Amelia Island Recap

We had a great getaway to Amelia Island for Christmas with Mike's family. We flew out on Wednesday, December 24 on a direct JetBlue flight from Boston to Jacksonville. The security line was like nothing I had seen before. There must have been 700 people in line (at least, no joke). It took us almost an hour to get through. Unbelievable! But, hey, if that was the worst of the travel experience (it was), then who cares!

We arrived in Jacksonville around 12:30 pm. The weather was a lovely 80 degrees. Aaah! A pickup service took us to our hotel where we were checked into our rooms by about 1:45 pm. We were lucky to get rooms on the club level overlooking the Christmas tree and ocean.

Day view

Night view

Our room, and the hotel itself, was quite beautiful. And what a treat to hear the ocean at night (we slept with our balcony door open).

The hotel was superbly decorated for the holiday. They had a ship made of gingerbread that took 3 weeks to cook and 4 days to assemble. It smelled delicious!

There were lots of fun activities for the kids. Connor and Fiona got to meet Santa, Mrs. Clause, and Rudolph on Christmas Eve before we went to Mass. They really enjoyed that.

We celebrated Mass on Christmas Eve at St. Michael's church in Fernandina Beach. The pastor had a big booming voice that Michael likened to the Wizard of Oz. Kind of intimidating... For about two seconds, until he launched into a well-prepared and interesting homily. He invited all the kids to the altar, where they gathered for the story of the birth of Jesus. He even let them sit there for the remainder of the service. It was really great.

We joined Deirdre, Pat, and the kids in Pat's room Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. Connor and Fiona were over the moon with their toys -- mostly because they couldn't believe Santa found them at the hotel!

Michael and I headed to the beach after breakfast for a nice walk -- another luxury as far as we were concerned. Kind of strange to see sand instead of snow on Christmas! I called my family to wish a Merry Christmas and enjoyed catching up.

Connor and Fiona enjoyed a puppet making and puppet theater activity on Thursday afternoon that the hotel put on. It was really a lot of fun. We enjoyed seeing what the kids had to say :)

We enjoyed Christmas dinner at Amelia Plantation's Verandah restaurant . The food was nice and the change of pace was enjoyable.

We rounded out the night with a bonfire on the beach. A famous pirate showed up and told the kids many stories about life at sea. She even cooked S'mores with them.

We spent Friday walking around Fernandina Beach and taking in Florida's sights. We had a great time seeing the ships, ocean, and pelicans. A local even threw some bait out so Connor and Fiona could see the pelicans up close. The children also had fun playing with the fake shark!

We headed home and Saturday and were welcomed back by rain. Not to shabby considering there was a blizzard while we were in KC last year!

We hope you enjoyed your Christmas as much as we enjoyed ours!

Smiles