BLORA

The day after Thanksgiving, when I first put on Christmas music, Sydney heard the line in "Silver Bells" that goes "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

She immediately said, "Christmas?  That means we go pick up Andrew and see the lights!"

I was pleased that remembered our BLORA "Nature in Lights" tradition and wanted very much to make sure she got to do it again this year.  Helen and I set a date and then off we went.

We got there in record time with only three wrong turns a total loss of no more than thirty minutes.  Once in the light displays, we let the kids in the back, thinking that at 3 miles per hour it would be just fine.

Five minutes later we learned that even at 3 miles per hour, toddlers can get themselves hopelessly tangled in seat belts and while the five year olds did not point and laugh, they did come awfully close and were certainly unable to assist in any meaningful way.

So back into the seats everyone went.

We then played the game of looking for displays that were new and finding old favorites.

Sydney was very disappointed when she realized that this game had no prize and began to cry.

Andrew, who was not feeling well and on some serious steroids, alternated between dire thirst and extreme hunger.

John Patrick, forgetting that he was nearly strangled in the cargo area, wanted to get back there.

All three kids starting asking half way through when we would be going home.

Helen and I wondered if next year we should go by ourselves.

I started the new tradition of putting on a Christmas movie for the last ten minutes of BLORA and Helen and I got to enjoy our very favorite part, the ending tunnel, in the serene silence (minus movie soundtrack) we were looking for.

I don't think BLORA was a bust at all.  I think sometimes we remember things with rose colored glasses and sometimes things are nicer upon reflection than they are in reality.  I also think that sometimes kids are in a mood and act their age.

And sometimes I think that things like the story of how John almost hung himself in the back, or how Andrew couldn't stop asking for more food, or how Sydney was stuck in between these two boys and didn't do much to ease either of their pain, make for the better memories anyway.

After all, last year we took three hours to get there and Helen and I still remember that trip fondly and I am certain that neither of us is crazy enough to have enjoyed it at the time.