Happy birthday to the best wife a man could hope for, and the best momma a girl could want. Here’s to the woman who keeps the house running smoothly, keeps the kid happy, and keeps us lean, mean and green.
And let’s not forget, the one who did a killer job polyurethaning (is that a verb?) our stairs! I love you!
December 21-30 was a whirlwind of a Christmas vacation for the Wood family. We had a great time visiting with friends and family. I took lots of photos, so we’ll give you the brief rundown here with links to images from our trip.
* December 20: We had a sort of “Pre-Christmas” at home after I got out of work. We exchanged our gifts so that we didn’t have to bring the stuff for just each other all the way out to Ohio. The rest of our evening was spent packing for our trip!
* December 21: We left after I got out of [work](http://www.christianbook.com/) and drove to a Knight’s Inn in Liverpool, NY. That helped break the trip up a bit.
* December 22: We left Syracuse early in the morning, and, after a stop in Madison, Ohio to visit with Melanie, we drove to Mount Vernon. [Pics from the drive](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/driving_to_ohio/), [Pics from visiting Melanie](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/visiting_melanie/), [Pics from the first evening in Mount Vernon](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/first_evening_in_mount_vernon/)
* December 23: We went to church at [Lakeholm](http://www.lakeholm.org/) in Mount Vernon, then headed down to Columbus to visit with Becky’s friend Heather and her husband Jeff. Then it was back to Mount Vernon for the infamous “Reindeer Hat Party.” [Pics from visiting Heather and Jeff](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/visiting_heather_and_jeff/), [Pics from the Reindeer Hat Party](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/reindeer_hat_party/)
* December 24: We attended the Christmas Eve service at Lakeholm, then had Christmas Eve dinner at home. [Pics from Christmas Eve](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/christmas_eve/)
* December 25: We spent Christmas Day at home with my family! [Pics from Christmas Day](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/christmas_day/)
* December 26: On Wednesday, we went up to Mark and Kirsten’s place in Mansfield for a nice Birthday brunch for Mom! After that, we drove back to Mount Vernon to attend a Game Day that Amy Walton was hosting at her parents’ house. Later in the evening, we had a birthday cake and another little party for Mom. [Pics from Mom’s birthday brunch and that evening](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/moms_birthday/), [Pics from the game day](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/farnham_game_night/)
* December 27: On Thursday, we had some outings sans Catherine. Rebecca and I went out to breakfast at the Southside Diner while Mom and Dad watched Catherine. Then, Rebecca, Dad and I went out to lunch while Mom watched Catherine. Later that evening, Mom and Dad watched Catherine again while we went out to dinner and a movie with Mark and Kirsten. We ended the evening with a family photo shoot. [Pics from the Southside Diner](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/southside_diner/), [Pics from Thursday afternoon](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/thursday_afternoon/), [Pics from dinner with Mark and Kirsten](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/dinner_with_mark_and_kirsten/), [Pics from the photo shoot](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/thursday_evening_photo_shoot/)
* December 28: On Friday morning, we left Mount Vernon and drove back to the Knight’s Inn in Liverpool, NY. The hotel clerk recommended dinner at a delicious local restaurant, Mother’s, and gave us a free voucher to see the local [“Lights on the Lake”](http://lightsonthelake.com/) holiday light display. It was a nice evening with just the three of us! [Pics from the drive](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/mount_vernon_to_liverpool/), [Pics from Friday evening](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/friday_evening_in_liverpool/)
* December 29: On Saturday, we left Liverpool and drove to Townsend to spend the rest of the weekend with Becky’s family.
* December 30: On Sunday, we had lunch in Townsend with Becky’s parents, then they drove back to Danvers with us to help cart back our additional haul of gifts and see our new staircase. [Pics from the “After-Christmas Christmas” in Townsend](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/after_christmas_christmas/)
[See all of the Christmas pics here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/christmas/).
Phew! Since then, we’e been unpacking our stuff and trying to get readjusted to a life back at home. 🙂 We hope that you have all had great holidays with your family or friends, and that you have a happy new year!
1. Today was the starting day for work on the staircase from our living room down into our basement! This is a major hurdle and will enable us to more easily start on our next project – finishing the basement! You can see some [before pics](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/house/stairs-before/) and some [during pics](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/house/stairs-during/) to see what it looks like. Quarters are quite cramped, but we’re excited that we’ll soon have a way to get down into the basement that doesn’t involve going outside of the house!
2. Today was the first big snowstorm of the season in our area. I’m not sure how many inches fell, but it seems to have been quite a bit. Luckily it was fairly powdery, so I was able to brush it off of my car pretty easily. It took me about an hour to get home, which is a lot considering that it’s normally less than 15 minutes. However, it doesn’t hold a candle to a few years ago when it took almost four hours for me to get home (to downtown Beverly, which is only two miles further than I drive now). Here’s some [photos from the evening](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2007/december_13_snowstorm/).
3. As a side note, tonight was the first time I had driven Rebecca’s new Subaru Legacy Wagon in truly bad conditions, and I must say that it was AWESOME! The all-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes were a godsend. It easily backed up our slick, snow-covered driveway, handled all of the twists and turns with no problem at all. Seriously, it’s like the car doesn’t even care that there’s snow. “Hmm, got some driving to do. What’s this white stuff? Oh, nevermind. Just keep drivin’, just keep drivin’…”
4. Corey’s Mini broke down on the way home from work (Peabody to Somerville), and so the three of us packed into the car to drive down and pick him up in Woburn. He’s staying here for the night – hopefully we’ll find a place to squeeze him in!
I hope everyone else affected by the storm is doing okay. Feel free to leave your stories in the comments, or else link to any posts that you’ve written!
In only two weeks and two days, we’ll be packin’ up the wagon and headin’ out to Ohio!
As you can see, we’re dividing the drive up into two manageable pieces with a strategic hotel stay in Syracuse, NY.
We’ll be spending the week of Christmas with my family in Mount Vernon. We’re looking forward to spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, Mark and Kirsten, and the rest of the Mount Vernon crew.
We’d love to visit with any of our readers who are in the greater Mount Vernon area. Drop us a line and let us know if you’re going to be around at any point December 23 through 27!
Today we met up with my cousins Mark and Kim, Aunt Joan and Uncle Errol in Cambridge. Kim is back in the States for vacation, so we wanted to get together before the holidays got too crazy!
The crew back at Mark’s place
We went out for lunch at the [California Pizza Kitchen](http://www.cpk.com/) and then headed over to Mark’s place to hang out for a while. It was nice to see everyone, and to see Mark’s apartment again now that he has actual furniture. 🙂
More pics from the day [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2007/cambridge_mkje/).
You know how scientists, thinkers, and inventors of old (and probably of new) had those notebooks where they would write all of their ideas, plans, formulas, etc? Well, my wife has a book just like that. I think it’s pretty cool, so I wanted to share some photos of it:
Instead of drawings of water screws or flying machines, Rebecca’s book contains drawings of craft and interior decorating ideas, lists and plans for parties, and other random musings. Lovingly hand-inscribed with pencil, Rebecca’s notebook is an inspiration to me. To be more thoughtful, plan better, and get all of my ideas down somewhere.
You can see [more pictures of the book](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/craftiness/rebeccas_book/).
I’m not sure if we’ve mentioned it here before, but Catherine loves to dance. I think she really can’t help it. Whenever she hears a beat, be it a song on the radio, a commercial on tv, or just Dad tapping on the desk, she gets down. It’s not uncommon to see her head bopping, arms waving, feet stomping or even her whole body twirling around in circles.
So it was no surprise to see her cutting a rug last weekend at my cousins Matthew and Christine’s wedding.
Dancing up a Storm
We all had a wonderful time at the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful and the nice weather made for a lovely drive through central MA from Worcester to the reception in Barre. The reception hall was gorgeous and Catherine had fun walking around the pond and the English garden.
Matt and Christine planned a wonderful party and our extended family had a great time together. We ate well, danced a ton enjoyed each other’s company while toasting the happy bride and groom. I hope that the guests of honor had as much fun as we did!
On Saturday, I celebrated my twenty-ninth birthday.
Dad and Daughter
Becky made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. She also got me a gift subscription to [GOOD Magazine](http://www.goodmagazine.com/), a magazine we had heard about in [Heifer](http://www.heifer.org/)’s [World Ark](http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201480/) magazine. I’m looking forward to reading it! Here are [some more photos from breakfast](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2007/birthday_breakfast/).
After breakfast, we headed out for a hike to [Agassiz Rock](http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/4_agassiz_rock.cfm) in Manchester. The park features a short trail which loops around to some awesome glacial rocks, Big and Little Agassiz. Little Aggasiz is balanced on its side on a much smaller rock. Very cool. Here are some more pictures from the [hike](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/agassiz_rock/). Our hike was, of course, part of [Hiketober](http://prwdot.org/2007/10/07/hiketober/).
It was a hit
My birthday and the hike were definitely a hit!
So I’m back from Katybeth’s wedding in Pennsylvania. I had a very good time at the wedding and reception, and Aunt Chris and Uncle John were hospitable as always.
The wedding itself was quite different from my usual wedding experience. Though I’ve taken photos at weddings before, this was the first time I’ve been “the” photographer at a wedding (well, for everything except the formal photos). It was definitely a challenge, especially since it was a family member’s wedding and I tended to gravitate toward photos of my family members. It was also somewhat bittersweet since, although I was present throughout the whole wedding and reception, it was my job to focus on the photography. If I stopped to listen to someone speaking or watch someone walk down the aisle, I’d probably end up missing a great shot. All in all, though, I’m glad I did it. I think everyone will be happy with the results.
I’d already deleted a lot of the photos I took before I got home, but I still have quite a few to process: touch-ups, removing red-eye, cropping, etc. I’ve done 125 and there are 351 to go (most of which are from the reception). I have a lot more thoughts on the experience of wedding photography, so hopefully I’ll be able to get those up here at some point.
In the meantime, I’ve got more work ahead of me; [Becca’s wedding](http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=7734082101622115) is this weekend, and I’ve only got a few more days to practice my cello music for their prelude and processionals! Phew! At least this time I’ll get to sit back down after that’s done and enjoy the rest of the wedding. 🙂
In the span of 15 days, Rebecca, Catherine and I will be attending four weddings!
This weekend, I’m heading down to Pennsylvania for my cousin Katybeth’s wedding, which is on Saturday. I’ll actually be doing some of the photography at her wedding, which should be fun as well as a learning experience. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Catherine, along with Dianne, are on a road trip out to Springfield, Ohio for her friend Heather’s wedding, which happens to be on the same day and at the same time as Katybeth’s wedding! We’ll all be reunited on Monday when the ladies get back from their road trip.
Then, the next weekend, we’ll be trekking up to Bennington, Vermont for my friend Becca’s wedding. I’ll be helping out at her wedding, too, except there I’ll be lending my musical talents as I play the cello part in some cello-piano duets for the prelude and processionals. The last time I played for a crowd was at [Jeremy and Angela](http://thebiggspicture.org/)’s wedding, so I’ve been practicing up a storm to get ready.
Finally, the weekend after that, we’ll be at Rebecca’s cousin Matthew’s wedding. No duties that I’m aware of for this wedding, just to be there and enjoy! Of course, I’m sure I’ll take a photo or two. 🙂
Anyone else got a wedding we should know about? 🙂 We’ll do our best to get photos and reports up on the blog for all of the wedding madness!