A Christmas Lunch and Christmas Eve

Within just about a week's time, we got to enjoy two of our holiday favorites with some of our favorite people- lunch with the Miles family out on Gwynn's Island, and our beloved Christmas Eve festivities in DE with my Too-dad and Mary Catherine.  Lots of special folks, delicious food, and sweet memories!  Even though the girls ended up being the only little ones at both, they had a great time with all the grown-ups :)

With Steve & Mava's kiddos, Wil & Madie, who are SO sweet and patient with our energetic little ladies!

Ready to eat!

A delicious lunch with wonderful company in a beautiful house
surrounded by water- such a lovely time! 

We can't wait to go back in warmer weather to enjoy the island!

Onto Christmas Eve in DE!

 

Pretending to nap with the super comfy blanket from Auntie Coop!

Showing Too-Dad some of her favorite Christmas song parodies :)

"Something in my brother's underpants..."
(Sung to the tune of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland")

The girls enjoyed the love from all the relatives, but sure missed their cousins!

 Time for a ride on the blanket!

And some dips on daddy's lap :)

 Getting ready to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

And she did great!

Was nice to have a break this year, haha. 
She read the whole thing beautifully.  

So proud of our big girl!

Stocking stuffer time!

Blown away by all the generous pint-sized gifts!

The shiny, red nose- one of the best gifts of the night :)

They sure can light up a room!

Birdies!!! :)

Tickled over the princess castle pop-up tent :)

Admiring our big family portrait from our OBX trip as a canvas print.

Time for dessert!

They could've spent hours like that :)

CHEESE!

You can't see it, but there's a book in Daniel's hands... he's being very studious. :)

Enjoying Too-daddy back scratches!

 Someone was quite giddy to be in her Christmas pjs!

Very merry & bright indeed.

 Ending the night with lots of laughs doing the infamous "face swap."

Even more hilarious adding in the infamous "baby Dear"

Good times!

Slideshow of more fun from one of our favorite evenings of the year!
https://goo.gl/photos/kuSCSs5dEgFy8oDY8 

December Fun- Holiday Cheer and Then Some!

There is an overload of activity in the month of December so I'm hoping to get several Christmas themed posts up to capture it all!  With a few non-holiday memories in there as well.  

So far this month there has been gingerbread decorating and Christmas tree decorating (and even pumpkin decorating!), a Christmas parade in Old Town and annual visit to DC for dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill and the National Tree, performances of the Nutcracker plus Nana's Potomac Harmony Chorus' sing-a-long and Lilee's preschool holiday sing-a-long, then plenty of non-holiday related fun, too.  Including the celebration of Steve's birthday! And some shots of our girls doing some of their favorite things- Lilee at preschool and Maelee at gymnastics!  Finally, we have been loving these past few days with my brother home from Japan. It's been quite a month.

Starting with the festive festivities!

 Starting the holidays right at the end of November decorating a gingerbread house with Nana.

It rained sugar!

 Decided to get a REAL tree this year!

Totally worth it.

 Even if it was a tad crazy and nerve-wracking getting it home.

 Hanging those priceless first ornaments.

Crazy hair day AND pajama day at school!

 Scottish Christmas parade in Old Town.

 Advent calendar surprise- date to see the Nutcracker!

 Love this sweet annual tradition of ours :)

 Visit to see Santa at the Pentagon City mall

 Extra sweet to get to share the outing with a pal!

 Transforming left-over pumpkin decor to snomen!

 Our fun tradition of dinner in DC with Nana & Pop-Pop!

 Then the National Tree!

 So proud of our girl at her school's sing-a-long!

Neighborhood tree decorating!

Our sweet neighbor down our pathway bought a tree to go outside mainly for the kiddos to enjoy.  They loved decorating it!

 Watching Nana sing with her group!

 Fun dinner afterward

 Fun with Chloe!

 Including gingerbread man decorating!

 Then Maelee got to decorate hers later in the day with Kaia!

Finishing up some final decorative touches!

Topping the day off by seeing Uncle Dan!!!

So glad to have him home for the holidays from Uncle Dan.

 Loved having everyone over to our home for dinner.

 These girls love their uncle!

 Out to dinner in Shirlington to celebrate my brother's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Dan!

And a handful of pics from December that weren't Christmas related...

Starting with daddy's birthday!

One happy guy.  Two happy girls :)

They love their daddy!

 And I love my hubby.

Such a sweet date night out to celebrate while the girls hung out with Nana & Pop-Pop.

  Blow out the candle!

 Just a cute shot of a Baskin Robbins date with Nana

 Being ornery with Chloe....

 Cartwheels!

Finally, a few shots of Lilee enjoying preschool.

 How better to end than this shot that they captured in her class?

More pics of Lilee at school:

https://pix.sfly.com/A3vVQb

More pics of December:

https://pix.sfly.com/9xcmvu 

And plenty more pics to come of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  It's the most wonderful time of the year...