Christmas 2017

We stayed in NC for Christmas this year again and had a really relaxing one!

Saturday we baked Boston Seed cookies—Nicholas cut up much of the fruit, and I mixed and shaped and baked them.

Later, we took a family bike ride to the kids’ school and played in the nature area and on the playground. It was fun and I hope just the beginning to our family bike rides! 

On Christmas Eve we played board games, baked sugar cookies for Santa, and played outside during the day.

Then we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Chinese take-out on china.

Then we fed the reindeer, checked the Santa tracker, Nicholas read “The Night Before Christmas,” and we put the kids to bed.

And thennnnn...Christmas morning started at 6:30!!

We opened presents and played all day. None of us got out of our pajamas! I made corn pudding and cold ham for lunch, and Nicholas and I just enjoyed the kids playing. They spent hours putting together Legos and riding scooters through the house.

We are thankful for the family time we had and for the many gifts our family received!

Tuesday we finally ventured out to enjoy some of the outside gifts.

I have been nursing a yucky cold since Saturday, so my list of things to get done over break hasn’t been touched, unfortunately. But I am lucky that Nicholas is home and happy to play with the kids!

Two more weeks of December track out!

We’ve been playing hard and nursing sick kids as needed, and as usual, it seems for December track out! Here is some of what we’ve been up to:

The kids have rediscovered their inside toys and have been playing together so sweetly some of the time! That’s magical!

We’ve been to Marbles, where the kids all found something to love!

The big kids had a couple of hours at another Hemlock Bluffs program on deer while I finished Christmas shopping and Jason was at preschool. They loved it.

We went to the NC Museum of Natural Science on December 13, and lucked out that so many labs and centers were open!

Leo’s favorite part: the giant Rice Krispie treat!

That night we went to see Christmas lights! One of our favorite Christmas traditions!

Thursday, we went to playgrounds and music lessons.

Then, Jason got sick, so we stayed in the rest of the week.

Sunday, Olivia and I went to the Nutcracker with my friend Lisa. We went to the Cary Ballet’s production, and the Raleigh Boy Choir stole the show with their beautiful voices during the dance of the snow flakes at the end of the first act. Actually, there was so much beautiful dancing!

Front row seats!

 

Monday, we built gingerbread houses, Legos from Lisa, and played with dolls that Grandma sent:

Tuesday was Jason’s preschool Christmas program:

Then we went to Prairie Ridge Eco Station with our neighbors and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Wednesday, Olivia felt unwell so we stayed in and played dolls.

Thursday we went to the “ninja” playground in Spec for the first time. It was a little wet, but we had fun!