Weekend Rewind

 Happy Monday! 

I had a really fun and Christmas filled weekend!

Friday started my first of 4 Fridays off this month. There is something extra special about having Fridays off especially during the holidays. 

I woke up early and accompanied my parents to the food store. We ran into our family friend, Jean who works there. Food shopping is so relaxing and fun. HA! 

On the way home from food shopping, we stopped at the Waretown Bakery to pick up some donuts. Guys,  if you are local, stop here. They have $1 donuts and $1 coffee EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. The donuts are HUGE and so yummy. We naturally got a dozen donuts. HA!

I had to stop and take a picture by the giant donut sign outside with the box of donuts.

How joyful is that painting?! I put this photo on Instagram and tagged the Waretown Bakery and they reposted it! I was so excited.  HA! (Its the small things!)

After our coffee and donut breakfast, Mom and  I talked strategy for Christmas food. We want this to be easy and yummy this year. I think we came up with a great idea- ordering different things from all of our favorite local places. That way we can graze the whole weekend on all the goodness we all love. We made our lists for what we are going to get and where. We also came up with a list for the liquor store for our Christmas cocktails. 

In the afternoon, we ventured to TJ Maxx and Caffery’s for lunch. I love Caffery’s; they have the best atmosphere and food. (If you want really good perogies, go here! I swear they are the best I’ve had in a long time!)

I was SO excited for Santa to come around on a firetruck later that night. Our section of town was the kickoff for Santa. Dad and I got bundled up and we went in his truck and sat at the end of the driveway, patiently waiting for Santa. This has been a tradition for my entire life. We waited, listening to Christmas music and chatted. At one point, we started to get nervous, where was he? Normally there are sirens and music continually playing, but we only heard sporadic sirens and music. Since there were only 3 main streets in my area, we went for a ride to see where he was. 

As we drove around the neighborhood, we saw there were other kids waiting for Santa outside too! We found him, coming out of one of the streets. Santa goes up and down each and every street with his elves.  After we confirmed he was on the move, we headed back to our house to wait. We had a feeling it would be a little longer, there was about 5 streets between where he was and where we were. 

When Santa finally turned the corner onto my street, you would have thought I was 5 years old; I got so excited to see the fire truck covered in lights and hear the Christmas music playing. He saw me and daddy at the end of the driveway and they pulled right up and stopped. Daddy knew the driver and I got to talk to Santa and one of his elves (one of the firefighters) gave me two lime flavored candy canes from the local candy shop. My dad and I had the biggest smiles on our faces and as Santa moved on to the next house, I was so happy I was able to partake in this tradition. 

I posted a poll on Instagram to see if my insta-friends had Santa come by on a firetruck where they lived.  The friends who lived in NJ all said yes. There was on response from Boston, YES. Canada sadly does not do this tradition.  

Daddy and I were giddy with excitement when we went inside to thaw.

Saturday morning, mom and I were up early. We decided to go into Seaside later that day to see our photographer, Noah Shaffer. He was doing (1) free Photo with Santa at Hook’s Bar. Noah takes our Christmas card photos each year. We love his photography and we want to support a small business too!

I love how Seaside is so empty in the wintertime. Such a change from the craziness of the Summer. We arrived at Hook’s a little after noon and as we walked in we immediately saw Noah and Santa. Noah had set the area up in three different sections- Santa’s workshop, Santa and a Christmas tree and Santa’s Bakery. It was perfect. I knew Noah would hit it out of the park with the details and styling. 

We found a table and our waitress came over and took our drink orders. Mom ordered a Winter White Cosmo and I had the Mistletoe Margarita. Both were delicious. We ordered some food and then when we saw there was no line for the photos, we made our way over to them. Me, being the oldest child there, I was so excited to have a family photo with our favorite photographer and Santa. 

We got our food in no time and it was delicious. We were all surprised how good the food was. I hadn’t been to hooks in almost 10 years and I am not sure I had food back then. Mom and I got perioges (they were just as good as the ones from Caffery’s!); dad got a cheeseburger and then we shared not one, but TWO giant pretzels because they were THAT good! We will definitely be back again!

We loved seeing all the kids see Santa when they walked in and get so excited! Everyone’s photos looked so so sweet! We had such a fun time there! Before we left Mom and I had to play a few rounds of Skee-Ball. I think my Skee-Ball machine was broke because it kept giving me more and more balls even though the game was over. Lucky for the little kids playing the giant pac-mac next to Skee-Ball, I told them (and their grown up) the kids can play without playing because they balls kept getting returned. The kids were so excited! Good deed done for the day!

If you are not a local, Hook’s is a local bar in Seaside Heights (where Jersey Shore was filmed!) and its known for having arcade games. In the summer, its packed and  in the winter, all the locals come. Its a great place and very close to the Jersey Shore House.

We left Hook’s with smiles on our faces and full bellies.  I can’t wait to see the photos that Noah took!

This struck me so funny- Santa on his smartphone

You can see the different areas that Noah set up

We went home after a fun time at Hook’s to rest before heading out for our final adventure of the day.

Even though its blurry, you can tell we are smiling.

A cute hippopotamus

A pirate Ship AND a decorated boat in the background

A blurry view of the sailboat decorated

Momma spotted this with her eagle eyes

We all got the biggest kick out of this one- Rudolph was bigger than the HOUSE!

The reindeer was pushing the outhouse over with Santa in it.

Our neighbors always decorate so so pretty!