JOY

Our daughter's favorite Christmas carol over the holidays was "Joy to the World," which for the majority of the Christmas season, she confidently belted out, "Joy to the Lord, the Lord is come." Including a rousing rendition in the ladies room at the swank DC hotel, The Willard, after listening to some carolers in the lobby, prompting fellow bathroom users to join in... :) It was a fun season. 

And we definitely did have many moments of joy during the month of December with sweet holiday treats of hot cocoa and goodies; classic movies like "Rudolph" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" where Maelee's favorite characters ended up being "the Snow Monster" and "Old Man Winter;"  NYC "must-see's" including Macy's Santa Land, Bryant Park's Christmas market, and even our local park's annual tree lighting; memorable moments with family like our annual dinner at Old Ebbitt's Grill in DC and a visit to the National Tree, our sacred Christmas Eve tradition in DE, and a fun new treat this year of a mini-vacation at the Massanutten resort; sweet times with friends; and talking to our 2 year old - ahem, 2 and 3/4 year old-  about Jesus, who is the TRUE meaning of Christmas, despite the fun and fantasy of Santa and elves, talking reindeer, and the like. :) 

As always, it was a busy time, but a special time, and we are thankful for the memories made.  Here are some of the memories, captured by the camera...

Yummy hot cocoa!

Tree decorating and train fascination...

First lighting of the Advent Candles

Singing with the carolers at the Carl Schurz tree lighting

Special mommy/daughter movie night with pizza and treats on the couch while daddy was traveling!

Trying on and modeling the Christmas dress!

And our first trip to Macy's Santa Land!  After sticking to the Santa at Bloomingdales for the last couple of years, we decided to take advantage of Steve's comp day off by braving the lines at Macy's.  We were pleasantly surprised at how quickly we moved through the fun-filled "land" to meet the man himself.

Telling Santa what she wants for Christmas- a babydoll!

And enjoying the window displays outside

Fun at the Bryant Park Christmas market

Then, thanks to some much cheaper bus tickets for earlier travel, in the middle of December we made the trip down to VA to enjoy more fun, food, festivities, and family.  We braved the bus ride after a drop-in dance class so we were a little nervous how our little lady would do traveling through naptime (given she simply will not sleep in a moving vehicle, no matter the time, no matter the length...) but thanks to some of her favorite books, daddy's doodling, and her new favorite Christmas movies, the trip went great. We are so thankful for the time we were able to have in VA!

With the giant Nutcracker (one of her favorite holiday characters!) outside of Old Ebbitt's Grill

Enjoying a delicious meal at Old Ebbitt's

Quick view of the National Tree

It was a busy week for Steve, making sure he got all the necessary work completed in order to fully enjoy the following week off, so Maelee and I enjoyed a couple visits with good friends, Nam & Sana, from NY who recently moved to VA, and general holiday activities like shopping and eating :)

With good pal, Sana

SO excited to see Uncle Dan!!!

Little baking "assistant"

Beautiful lights of Old Town Alexandria

And despite getting literally a few hours of sleep on the night of Christmas Eve as the result of a cold, then throwing up all over herself during the car ride, Maelee loved seeing everyone in DE once we got there for our special Christmas Eve tradition, especially her great Too-Daddy...

 with "cousin" Caleb

The whole crew!

Such a fun evening!

More pictures from DE:



After a much better night of blissful sleep (praise the Lord!), we had a fun, relaxed Christmas morning...

Reading the story of Jesus' birth

Maelee's very own Nutcracker!

And little computer system

Enjoying time with Uncle Dan, and new friend, Ri-Ri, her special gift from the Tokyo Zoo

Later that day, we took a drive a couple hours south to the Massanutten ski resort.

And got a snowstorm the next day!
Ready to get cold :)

Make shift sled before getting the real sleds...

that accidentally sledded down the hill and onto the golf course!

Fun in the snow!

Then, fun in the water the next day at the indoor water park!

It was a short trip but we had a blast.  Steve even gave me, my brother, and my parents a special treat by staying in with Maelee one evening while we saw Les Miserables- my all time favorite musical.  We saw it together as a family in DC years back, and I had the pleasure of seeing it performed in Baltimore and in London, so it was very special to get to see it together on the big screen.   

And, more photos from Massanutten:


Before we left VA, we got the chance to see Too-Daddy and Too-Mom, Uncle Tom & Aunt Viv, Susan & Stephen one more time for dinner at The Narrow's.

And the day before we left, we got to see one of my best pal's, Cindy, and her family.  Alli and Maelee are only weeks apart and are so cute together!!!

Slideshow of shots from VA:

Continuing our tradition, we had our own family Christmas the day we got back to NY.

The charm bracelet from daddy- with butterfly/fairy wings for this year :)

A Nutcracker ornament from Mee-Maw & Grandpa!  Another favorite :)

Falling for her Winnie-the-Pooh bear from Aunt Kim

Ho Ho Ho

(poor Parker...)

We had a great holiday season and it just gets more and more fun each year as Maelee gets more into the festivities and her understanding of the meaning of Christmas deepens.  Happy 2013!

And some final pictures from NYC:

November to remember...

Is it really already the Christmas season???  Still not sure what happened to November but there were too many sweet highlights to have it slip by without mention. Especially at the end of the month in our whirlwind Thanksgiving trip where we got to see Mee-Maw & Grandpa, Aunt Kim, and Nana & Pop-Pop!  

The first few weekends were pretty filled with church and service events, including a fun volunteer opportunity that our church community group did together at the World Vision Storehouse, packing up meal kits for victims of Hurricane Sandy.  It will still be a long, slow process of recovery for those hardest hit- please continue to pray for these areas!

Some other notable moments from this past month (with pictures!) include lots of fun with animals at one of Maelee's favorite places, The Art Farm in the City:

With Crikey, the bearded dragon

With Angela, the blue-tongued skink (may she rest in peace... sniff)

With Peanut, the guinea pig

And the transition to her big girl bed!!! We finally took the plunge and are very thankful that for the most part, she has stayed put!

Loving the new-found freedom to just climb right in :)

And out!

Then the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we made the daring mid-afternoon bus ride to DC.  We couldn't leave earlier but we were quite nervous given our daughter pretty regularly naps from about 1:30-3:30pm and NEVER naps in a car.  Or on the bus.  Or train.  Or in the stroller. Etc.  Sigh...

It was a long trip but we are grateful it went well and Maelee was pretty occupied with books, games, and some life-saving videos.  (Thank you, Little Einsteins, Dora, and Christmas Classics!) We stayed the night at my folks in VA and then made an even longer trip down to NC to see Steve's parents and sister.  Travel on the day before Thanksgiving is never a breeze, but with a 2 year old who doesn't nap in any sort of moving contraption?  Whew.  Those were a long 7 hours,  but again, she really did great all things considered and we were singing the car dvd player's praises!!!  And were even more grateful to enjoy a few days in North Carolina...

With a sweet and happy Thanksgiving day...

And some more special moments with family:

We came back from NC the following Sat and spent a couple days in VA with Nana & Pop-Pop before having to travel again.  More sweet times...

And getting our first tastes of the season at the National Harbor!

A little someone LOVED the train rides :)

Let the Christmas season begin!

And lastly, more pictures from November here: