This time we planned on a relaxing time with Little T. Smithville Park was having a Victorian Christmas celebration with a visit from St. Nick. We figured we'd be watching or listening to entertainment, looking at crafts, touring the mansion, and taking T to see Santa. It didn't quite work out that way. Today we are aching and tired but still had a wonderful time.
This is T in the parking lot when we got there. We overshot the entrance to the closer lot and so we ended up parking farther away. We enjoy walking so that was fine. T saw a sign for the "Blue" trail leading off into the woods and thought that's where we were going but we redirected him and he led us through the old Smithville village to the mansion.
When we got there, we found out that they weren't quite all set up for the start of the celebration. Well...we had the blue trail to fall back on, right? We'd take a lovely walk through the woods. It was close to 60 and didn't feel like December weather. Here are a couple of pictures I took along the way.
I bet this trail was beautiful during the peak season of leaves!
This was kind of wild. The smaller tree in front had grown into the larger tree behind!
As usual, T was our guide along the way. The path was steep in places, up and down, and full of tree roots. Big, thick ones!
Check out this big old tree!
We got back around the blue trail and headed back to the celebration. There were some "photo ops" set up around the grounds and TB and T took advantage of them!
Another one was near a wagon from the period laden with stuffed animals and gifts.
Unfortunately we didn't get to take the tour. I should have realized it wasn't free but it didn't cross my mind until we walked up to the mansion. Oops. We didn't have enough for the tour and lunch too...and by now our tummies were rumbling. Time to eat!
T is a very picky eater and always has been. This is associated with
PDD-NOS and so we're just used to it. But hey! The vendor had chicken fingers, a close cousin to chicken nuggets. We got on line and then began to check out the prices. It was like reading a menu at a place on the turnpike. They know they got you so you can get gouged.
Except...we knew there was a McDonald's close buy. We could stay in budget and get something to eat so off we went.
When we got back, Santa was just going on break. We hung out, revisiting the booths. "A Christmas Carol" was being performed but it was too noisy and crowded for T so we just kept moving. Fifteen minutes later, Santa was back!
This time I got into the picture!
Santa asked T what he wanted. "I want," T began and froze. Maybe he was nervous, maybe he forgot what he wanted, maybe he wasn't sure how to put what he wanted into words. Maybe he would have said he wanted to hear from his mother who hasn't called in almost a year. He hasn't said anything about it but I'm sure he wonders.
Ugh. Off that. Santa said when T was ready, he could think what he wanted to Santa and he'd bring some gifts to make T happy.
Speaking of that, TB made Little T a checker board with little wooden cars as the pieces. I think T will get a kick out of that!
From there our busy day wasn't over. We went back to the house and to TB's workshop so T could sign the gifts he painted last week. We then put the gifts into boxes, taped or wrapped them, and T wrote out the gift tags. It was fun.
Now it was time to take Little T home. It was nearing dark and we'd had a wonderful day. TB and I came home and collapsed. Heh. It was worth it!
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