Ohio Christmas

Santa was very generous this year!  We enjoyed a wonderful White Christmas in Niles with David's parents.    We celebrated Christmas Eve on the 23rd, with lots of family coming over.  We also got to see Christy's Aunt Joyce and Uncle Gene who came from Pittsburgh for lunch and a nice afternoon on Christmas Eve.  Finally, on Christmas Day we went to visit David's Aunt in Toronto for more family time and Christmas fun.

now Nicholas can be just like Doc McStuffins!

GG and Grumpa gave Claire the doll cradle that was Christy's when she was a baby, as well as the photos!

Nicholas got a cool Tonka trunk just like Grumpa had when he was a kid

inside the cradle was Claire's first American Girl doll--Bitty Baby!

mommy got a baby doll for her cradle, too!

Santa even visited Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas Eve!

Claire and Nicholas both loved the Minnie vacuum

Claire also thought the box was pretty cool

and Nicholas' juice

and they both love their new cell phones

Christmas morning--waffles, our favorite!

thanks Aunt Katie and Uncle Jeff!

at David's Aunt's house with David's cousin's baby, Blake.

David got his very own wallet, with money in it!  Just like Daddy!

Claire likes Christmas cookies!

 David and Claire at church on Christmas Eve

 so many presents!

waiting to go into the living room to see if Santa came

 Christmas dinner--Claire loves ham!

Caesar was very good

Christmas Eve with cousin Siena

 per Nicholas' request, Claire got a pink (and purple) truck!

 Mommy and Claire after Church on Christmas Eve

 Cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer!

 love this picture!

 the kids!

 family Christmas pic

 Christmas Eve dinner table

 Claire with Aunt Barb

reading Bible stories

Christmas DC Festivities

We spent our actual Christmas in Ohio this year, so we split up the pictures into the December DC activities and our Ohio trip.  We tried to take advantage of the numerous Christmas activities DC has to offer

 this is at the Christmas market at the German School in MD, with good friends that we met in Berlin

 photo compliments of our budding photographer Nicholas!

 we went to Zoo Lights again this year, and Nicholas loved the trains!

 the White House at night

 DAR Constitution Hall Christmas Open House.  Claire is not a Santa fan

 back to Zoo Lights-- taking a ride on the new Carousel!  Nicholas loved the Buffalo!

 and the train ride!  Claire and Mommy sat this one out because it was starting to rain

 the camera doesn't take great night shots, but the lights were beautiful

 at the front entrance

 the White House Christmas tree

 there are some pretty cool model trains around the tree, as well as mini-trees decorated by high schools from every state

 out for a walk on a slightly warmer December day

 Christmas cookies!  Nicholas insisted on wearing his tropical shirt that day.  I guess you can take the kid out of the Caribbean, but you can't take the Caribbean out of the kid!

 Claire's first Christmas cookie!

 the problem with decorating Christmas cookies is that Nicholas kept wanting to taste them!

 Claire's not supposed to touch the tree, but....

We signed Nicholas up for Tae Kwan Do ... he loves his "he-ya" class!

 Mommy's red and green fruit salad for Nicholas's class party

Nicholas's preschool class Christmas performance

Santa at Tyson's Corner.  Claire was not thrilled with this Santa either!

White House Christmas tree--cell phone shot

ZooLights Carousel

Christmas Deco

I've been planning on doing a post on our Christmas decorations, since we finally get to have them all out this year, and here we are already packing them away.  So as the last box goes back into storage:

 our pyramid from Germany.  Didn't burn the candles this year, but enjoyed it nonetheless

 our new wall Advent Calendar.  this year we put a Hot Wheel in each stocking, next year we'll have to think of 2 treats as Claire won't want to be left out!

 Cool sticker Advent Calendar from GG and Grumpa!

 so we realized most of our Christmas decorations were purchased in Germany, aka "our pre-kid life".  So, I had to search for kid-inaccessible places for the delicate items, which meant our mantel ended up being pretty full.  Love the Polish Pottery Christmas trees, and the German nutcracker and nativity scene.  Also, the kids got new stockings from Pottery Barn Kids!  (Mom was excited about this one).

 we ended up with 4 Christmas trees this year.  This is the mini one we bought last year for our Kennedy Warren apartment while we were on maternity leave.  It looked great from the outside when lit up, as this window faces the front.

 Our new card holder, which we'll use year round.  it's now jam-packed with cards.  Thank you to all our wonderful friends and family!

 The main tree!  As posted about in our last entry, David cut this one down himself!

 fiber-optic tree in the kitchen

 Nativity close-up

 main tree, take two

 Love these reindeer from the Christmas market in Vienna

 Claire's advent calendar!

tree #4--the fake tree we bought for Trinidad.  This year it became the kids' tree, in the playroom with lots of felt ornaments they could rearrange.  Moe liked it too.

David found this sled that someone was giving away.  He fixed it up for the perfect Christmas decoration!

David did a great job on the outside lights--we looked very festive this year!

We are sad to pack up another year, but really enjoyed having all our decorations out.

Cutting down the Christmas Tree

We have a tradition of cutting down our own tree, which we were happy to revive this year, not being in tropical Trinidad or a tiny temporary apartment.  So, we drove out to Moose Apple Christmas Tree Farm.  Nicholas loved the tree forest.  I think he thought he was in an episode of Mickey Mouse, with the rows and rows of perfectly manicured trees.  It was COLD, though, so Claire and Grandma stayed in the cute Christmas shop while we picked out the best tree.

We are so excited to kick off the Holiday Season!!!!