Sugar Shack-yum!

There is a new local donut shop around the corner from our house, we thought today was the perfect day to try it out! It was like eating dessert for breakfast! So good!

Christmas in Cville (#3)

Even though they had opened up plenty of presents already that didn't stop the kids from being equally excited about our third Christmas Day. It was our first Christmas with the newest Rettig (well Ertel) and that brings the grandkid count to 4. Nana and Poppi were thrilled to have us all together for Christmas.

The cows

Walking down the road a bit to visit the cows is a favorite past time of the kids (and poppi!). So shortly after we arrived in Charlottesville for Christmas #3 we headed out on our walk. The cows were overly friendly this time, showing us all sorts of bodily functions! (ick)

Playground fun

It was time to get some fresh air and play outside. The weather was so nice so we took the kids to the local playground near my parents house. They had fun as usual. Sean enjoyed trying out his new walkie talkies that he received for Christmas.

Christmas day in NC

As usual Nama and Poppy spoiled us all! The kids got a whole new slew of toys and gifts and were excited to play with them all!

Nama and Poppy's House-Christmas Eve

After our family Christmas in Richmond we drove to NC to spend a few days with my family, including my grandparents who drive from Buffalo each Christmas to spend the week with us. On Christmas Eve we have a tradition of decorating sugar cookies. The whole family helps, which is necessary since my mom makes so many cookies! Of course there is a fair amount of sampling along the way!

After that we head to an early Christmas Eve Service at church around 5pm, but not before family pictures around the Christmas Tree. We also exchange home made christmas gifts and have a huge appetizer dinner! We've had this tradition for so many years I cannot remember anything different. We stuffed ourselves with all sorts of delicious appetizers and desserts before heading off to bed to dream about Christmas (again!)

The Whole Fam!

Santa Came! Richmond Christmas 2014

The kids slept til 6:45 am which we considered to be a decent time to wake up on Christmas morning. They came down stairs excited to see what was under the tree. Carter was so happy with her new barbie house and once Sean opened his Santa gift, he was equally excited (an arctic lego set). After we unwrapped all the santa and family gifts we had our usual CHristmas day breakfast-Daddy's famous french toast, bacon and fruit. Yummmm! After playing for the morning and packing for our trip we hit the road to NC around lunchtime. Onto the next stop!

Carter is a little grumpy in the morning, can you tell?!?

Tacky Lights and Christmas Eve Dinner

Our tradition of Maggianos and tacky lights continued for another year. After a delicious dinner we made our way through the west end to all the great stops on the tacky light tour. Although, we realized that not many compared to our own street! After we got home the Sean picked out some cookies for santa and poured him some milk. carter fell asleep in the car during our light tour and she was a bit grumpy (shocking, I know). We read the Night Before Christmas and the kids both fell asleep quickly after we tucked them in. I know they were so excited about Santa visiting that night. Luckily, he had agreed to come a bit early to Richmond since we travel to NC on Christmas.

Santa came!!

Homemade presents and homemade cookies!

We had a couple days of baking and creating home made gifts. Carter made a plate for my grama, her G.G. (great grama) and I made some homemade snacks for my grampa for his gift (granola and chex mix). So we had a busy kitchen because we also made all sorts of home made goodies to bring along to our families houses. The kids loved helping and sampling!

Cubscouts Caroling

Sean's cubscout troop visited a local nursing home to sing some Christmas Carols. It looks like the residents enjoyed their visit.

Tacky Light Run

As I posted before, Tacky Lights are a huge thing in Richmond. They've even made a Tacky Light run that goes through several neighborhoods with great lights. Our close friend's house is on that run and so we went to their house to tailgate and cheer on the runners. It was a lot of fun. The kids played outside and watched an outdoor movie and we hung out around the campfire (to stay warm!). The runners were all decked out in costumes and all sorts of cool lights! We saw Santa and the grinch running and lots of Elf on the shelf runners too!

Tacky Lights in the neighborhood

Sean's best bud and his sister were with us for dinner one night. I took the four of them for a walk down our street which our kids called a "winter wonderland". In Richmond, there is a quite popular trend of "tacky light" displays. Our block of neighbors have put together quite a display and we join in each year. There is a total of 7 houses that are lit up quite nicely. The kids love it!