Holiday 2016

 

Holidays 2016 - a vacation at home

For winter break this year, we decided to stay home - Liz wanted to stay home so that she could get some work done and Sarah felt that she didn’t have enough home time last winter break when we went to Florida.   Sarah, now a college junior, finished finals fairly yearly and flew home from Boston on Dec 16.  Thus, despite the rest of us having to work or go to school, it felt like the holiday vacation began with her arrival.

Our plan was to have a holiday as if we were on vacation and it included the following:

• A new family portrait.
  A play - The Merry Wives of Windsor, a Shakespeare comedy performed at the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey on the campus of Drew University.
• A ballet - the Nutcracker performed in at the Morristown Mayo Performing Arts Theater
• Movies
  • we all went to see Star Wars VII The Force Awakens on 12/24.  Mike saw two other times with friends and Sarah one other time.
  • At home movies included all 6 previous Star Wars films, A Christmas Story, The Martian, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Mary Poppins, and a bunch of others.
• A number of restaurants, both new and old, that included the following;
  • Traditional American buffet brunch at The Grain House in Baskingridge.  This is the third or fourth time we have done this on the Sunday between Xmas and New Years, and has become a favorite holiday tradition.
  • French food at Cafe Paris in Cranford
  • Ethiopian food at Mesob in Montclair
  • Pub food at Darby Road in Scotch Plains
  • Sushi at Fujiyama Mama in Westfield
  • Carryout from China Moon in Fanwood
  • Bagels from Fanwood Bagel in Fanwood (best bagels in the area)
  • burgers on the way to the play from Smashburger in New Providence
  • Noodles & Company in Clark - this one disappointed - slow and multiple mistakes in what we ordered.  
  • Red Robin in South Plainfield - big burgers at a nearly empty restaurant after seeing The Force Awakens on christmas eve
  • Silk Road in Warren - a feast, as always
  • Qdoba in Watchung

As Liz pointed out, still a lot less than a week at Disneyworld. So, on Jan 2nd, we cooked up a big brunch with scrambled eggs, blueberry scones, fresh pineapple, mango, pear, and changed and black tea.  While the scones we're baking, we all posed for a family portrait that I set up, and got one of the best family pictures we've ever gotten. Finally, we took Sarah up to Secaucus Station to pick up the bus to Boston and we were back to our normal routine.