My friend Tara organized a Christmas outing to an old Victorian home a couple of towns away from ours. I was hesitant. Besides feeling crappy (I know, yawn), we all know Annie hasn’t been wild about Santa who was going to be at the house with Mrs. Claus. Plus, old Victorian house. It was, at best, going to be haunted, but at worst was going to be full of breakable historical stuff that emits a “touch me!” sound wave that only children can hear. But then Annie heard me talking about it to Mike and she said, “Mama? Will my friends be there? Can I see my friends, pleeeeeease?”
So I gave in. And (yes Tara) it was fun. Even though I was stressed the entire time that Annie was going to break something.
The kids were pretty good waiting in the line to see Santa and the Mrs.
The older girls (the ones that are Maddie’s age) kill me with the way they fawn over Annie. It’s so sweet and Annie just melts.
Once we were inside the house I was on HOLY CRAP DON’T TOUCH THAT alert, which I think amused and relieved the docents in charge of keeping everything moving. I wanted to barf the whole time we were in the house, but it wasn’t because of my HG. No, it was because there were jars filled with candles all over the place. GLASS AND FIRE. Awesome combo. To be fair, the kids are all very good but I am super-cautious when it comes to historical landmarks. Call me old-fashioned.
Anyway, they were all great in front of the tree:
Don’t! Touch! The! Ornaments!
Then it was time to meet Santa…and everyone under the age of three was like, “oh, hell no.”
Other than the two-month-old, who couldn’t get away.
After Santa there were cookies and punch. Red punch. RED. PUNCH. One of the nice volunteers handed a glass to Annie and I was like, “ohhhh, no, let’s keep this pretty historical kitchen nice and clean!” And grabbed the glass from her. And then I spilled some, right on my feet. Sigh. Can’t take me anywhere.
Once we were out of the pretty historical house, we went over to a big rec-room-barn-thing, where there were some handmade wooden toys that the kids could play with:
There was also a giant snowman:
And some large fake horses:
There was also a station for ornament making, where Annie made the first of what I hope will be many handmade ornaments:
The best part was seeing Annie have so much fun with her friends. They are almost all older than her, but they are so patient and treat her like she’s their age. Annie was hugging them constantly, and was just so happy to be around them, playing and creating and squealing. It’s great to finally have her at the age where she can play and interact and she doesn’t need me to help her. Other than, you know, keeping her from breaking old Victorian heirlooms.
Kayla says:
Funny, I just did a tour of an old house like this with my mom on Saturday – Casa del Herrero in Santa Barbara, which was uh-mazing. If you ever get the chance to hit up SB again, definitely schedule a tour there; I’d go again in a heartbeat!
Course I’d probably leave Annie at home because Annie + Casa del Herrero would more likely than not = one great big heart attack for Heather! Breakable antiques and what not *abound.*
Jenn says:
Sounds like fun!!! I couldn’t believe Molly was as big as she was!!! Where does the time go?!?! I loved the little outfit that Meghan was wearing…so Cute!!! I’m glad you felt well enough to get out of the house…even if it was too an old house with lots of breakable things!! Can’t wait to see what and where you’ll next adventure will be!!! Thanks for sharing!!
Connie says:
This sounds so cool! I LOVE touring historical homes (of course, I’ve never had to take a 3 year old) and this one seems beautiful. I love the picture of the little girl holding Annie’s face, so sweet. I used to get worried taking my nieces and nephews to Target when they were younger, for fear of the octopus arms. I must imagine it’s like that times a million in a place where everything is breakable.
Laura says:
My favorite part of this post is the way the coat is buttoned up on the little blond in the 2nd picture.The look on her face just adds to it. Classic!
Margie says:
I noticed that too. AHAHA!
Great post, Heather!
Shan says:
These pictures are adorable! It looks like a great time was had by all. I do understand the stress though….eek. I feel your pain. heck I would have been stressed to have my 13 year old there!!
Heather says:
A good friend of ours works at a historical site with a homestead. You can be assured that the employees there are all like “Let that kid touch/spill/love everything in this home!”
I used to be super paranoid about them touching/breaking/messing things up at these places, I have since been corrected.
Expect the fire. Don’t let her touch the fire.
Annalisa says:
Heather covered it. Anything irreplaceable stays in storage.
Mari says:
O punching to see her in the pics with the older girls hugging her. They’re so adorable all of them
Kristin says:
Too funny, I just took my boys there last night! It was fun, but definitely more stressful than it needs to be. Thank goodness my mom was with me because my two boys (3 1/2 and 5) were OUT. OF. CONTROL. The older one was “webbing” everything because he’s decided he’s Spiderman and the younger one just plays against him and tried to take him down wherever he was. Including on the beautiful wrap-around porch. Oye. Thanks for sharing, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who was stressed out the entire time. Oh- and Annie and the other children look adorable =)
Barbara says:
Kristen, I am so glad to know my two boys aren’t the only ones who do this!
Auntie_M says:
BEAUTIFUL pictures! Loved seeing Annie fawning & being fawned over by the other precious big girls! And how beautiful / handsome all the kids looked!! Glad you were able to go & that both you and the house survived intact!
karen says:
OK, I’m late to the party here, but (reasons). So let’s get this straight, it’s a historical house, and they have Santa and Mrs. C. there, and therefore are expecting many small children, so they put candles in glass candleholders and serve RED punch.
are these people crazy or stupid?