Pennsylvania Christmas

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:

Millie helped, too!

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!

Daredevil!

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!

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: 

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!

Giving Mimi her special 2019 Family Book.

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!

'Tis the Season

Happy December!  It's the most wonderful time of the year, and we've been celebrating this festive holiday season all month long.  We kicked off December with a visit to Santa Claus.  Our friends hosted a Cookies and Cocoa with Santa party at their house again this year, and this was such a fun way to take family pics with Santa and share the kids' wish lists with him:

It's Millie's first Christmas, which means that we needed to find a "puppy-proof" tree this year.  We decided on a smaller, tabletop tree that was out of reach of curious paws, but didn't count on this puppy's ingenuity...

...or how hard it was to keep a straight face when she had this look of shame at being caught:

Millie's curious nature and willingness to "help" with putting ornaments on the tree did provide some cute photo ops.  Here are all 3 kids decorating "Tiny Tim": 

L&L's 2019 ornaments truly capture the highlights of their year.  It was an easy choice to select a tuba for Luke.  This boy LOVES being "Tuba Dude" at school, and his favorite part of each day is band:

When Luke's band teachers sent out the following invitation to us, we knew that we HAD to check it out:

There was even Tuba Christmas merchandise for sale!  I couldn't really believe that this was an actual thing:

The concert was amazing!  Luke loved it so much that he'd like to be a part of it next year.  Later, we did research and discovered that there are Tuba Christmas concerts each December all over the world, celebrating the love that people have for this special instrument:

Our purchase of the Tuba Christmas hat ended up being worth every penny.  This kid has worn it to bed every night since and calls it his "good luck charm":

Priceless!

Leah's requested that her 2019 ornament have a photo of herself with Millie.  These sweet girls are smitten with each other, and I can't think of a more perfect ornament for our dog-loving Leah:

Leah's Girl Scout troop visited Old Salem earlier this month, and we attended the annual Moravian Candle Tea there.  We had a lovely morning exploring this historic community, which is rich in its beautiful Christmas traditions:  

The village was decked out in live greenery and festive holiday wreaths.

Old Salem Square.

We tasted yummy Moravian sugar cookies and toured the Single Brothers House, where we learned how people lived when the village was settled in the mid 18th century.  We also watched demonstrations of handmade Moravian beeswax candles, thousands of which are still used today for Lovefeast Advent services:  

Boxwood Advent wreath topped with a Moravian Star.

Candle making.

Another special early Moravian Christmas tradition that we enjoyed on our tour was the "putz", which included a detailed miniature wintry scene of Old Salem as it was in the early 1900's:

Part 2 of the putz was the presentation of  the Nativity scene, which was lit as the Christmas story was read from Scripture.  This was a very moving experience for all of us, and was beautifully done:

"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." 

After leaving Old Salem, we headed back home where we enjoyed front row seats for our town's afternoon holiday parade:

The parade was part of the annual Light up the Night event at the Town Park, where there was free hot chocolate for all, Christmas carols playing, mock snowball fights, and a snow making machine (which delighted all of these NC kiddos who don't often see snow!).  Children were laughing and running around, families took photos with Santa, and the Christmas tree was lit that evening.  Thousands of luminaries were spread around the paths of the park, and they shone brightly in the night.  It really was like our own little Hallmark movie, and this event always one of my favorite annual Oak Ridge traditions. How we adore our sweet, precious little town!  

The Christmas Spirit continued last week as we attended Luke's 6th grade winter band concert.  This is a BIG band, with almost 90 students, and we were impressed by how much these kids have learned in a few months.  They serenaded their families with Christmas carols and classics, and a dessert reception followed (much to the students' delight!).

Our favorite tuba player, grinning at us!

Somehow Aiden sits right in front of Luke, which is awesome for these BFFs, and spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e! 🤣

On Sunday, we had our Children's Christmas program at church.  Leah was the innkeeper, and did a great job in her role:

This face is too sweet to tell Mary and Joseph that there's no room at the inn!

After weeks of rehearsal and preparation, it's always a big relief to have the program be a success, and these precious children are dearly treasured by our church family:

After the church service, our Life Group joined with friends to assemble 100 Blessing Bags for the needy.  These kiddos look forward to this service project each year, and what better time to do it than during this season of giving, as these children spread joy and serve their community?!

This week, our calendar is packed with class parties, evening Christmas events, and lots more holiday fun.  'Tis the Season!

***P.S.  I'm catching up on our fall blog entries.  Click here for our October 2019 update.