We were so excited to have my mom come visit for Christmas - it was a lot of fun decorating the apartment and preparing for her arrival. We had a difficult drive back from SC because of the snow in the NC and TN mountains - it added an extra 2.5 hours to our trip! The driving conditions were pretty bad for awhile so we were pretty happy to get into Kentucky and by Ohio it had gotten a lot better. We finally made it home around 1:30am and it had apparently started to snow in Michigan too because there was a lot of snow on the roads and it hadn't been plowed yet so it was pretty slick. By the time we got off the interstate we were so ready to get home but had to crawl along over the snow. We went to bed pretty much as soon as we got home. The next morning we had some breakfast and John had a bit of fun in the snow on our balcony :)
We headed over to the Royal Oak Farmer's Market after breakfast so mom could check it out. They had a lot of great holiday gifts and fresh pine and fir tree limbs for fresh wreathes & decorations - it smelled great.
Afterwards we headed home to take some nice hot showers and had to run an errand for John's parents - they had ordered us a Christmas gift from Best Buy so we went to pick it up and I also got one last gift for John that I had been trying to get for a month! We came home and had some lunch and watched Four Weddings and a Funeral - it was very cute. That night we met Pat and Nancy in dt Royal Oak for dinner at Bastone and had a great time with them. We headed over to Monterrey's across the street for the margarita sampler after that :) On our way to meet Pat and Nancy for dinner we stopped by a house that is a local attraction about 2 miles from our apartment - they go all out with their lights and it's pretty amazing (pictures don't do it justice!).
On Sunday morning I made a breakfast quiche and after getting ready we went to see Avatar in 3D. We all really liked it - the graphics were amazing and it was great to see in 3D. After the movie we came home and had a late lunch and played Mexican Dominoes (one of our favorite games). That night we had tickets to go to Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford museum - it's similar to Colonial Williamsburg where the employees dress up in the historical clothing of the early 1900s and it's a whole village of historical shops and houses. During the holiday season they have something called "Holiday Nights" with carolers and musicians. Before going to Greenfield Village we drove through the LightFest, which is over 4 miles long and is the largest drive-through light show in the midwest.
On Sunday morning I made a breakfast quiche and after getting ready we went to see Avatar in 3D. We all really liked it - the graphics were amazing and it was great to see in 3D. After the movie we came home and had a late lunch and played Mexican Dominoes (one of our favorite games). That night we had tickets to go to Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford museum - it's similar to Colonial Williamsburg where the employees dress up in the historical clothing of the early 1900s and it's a whole village of historical shops and houses. During the holiday season they have something called "Holiday Nights" with carolers and musicians. Before going to Greenfield Village we drove through the LightFest, which is over 4 miles long and is the largest drive-through light show in the midwest.
Once we go to to Greenfield Village we headed over to the cafe to get some dinner and they also had period-themed food - this was considered a roast beef sandwich (more like a bread bowl with beef stew and mashed potatoes and gravy all on top) and it was delicious!
We were very excited for the Model T rides around the village and you can see us waiting in line here that it was very cold so we were all bundled up!
Warming their hands over the open fire
There was a great old-timey carousel at Greenfield Village also and we couldn't pass it up! I think mom had the most fun :)
The finale at night was of all the employees walking up to the "Town Hall" steps and singing Christmas carols with a fireworks display at the very end. It was really a great time and I was glad to share it with my mom.
On Monday John and I had to go back to work (unfortunately) so mom and Nancy came and took me to lunch and then went back to the apartment to watch a movie. I was able to come home early and hang out with them before Nancy left. That night we went to downtown Rochester for dinner. Rochester is well known around here for Christmastime because they cover the fronts of the buildings with lights - it's really amazing actually. We had a great dinner at Kruse and Muer and enjoyed our last night together with a bottle of wine :)
The end of the lights downtown
That night we got home and listened to Christmas music and opened presents with mom.
Lastly - wanted a picture of our snowman Christmas countdown - only one day until Christmas!!
