last week, maddo-girl, my brother, my mom and i headed up to lexington for a little christmas trip to see our bettye-mom and partake in some faaavorite holiday festivities!
growing up, the holidays for my family always meant heading out of town, because neither of my parents were actually from nashville. so, we’d head up to lexington to spend christmas with my mom’s side, or to pittsburgh to be with my dad’s side, and that was pretty much ingrained in me as something that defined the holidays. the vibes, the smells, waking up christmas morning with family you don’t get to see that often! that was totally christmas to me, and kind of still is… even though it’s all been different for years now!
aaanyway, so! although our lexington visits these days look just a liiiiittle different than they once did [i mean, alzheimer’s will change a thing or two…], i really love getting to venture up and see my bettye-mom, especially around christmas time. and it’s been fun to roll with some newer traditions the past few years, too!
…liiiike stopping halfway through the drive to indulge in a little dairy queen…
[actually, that’s kind of an old one for us. still love it!]
…and visiting with our bettye-mom as soon as we get there!
she was so happy to see us, and it’s the sweetest thing to see her light up at maddalena.
…staying at our favorite little hotel. madd was aaaaaall about hotel life this time,
and i mean, i was like, weirdly tempted to just not leave for a while! it’s cozy there! 😉
…seeing all the pretty lights out at the “tucky horse park!” as miss maddalena calls it…
…aaand checking out the rest of the merry festivities!
we’re still nooot sure about getting too close to christmas characters, apparently… 😉
[and after a tearful frosty meet & greet, pursuit of a santa pic was officially abandoned!]
we’re still nooot sure about getting too close to christmas characters, apparently… 😉
[and after a tearful frosty meet & greet, pursuit of a santa pic was officially abandoned!]
…but show the girl some fluffy animals, and she’s all in! i was sooo proud of my festive little animal lover. one of the kangaroos even stole the glove right off of her tiny little hand, and i know it scared her! but she was such a good sport about it, bless her heart. she was totally crazy about those kangaroos [as was that other little boy, apparently, haha!], but then she went on to feed many a goat and sheep [because the ‘roos weren’t so into her carrots, sadly!]… and even when it got late enough that they were shutting the place down, she was kind of devastated about leaving.
ps. we did not ride any camels this year, but that little camel with the blue eyes!!! gosh, i wanted to bring him home with me!!! oh, and the alpaca with the bangs. ahhh. so cuddly!! i wanted him, too!
…and of course, letting maddalena carry on the tradition of jumping on hotel beds.
aaalways a classic! 🙂
I'm sure it means so much to your mom and to your grandma that you visit during the season. And what you're teaching Maddalena is priceless. All the christmas festivities you know I am just loving! Letty is obsessed with hotel life too and I don't quite understand it? Maybe it's sleeping in bed with me? Not making her bed? The pool? Those are pretty good reasons after all now that I think about it.
i so so wish i made it up there more frequently!! and ha! hotels are so much fun if you don't think about the germs, right! 😉 i think madd just loved that it was a new place!