(Real) Christmas in Connecticut (Mile 5,282, Trail Mile 129.11)

For those younger than, say, 49, the title is an old movie joke ... look it up. 

Okay, back to business. The drive from New York was one of the most uneventful of our trip, other than the frustrating task of finding a Fedex location to drop off our Covid test. We stopped in about five different random drop-off locations before we finally found one open at a Dollar General in East Nowhere, Pennsylvania. Just another sign that it's 2020.

About eight hours later, we arrived in Mystic at our cozy little Christmas cottage.

Here's what the map looks like now:

After a good night's sleep, we settled into our new home. Nathan enjoyed the snow.

We also took a stroll to downtown Mystic, where we got some take-out from a famous bakery called Sift. Apparently the owner was the winner of a big nationwide baking competition, and they had the lines outside the door to prove it. I have to admit, the food was worth the hassle! And, considering that Rachel and Nathan have become obsessed with baking competition shows, this seemed like a worthy diversion.

Turns out that in Mystic, even the whales wear masks.

We spent the next couple of days before Christmas visiting.

Rachel also spent a LOT of time cooking. We got the payoff for all of that effort on Christmas Eve when we had Mom, Dave, and Deb over for brunch. Sadly, I didn't even think to get one photo of the awesome food!

The following day was Christmas, and, as with our pre-Christmas in New York, there was a lot of sadness about who we could see, who we couldn't see, and the general bummer of having the holidays occur during such strange and depressing circumstances. Even the weather was a little cruddy and sad. The blanket of snow that had been there for the last few days was replaced by gray skies and rain.

That said, we felt truly grateful that that, as in New York, we got to spend our holiday with more family than many people did this year. And, this was still Christmas! We had our annual Christmas Facetime visit with the Drapers that morning.

And, there was a fire burning in the Christmas room at Dave and Deb's, and there was a holiday feast and presents under the tree.

There were funny hats for everyone.

And the winner of "Year's Best Present" went to Dave for the broken dustpan that he got for Deb. 

I, on the other hand, made out like a bandit with a whole slew of Kickstarter games that I'd ordered long before we even knew we'd be leaving California!

It may not have been the best Christmas ever, but it certainly was memorable.