Christmas Songs

The big snow storm caused all the schools to cancel and start Christmas break 3 days early. Pretty much the coolest thing ever if you're a kid. However, I'm sure a lot of holiday parties at school were missed. Amelia's class had made these snowflake sweatshirts and were going to perform some songs on the last day. Instead, Amelia performed some of the songs for us at home:

An evening in NYC

The day after Christmas we drove my parents and Stephanie up to the Newark Airport in New Jersey so they could catch a flight to Israel for a 10-day tour. We couldn't be that close to New York and not catch a glimpse of the city. We had originally planned a trip to the Statue of Liberty but with the rain and holiday traffic, we were a few hours delayed. Ben was brave enough to take us on a driving tour of Manhattan. He does well in crazy driving situations and had no trouble pushing his way through the endless stampede of people and taxis. The city itself is much easier to navigate than D.C. as far as finding your way around, but just trying to move your car forward is difficult. It took us about 2 hours to drive a small loop around the city. It was a fun adventure. A few of us jumped out of the car at Rockefeller Center to get a closer look at the tree since traffic was moving at a walking pace anyway. We had never been there during Christmas so it was fun to see all the lights and decorations. We lost my dad briefly in the crowd of umbrellas but finally reunited and eventually made our way out of the city and to the airport.


Entering the city via the Lincoln Tunnel.
















Getting a little wet. We failed to grab our umbrellas when we hopped out of the car.


Stephanie and Dad at Rockefeller Center.


Times Square.








Amelia and Elsa overwhelmed in Times Square.


Macy's.


Of course it was at this point that an ambulance was trying to get by...




Leaving via the Holland Tunnel.

The sights and sounds:

Christmas Morning

The best gift we received Christmas morning was sleeping in. The kids didn't get up until 8:30 and that was after we started making noise and turning lights on to wake them up. It took a few hours to open and inspect all the gifts. Amelia and Elsa were spoiled with gifts but delighted with everything they received. Ben and I have a tradition of unknowingly giving each other the same gift. This year was no exception. He gave me an iPod Touch and I gave him an iPod Nano. We had a delicious breakfast and then spent the rest of the day playing games, doing puzzles, eating, and talking to family on the phone. Amelia and Elsa have been playing with all their new toys nonstop and Amelia doesn't even want to leave the house.

Amelia and Elsa inspect their Santa gifts:













Amelia models her new nightgown.


The post-Christmas mess.




The completed puzzle.

Christmas Eve

We were lucky enough to have my parents and Stephanie join us for Christmas this year. It was nice to have a few extra people to celebrate with. We went to the zoo on Christmas Eve (a tradition from Ben's family) and enjoyed the lack of crowds. After our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, we acted out the nativity and then had chocolate fondue. We stayed up late working on a puzzle and watching "It's a Wonderful Life." It was so fun to see Amelia's excitement for each little activity all day long.










Christmas Eve dinner (stuffed rolls, veggies and dip, chips and dip, Christmas jello, wassail, eggnog)


Elsa the angel.


Elsa loved playing in the manger with the baby.






Fondue!

Lights, lights, and more lights

A few days before Christmas the roads had finally cleared up enough to head out to see some Christmas lights. We found a new place this year called the Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens in Maryland. Despite the horrendous traffic getting there, we had a great time. The girls loved all the garden-themed lights and they looked especially neat with all the snow. Luckily, this light display was close to the Temple lights so we stopped there as well.
































(They have a great display of nativities from around the world.)