Leo's First Christmas

Well, I apologize that it has taken me so long to give you the report on Leo's first Christmas. Between unpacking from our trip, Leo's FOUR teeth surfacing, and trying to master cloth diapering, things have been a little hectic around here :-)  

Leo traveled many places this Christmas (which happened to be his 3-month birthday since he was born on September 25th), and was on his best behavior which was his Christmas present to his mommy and daddy this year :-)  

We left our house the morning of Christmas Eve at 7:00 a.m. and arrived in Marion, MA around 9:00 a.m.  My Aunt Judy and Uncle Bill live in Marion, and their three grown-up children, Phebe, Halsey & Elizabeth (my cousins) had come all the way from the West Coast with their husbands, wives, and children.  It was hard to get us all to smile, but here are some pictures we took:

Conveniently, Ben's mother only lives 15 minutes away from my Aunt Judy.  We left Aunt Judy's house around Noon and travelled to Ben's mom's house in Dartmouth, MA where we had Christmas dinner with Ben's mother, his sister Josie, and his brother Michael.  Below is a picture of Ben's mother, a.k.a. Nana, holding Leo:

Auntie Josie (Ben's sister) enjoyed opening her presents!

Originally, our plan was to leave Nana's house that night and spend the night in a hotel at our final destination on the tip of Cape Cod in Provincetown where we were to spend Christmas day with my family.  Our plan was to attend a Latin Tridentine Mass in South Chatham on Christmas day.  But as it turns out, the Mass in South Chatham wasn't until 11:30 in the morning, and we were expected at my Aunt Lise's house in Provincetown at 10:30.  Also, South Chatham is at the opposite end of the Cape from Provincetown (which is on the tip), so it didn't make sense for us to drive all the way to Provincetown on Christmas Eve only to have to backtrack twice.  So Nana offered to put us up for the night, and we gladly accepted her offer! 

We investigated the local parishes in the area, and heard that there was a reverent chapel in New Bedford which was less than 10 minutes away from Nana's house.  It turns out that they were holding a midnight Mass, so we packed up Leo and took him and Ben's brother Michael to midnight Mass.

The Mass was absolutely beautiful.  It was an extremely reverent Novus Ordo Mass - quite possibly the best Novus Ordo Mass I've ever attended. Even though it was a new rite Mass, most of the Mass was done in Latin, which was so nice to hear.  The homily was excellent. The altar was filled with holy men, there were Sisters in full-habit chanting, and the pews were filled with families dressed appropriately for the occasion.  Afterwards, the Friars invited us over for refreshments.  We were glad to learn that this order, in response to the Holy Father's Motu Proprio, will also be holding a Tridentine Latin Mass in their chapel every Sunday in 2008.

Their Order is called The Franciscans of the Immaculate, and we were intrigued to learn that they trace their origins back to Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who happens to be our family patron saint.  We were married on his feast day, and I've always had a strong devotion to him.  So it looks like he was looking after us!

Then it was off to our final destination in Provincetown.  My Aunt Lise and Uncle Bob have a house there located right on the water.  It is only a few houses down from the house in which I spent every summer of my life (well, at least the first 18 summers of my life).  Just to give you an idea of how beautiful it is there, here are some pictures Ben took when we vacationed there last summer:

The large structure in the background is the Pilgrim Monument which was built in 1910 to commemorate the Pilgrims first landing in Provincetown in 1620, and their signing of the Mayflower Compact there.  I've actually climbed the entire Monument which is quite a workout!

When we arrived in P-Town, Grandma Jeannie immediately snatched Leo!  He was happy to see her :-)  (For those who are wondering, Leo's outfit says "PEE-TOWN" on it :-))  He was certainly dressed appropriately for the occasion!  Leo was given this outfit by some friends of ours before he was born.  They got him the 12 month size, thinking that it would fit him by next summer.  It's a good thing we came to P-Town for Christmas, because at 3 months it fits him perfectly!

Leo was certainly showered with presents for his first Christmas.  Among his gifts were some new clothes, some Oompa Toys, his very own wooden train set, a hand-knit scarf and hat from Dad and Deborah, and one particular box that caught our attention which was painted by my mother's husband Jim:

Isn't Jim an amazing artist? For those of you who are curious, inside the beautifully decorated box was a playpen that has a built-in changing table on it.  We set up the playpen downstairs so Leo can have a resting place and a changing table downstairs too!  Thank you Grandma Jeannie and Jimmo!

Many of you have emailed me claiming that I never take pictures of myself.  So that Leo won't grow up without any pictures of his mommy, here you go:

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!