The Events of Thursday, December 23, 2010

                It has become a most trying tradition that every morning, upon waking up, Abby announces either her dream the previous night, what a pain it is to share a bed with me, if it’s a holiday she’ll announce which one it is, or if something exciting is going on, she’ll be sure to wake me up to share it. Today, being the day before Christmas Eve, she excitedly bounced me yelling, “Happy Adams Day‼ Wake up, Lindsey, it’s Adam’s Day‼” She wouldn’t leave me alone until I was awake and acting just as excited as she was. You have to be a pretty good actor to live with a creature like that. Anyway, when she was satisfied that I was awake and in the holiday mood, Abby deserted me to make the bed by myself, with the animated, overdramatic cry, “I have to go to the bathroom!” Very slowly, I started to pull up the sheet, but before I got the bright yellow linen to its correct location, Abby burst in, “Everybody FREEZE‼” Sometimes I doubt that the two of us are related. “Strip the beds, because we are going to sleep in a house tonight! Yay! ” No one can dampen the spirits of my little sister in the morning.

                We breakfasted with hot cocoa and cider, had our family devotions and prayer time, and then headed to the showers. When all were clean, Harvey Aardvark drove us to the propane station to refill her tanks. When she was full, Harvey drove us to our main attraction of the day, Historic Williamsburg. We parked in lot C, space one hundred and forty-two, and trucked the seemingly many miles to the Visitor Center. Now, if you ever vacation with the Taylors, especially Madame Taylor, you’ll find that no matter where or when, if we are in a building with bathroom facilities, you should be almost positive that that will be the first stop. But, today, Madame Taylor inquired how soon the Williamsburg overview movie would be starting. They said three minutes. So, today the restrooms came after the movie. After we had completed those tasks, we confronted the information desk and had our, well again, mostly Madame Taylor’s numerous questions answered.

                It was already about 11:30, so we decided to explore the gift shop, have lunch, and then catch the shuttle to ride down into Historic Williamsburg. We did just that. When we arrived at the first stop, The Governor’s Palace, we hopped out and walked down a dust path into Colonial Williamsburg and 1759. We were greeted by a servant of the Royal Governor, who had been recruited by her mistress to show her guests her palace, so that when we got arrived there for the evening ball, we would feel at home. We were swept in through the grand front doors into the entrance hall. The walls were elegantly decorated, covered with hundreds of swords and guns. The pantry was full of many elegant dishes and the parlor was all set for the ball’s entertainments. We were taken upstairs to view the private chambers of the Governor, his wife, and four daughters. We were told to never outshine the Countess or Governor’s wife, and that you could come to your first ball around age 15. We were also told to be sure to bring several sets of dancing shoes for all the dancing we would be doing. The maid was dismayed at our lack of finery and wigs on the men and made several recommendations as to where in town we could pick up the necessities we would need for that evening. Then, the maid took us through the ball room with its elegant draperies and portraits and finally to the dining room, already set for the night’s festivities. She bid us good day and sent us out and on our way.

                We walked through the elegant formal gardens to the garden maze and got lost briefly for 5 minutes before Abby found us our way out. The cellar was our next spot and in the darkness there were stores of wine and beer. Next we explored the kitchen where the cook was cooking up some ribs on paper. On the table, he had arrayed sweet potato pie, beef wrapped in bacon, candied oranges, apple dumplings, chicken dumplings, quail, a juicy turkey, rosemary meringues, and many other delicious desserts.

                Having seen all there was to see at the Governor’s mansion we were soon on our way to explore more of the town. Our destination was the Courthouse as we were to hear some actual cases of the time tried. As we walked down Duke of Gloucester Street, we passed many unique wreaths and Christmas decorations. When we reached the town court house, we stood in a line to hear a series of cases that would have been similar to the cases they would have dealt with in the late 1700s. A colonial man asked for a couple volunteers to be justices for the court. Daddy volunteered to be a justice and then we entered the court house. There were three separate cases. First was a man who hadn’t come to church in a month. This was one of the most frequent “crimes” of the time. He claimed it was because he was Roman Catholic and therefore not a member of the King’s Church, which made it worse, because for some reason they disliked Catholics. The jury voted him guilty. He had to pay a fine and it was recommended that he move to Maryland or Quebec, preferable Quebec because it was further. The next case was a man who had avoided paying his taxes. He protested that his slave ran off after he had had him for 6 months, so he didn’t make any money, and therefore shouldn’t have to pay taxes. He was also found guilty. The last case was a widow and a man. The widow claimed that the man she had hired to transport her tobacco to market had capsized his boat, throwing her hogsheads of tobacco into the river and ruining it. The man declared that the tobacco was not ruined. The justices voted to have three well learned men go down to inspect the tobacco and dismissed the case for the time being. Court was adjourned and after a hearty, “Long Live the King,” we walked out of the courthouse.

                Next to the court house were some stocks, so Daddy got his camera out as we posed in the stocks. Then we visited the Prentis Store to look around. There we found a “puzzle mug”. It is a mug made of pottery but the upper part of the mug has several patterns cut into it. This puzzle mug was part of a drinking/gambling game of the time. The puzzle is to figure which holes to cover, the obvious, the hidden and which holes to sip from without spilling a drop. By simply holding this mug comfortably in the correct hand and sipping from the right hole, any brew could be enjoyed without spilling. Near the door, Caitlin found a cloak which she tried on and liked very much. Then she found out that it costs $875! We walked down the street to the Printing Office. Finding it closed, we walked behind the house to the Bindery. We watched as the binder showed us the first few steps of twenty eight! He had to get the paper printed, fold it into the right order, put the packet together, cut off the top, bottom, and sides, attach a leather cover and back, and apply decoration. And that’s only eight! It was crazy! Across the street, we visited the blacksmith shop and then all of us kids got a free souvenir pin from a man outside of the shop for visiting three of the shops. Mom had to use the bathroom, so around the corner we went. We decided to go back to the shuttle, since it was already getting dark and late. We rode the shuttle back and hopped back in Harvey Aardvark. It was time to go “home” to the house we were renting for the week.

                We didn’t see it at first; we passed around it and then realizing our mistake, went around the block. Daddy went to investigate and sure enough, 700 Jackson Drive! This house is to be our residence for the next five days. We are spending Christmas here with my Grandpa and Grandma Taylor and my Aunt Jennifer, all of my Daddy’s family. Excitedly, we explored the house, chose beds and rooms, and started to settle in. Before we knew it, we were sitting down at an actual table with actual chairs and an actual table, eating a sizzling meal of spaghetti. We did a couple loads of laundry and watched The Nativity Story on an actually decent sized TV. Then we went to sleep in actual beds and hopefully Abby will stall her tradition for a couple of days.