Secret Saint Nicholas

When we first arrived back home, Quinn was sad to see there was no snow on the ground. He had been constantly watching our local ski area's webcams, waiting and hoping for the skiing he would do this winter.

Though there wasn't any snow, we quickly busied ourselves with unpacking our two huge suitcases from our travels and it was finally time to start decorating for Christmas!

When we first moved into the barn, there were icicle style christmas lights on it from ten years prior! 

Because of the painful memories Quinn had of taking them down, we hadn't yet put lights of our own up. 

This was the year to change that!

Quinn did a wonderful job putting lights up, and we'll be sure to take them down once the season is over (because leaving your Christmas lights up ALL YEAR ROUND is a huge no-no).

While on tour, I had plenty of time to dream up Christmasy things to do while home. Maybe I day dreamed a little too much...because I've kept Quinn pretty busy with all the ideas I've had.

My first idea came from the old tales of Saint Nicholas when he would come to good children and fill their clogs or slippers with treats. Saint Nicholas day fell on the first Sunday we were back in town, December 6th. And Quinn and I were prepared to spread some Christmas cheer in Saint Nicholas' honor...

We woke up extra early on Sunday morning, thinking that Abigail and Melissa (who were the only ones home) would still be fast asleep. Imagine our surprise when, as we were sneaking up to their front door, Abby opens it and wishes us a good morning! 

There we stood. 

Our arms filled with treats and surprises for her. 

Ooops!

Needless to say we quickly tried to hide everything and asked her to go back inside and we would come get her in a bit.

She was rather confused (and I'm sure surprised by the bags of slippers and candy in our hands), but she was kind and left us to our now not-so-secret work.

Together, Quinn and I set out the slippers we had picked out for each person and filled them with candy canes, oranges, nuts, caramels  and pomegranates.

Abigail and Laura got the most exciting pairs of slippers, with Abby getting puppy dog ones and Laura getting pink piggies! 

We set a little note from Saint Nicholas in front of each pair of slippers. All that was left now was to go get the good children (or in this case, good mom and sister). 

I think they were a little bit surprised!

________________________________________

Mom and Abby were so excited to find a pair of slippers from Saint Nicholas just for them by the front door. And I was so happy that Quinn and I had gotten up early and surprised them. 

As we later found out, they were just about to leave for the early service at their church (something Quinn and I had not taken into account).

Even though Abigail caught us in the act of our secret plans, she still said that she was very surprised. 

And really, that's what we had hoped for...

Little did they know that I had other things in mind for more secret Christmas things!

"Our Fall Tour" or "Coffee Shops Across America"

We're home!

And before you ask, YES. We did travel across the entire midwest in a 60 foot long caravan (bus and camper), or as I like to call it: the Zahasky wagon train.

Because three months is a bit hard to write about in depth, I'm just going to give you the highlights of our tour down in the continental US...

First off, the hardest part about leaving our homes (besides the fact that we love our own beds) was Elizabeth, our pet squirrel. She had been such a friend to us all summer long, and we were sad to say goodbye to her.

Before we could start our tour, the bus was in dire need of some sprucing up. We hadn't used it for two years, and Melissa was ready to make it beautiful once again.

A swirling vortex of green paint and sawdust consumed our lives for a week and half as we worked to get the bus ship-shape. 

It was CHILLY working in the bus. Here we are huddled
around the tiny space heater. I think my face says it all.

See those nice green painted cabinet doors there? I painted those. Of course, after I painted them Melissa informed me that they were supposed to be blue. 

That was a hard day.

There was hardly anything in the bus that was staying the way it was, we even replaced the toilet that had been in it. But wait...whatever happened to the old one?

It seems SOMEONE thought it would be funny to stick it in grandma's yard. 

But we were (finally) on our way!

This next section I would like to call,

"Scenes From the Bus"

A giant black crow looms menacingly on the side of the road.

A haiku about traveling in the bus:
It is very flat
Such flatness I have not seen
How I miss mountains

Passing the time by counting the cars that pass us.

An early morning spent driving.

ANOTHER early morning spent driving.

While we were on the road, we experienced and witnessed a lot of new and very strange things.

Like that one time Laura made some friends back stage...

Or that one unfortunate day that an entire carton of eggs were spilled and broken on Quinn's shoes.

He was very broken-up about the whole thing...

And no one can forget the day we saw THIS car parked near our bus!

We kept our eyes peeled in that town, we didn't want to be chased by dinosaurs!

I think everyone would agree that our favorite times were the nights spent in Walmart parking lots:

These are the memories I'll cherish forever.

Or maybe,

 our favorite memories were the hours spent in the countless coffee shops we found ourselves in.

Can you say, 'YUM'?

Yes, I would like one of everything please.
Actually! Can you make it TWO of everything?
Thanks.

We played in a lot of old, beautiful theaters while on tour, some of them were even rumored to be haunted! 

Abigail and I found ourselves singing "The Phantom of the Opera" more then once while setting up for shows. 

Sadly, no handsome phantom ever showed himself...

Here, Regina is having us practice her favorite song, "Ice Ice Baby"

We had a great time on tour, but we can't tell you how happy we are to be home. Christmas is almost upon us and we're so excited to spend time with the family and friends we've been missing these last several months. 

But it won't be long until we're packing up and 

getting ready to go on the road again!