Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and safe travels if your holiday has you on the road/in the skies.

We are enjoying our time in England although, as usual, the time goes too quickly. Our little traveler did very well on his first trans-Atlantic flight with absolutely no meltdowns during the seven hour flight. The same cannot be said for his parents, who had a bit of a grumble at the United ticket counter at Dulles after waiting close to a half hour (and being shuttled to four different agents) to pay the fee for Jack to fly; so much for Mick's premier executive flier status...

Mick's dad was kind enough to drive the 3+ hours to Heathrow to pick us up Sunday night and we arrived in Heptonstall around 2:45 am. Jack did NOT appreciate the car ride home (I think he'd had enough travel) and we had to listen to him wail for about an hour and a half. It was pretty tough for me to take but once we got home, he was all smiles.

Jack has adjusted fairly well to the time change, going to bed each night around 1:00 or 2:00 am and sleeping until about noon. We've had the last few days at Mick's dad's house and are here through Christmas morning. Tonight, we'll take Jack to the village square for carols and to see Father Christmas. In the morning, Mick's mum will pick us up and we'll spend the next few days with her and her side of the family. On Saturday, we are headed to London where we'll spend the night before our early-morning flight back to the U.S. on Sunday.

We've had an opportunity to introduce Jack to a number of his relatives, including his Uncle Chris & Uncle James as well as all three great-grandparents. I think it's fairly safe to say that everyone seems smitten with him. The time he has spent with his great-grandparents has been especially meaningful (and emotional, for me) as it has been quite a while since either side of Mick's family has had a baby around.

We'll post pictures from our trip once we're back in the states. Again, Merry Christmas to everyone!