This is a continuation of yesterday’s post. Today we will talk about hanging out in Homestead, Florida. Still going to attempt to avoid discussing Christmas Day because that really is going to be a long post!
After arriving we didn’t really stay up late. Mostly sat and chatted. Christmas Eve I set about exploring the decorations. I have always LOVED holiday decorating and I love to check out what people have on their tree….but only if they don’t do a themed tree. No offense but themed trees just aren’t adventurous enough for me. However, Kyle’s aunt did do a themed tree of sorts.
This small tree was decorated with handmade and hand decorated sugar cookies. It is freaking adorable! She makes this every year and as her many visitors stop by (and I am serious when I say she should install a revolving door at the front of the house) they can take a cookie or two with them. She let the 5 children take as many as they wanted when they left lol. I asked her if it was ok if I borrowed her idea and did the same here at home. She was absolutely tickled and said no one had made an effort to carry on that tradition and she would be honored. Warms the heart doesn’t it? The tree in the background I could not get a good shot of. It is well over 10′ tall and covered in an eclectic array of ornaments. I think I spent an hour staring at all of the ornaments and still didn’t see them all.
One of the other cute little items she had out was her Christmas Flamingo.
The flamingo has been a family joke and she has grown to love her flamingo. This one was a gift she received many years ago. I personally want to steal it. But now I can’t because I just incriminated myself 
We spent our days relaxing. I got quite a bit of knitting done. The kids went swimming both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Although it is hot outside the water is quite cold. Colder than I expected. I didn’t jump in until Christmas Day when the water hit 70 degrees and outside temps were 85. The hubs spent all the time he could with the kids in the pool. They loved it and I think out of the entire trip that is the one thing they can’t wait to tell their schoolmates about.
We also watched lots of tv specials.
And eating alot. OMG did we eat alot of wonderful good food. Christmas Eve we had Oyster Stew and a Seafood Stew. I am not a fan of oysters so Seafood Stew was what I opted for. YUM! Christmas Day was “roast beast”. My mother in law made shrimp just for me, she also made me some cheesy eggs one morning so I didn’t have to eat the egg casserole that had sausage in it. I had informed her she didn’t have to cook special food for me but she reminded me that I went out of the way to make her a chicken for Thanksgiving dinner (she is allergic to turkey). I thanked her and kept quiet after that. I still don’t see it the same. I am just making dietary changes, it’s not like I am allergic to red meat and pork lol. But anyway it was sweet and my digestive system appreciated it. The one thing we ate that I really loved was the hubs cousins’ homemade pesto with pinenuts. Oh. My. Gawd. Even my kids loved it and they really don’t like anything!
And while we were visiting we squeezed in a trip to the Everglades. We discovered that our $10 fee to get in is good for 6 days. So now we are talking about taking a trip down for a week so we can spend more than a day at the park. It is awesome seeing all of the alligators, birds, and turtles.
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