The first stop on our Christmas 2019 travels was to Mimi's house in Pennsylvania. We had an easy drive and happy passengers:
Excited for a fun week of Christmas activities, the kids assembled their gingerbread houses on the first evening that we arrived:
After showers and dinner, they decorated their creations with icing and candy:
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| Millie helped, too! |
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| Leah said that a blizzard hit her house! |
The next morning, we went skiing at Ski Roundtop. This is where I learned to ski growing up, and it was fun to take the kids to slopes that are very familiar to me:
Since this was only L&L's second time skiing (and the first time this season), I signed them up for a group lesson. Serendipitously, they were the only 2 in their group, so they ended up having a private lesson! The kids graduated from the Discovery Area, and the instructor took them up the mountain on the chair lift for the first time. By the end of the lesson, Leah was navigating the slopes like a pro, mastering her turns, and whizzing past people! Luke was a bit more cautious in his approach and preferred to go slower, but both kids had a great time at Roundtop!
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| Daredevil! |
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| Chair Lift selfie with Mommy. |
Back at Mimi's house, we decorated Christmas cookies and enjoyed spotting a Doodle under the tree!
Our Christmas Eve a.m. tradition includes a trip to Chocolate World in Hershey. There were so few people there that we were able to ride the Chocolate World ride twice in a row without getting off!
We always are amazed by the giant winter house made out of Hershey candy and chocolates:
These three gave their thumbs up stamp of approval for their post-ride milkshakes!
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| Christmas Tree at Chocolate World. |
In the afternoon, expert bakers Leah and Mimi made Mommy's favorite: a delicious apple pie for dessert!
We attended the Christmas Eve family worship service and returned in time to sprinkle reindeer food in the yard before Santa arrived:
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| I love this action shot of Leah! |
Next, it was time for pictures with Gawa and Mimi in front of the tree. These big kids ate fancy Christmas Eve dinner with us this year, which was a special treat!
Cookies were left out for Santa and Daddy read "Twas the Night Before Christmas":
The stockings were laid near the chimney with care:
...and after a GREAT sleep (they woke up at our agreed upon time of 7:00 a.m. on the dot!), these kids anxiously waited to see if Santa had stopped by:
Sure enough, Leah's pogo stick and Luke's NERF blaster were waiting for them by the tree!
There's nothing like Christmas morning as a kid. They opened stockings, oohed and ahhed over the piles of presents, and stayed in Christmas pjs all day!
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| Giving Mimi her special 2019 Family Book. |
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| Millie loved being right in the middle of all the Christmas present opening! |
The next day, we returned to Roundtop for a morning of tubing. We did this 2 years ago, and the kids had been very excited to go again. It was interesting this time that the tubing hill didn't seem as big or fast, and I think they have fully converted to skiiers now!
We also visited Hershey Sweet Lights while we were in PA. I was determined not to wait in line at this Christmas light display, and may have encouraged my family to go a little bit earlier than necessary... (meaning we were the VERY FIRST CAR to arrive when it opened at 5:00 p.m.!):
Mark was thrilled at the opportunity to tease me about this, and insisted on wearing his sunglasses through the entire display (because of course it wasn't quite dark yet)!
I countered with, "How many times in your life do you get to have an unobstructed front view of Christmas lights with no tail lights ahead of you?"
My family howled with laughter that we were through the entire display before dusk. My story (and I'm sticking to it!) is that I was perfectly content looking at the pretty sunset and thrilled that everyone was back home and tucked in by bedtime!
It was a great Christmas week in Pennsylvania, filled with many beloved traditions and lots of wonderful family time!
