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The hotel reservations are made, the car has a full tank of gas, packages are wrapped, and foods for snacking along the way have been prepared. Suitcases have been readied for weeks, raring to get up and go over the many rivers and through the woods to Uncle Steve and Aunt Karen’s home in Melrose.
Alex and Peter always look forward to the car trip to Melrose, Massachusetts. Grandmom is always a special passenger, with lots of goodies to snack along the way. The total time is six to eight hours, depending on traffic. This year we will be traveling on Christmas Day so, hopefully, we won’t see too many cars on the way. In all, the distance is 333.74 miles. Alex and Peter have their game boys and a deck of cards called Rubber Necker’s for matching items along the way. All set to go. The boys and Gradmom are staying with Aunt Karen, Uncle Steve and Zeke. Zeke will sleep with the boys, and hopefully, Austin the cat will keep Grandmom’s feet warm. The boys are growing up. When Alex and Peter had visited in the past, the big adventure for them was to be able to walk to the Candy Castle store alone and spend their cash for goodies at the Candy store on Franklin Street. They are older now. They will be looking forward this year to going to a field somewhere to kick a soccer ball around. Hopefully the snow will have melted by then and there will be somewhere to do that. They also want not things, but money for Christmas shopping on Main Street. This could be another highlight for them this time (since they aren’t really old enough to want to buy a car, yet.) Otherwise we may just have to find a couple of neighbors with sleds so the boys can try to sled down a hill somewhere. There certainly are many hills in Melrose. I am glad Karen and Steve didn’t choose a house in the Highlands as I would never be able to climb those hills. It would have been nice years ago but not for me now. We arrived at Karen and Steve’s in record breaking time, just a little over six hours. We munched along the way on ham and cheese sandwiches on Ritz crackers. The evening was highlighted by opening Christmas presents and a delicious dinner prepared by Steve and Karen. The boys always enjoy playing with Zeke. They took turns taking him for a walk with either Aunt Karen or Uncle Steve. The walks around town were aimed for Franklin Field which looked like just the place to take soccer balls for active play. Sunday evening the family headed for Turner’s for a delicious seafood dinner. Monday included a walk to Ell Pond to see the Memorial tree for my husband and the boy’s grandfather. Yes, we now have put our roots in Melrose with a tree that is marked Albert Jenkins. Tuesday morning we are headed back to Pennsylvania. We are looking forward to another trip, perhaps next summer. January 1, 2010
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