!”

Mommy had hoped to be home to snap a picture of Aunt Debbie Riffe as she strolled by in the very first carriage ride, but we ourselves were awaiting entry and a carriage ride ourselves :(  

Aunt Dianna is supposed to come have some wine with Momma tonight, hopefully she gets a chance to get away :)

Morning Christmas craft project :) AND our usual nakey time ha/ha

In the oven they go :)

Santa and Mrs. Clause rode in on their sleigh :)

Look at your excited face, Bodhi :)

Buddha, you clapped with excitement while perched on Grandmoo's shoulders :)

Face painting :)

GiGi having you two check out your face art :)

Family photo :)

And our carriage ride finally arrived!  The prices were unbelievably high this year, YIKES! Mommy feels obligated to raise money for a family less fortunate to take a ride next year!

Check out these characters :)-

You look cold and unhappy, but you really enjoyed your carriage ride :)

You did too Bodhi girl!

Seiberling Mansion all lit up :)

This year's Santa visit went over much better than last year's trip ha/ha  

Santa is telling you, Jude, he thinks you've been on the naughty list... he's giving you a pep talk ha/ha!