Christmas in York

After an exciting Christmas morning at home, we piled into the car and headed to York to continue the celebration with family in York. Perfect time for a mid-morning nap!

We arrived in York just in time to catch our family in France (which included the NJ crew, too!) on FaceTime and wish them a Joyeux Noel!

Lilly and Grandpa catching up :)

On Christmas afternoon, we exchanged gifts with Nana, Grandpa, and GG:

A guitar!

And one for Joergen, too!

Liam was so touched to receive a hand-made photo album from Nana of his visit to York last summer

Thank you Nana!!

Our little Santa!

Nana and Grandpa's gift from us: an album of our photos from the Papal visit to Philadelphia

Dad's new beer tasting set- I think he'll put that to good use!

A special gift from all of GG's family, near and far: a memory jar, filled with our favorite memories we've shared with GG over the years. It was so sweet and special!

The gifts have been exchanged, so let the playing commence!

Rock. On.

Flying his new glider from GG

Liam and Joergen converted a box from one of their gifts to a special dog bed for Lilly :)

Running their new R/C vehicles in the driveway

She's such a good sport :)

The next day, Grandpa's cousins Joanne, Jerry, and Kathy came over for dinner along with Aunt Jayne and GG. We had so much fun!

That night, we gathered around Nana's piano for a little Christmas carol sing-along.

On the 27th, it was time to head back to KoP. Joergen dutifully escorted his furry cousin to the car :)

Thank you Nana, Grandpa, and GG, for such a special Christmas celebration!

Merry Christmas!

While Dad and I were fast asleep Christmas morning, we heard the excited whispers of two little boys discussing that Santa had, in fact, paid them a visit overnight:

Joergen was ecstatic to see that Santa had brought him the item at the top of his wish list: his very own set of drums!

Likewise with Liam, who couldn't wait to open his gift from Santa-- and it was exactly as he'd hoped! A Vex Robotics set.

With Santa gifts opened, it was time to officially usher in Christmas morning with the annual playing of Harry Connick Jr.'s Santa Claus. Cue the dancing!

Drum solo!

We then exchanged and opened gifts from loved ones near and far:

Thank you Peoria Derrys!

Liam's expression says it all as they each opened their new Kindle Fire from Mommy and Daddy

Even Lilly had a gift to open!

The boys (all three of them) were so excited to have new trains to play with on Christmas morning.

Please pause for another drum solo!

Liam and Joergen were thrilled that Santa brought them replacement bows, after the ones they received last year fell apart after being stored on the sun porch. They won't make that mistake again!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

We had a special guest join us for our Christmas celebration this year.  You see, Uncle Tim was deployed, and the rest of his family was able to fly to Germany to be with him for the holidays. We bid them farewell and Merry Christmas at the Philadelphia Airport...

... and moved our little guest in at home.

We loved having Lilly spend the holidays with us!  The boys settled in quickly to the responsibility (but mostly, the fun) of caring for their canine cousin.

Which brings us to Christmas Eve. An unexpected and unseasonable warm front came through, and temperatures jumped into the 70s!  Enjoying a lazy morning in our jammies, we heard the exciting and familiar sound of a fire engine in our neighborhood... which is a good thing on Christmas Eve.  No time for getting dressed! Get Lilly on a leash, grab some boots, and let's go-- Santa's coming!!

Joergen's buddy Vincent sharing in the excitement

Santa!!!!

After the Santa-sighting, our fair share of candy canes, and some running around, we made our way back home, got dressed, and did the next logical thing: head to Get Air for a little of this...

... a little of that...

and a whole lot of fun!

It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon!  That evening, we had a special Christmas Eve steak dinner: 

After dinner, the boys opened their very first gifts of Christmas, from Aunt Doreen and Uncle Sam.

Barrel of Monkeys, 2.0!

Star Wars Operation!

We ended the day at a beautiful Christmas Eve mass, where Dad served and I sang with the choir. It was the perfect way to end to a pretty perfect day.

It was late when we got home from church, but Liam and Joergen reminded us of one last task before bed: