With age comes wisdom, right?? Well, it sure feels like we're getting better at figuring out December and the holidays. These days, we start celebrating early and often, including Samuel's birthday. In early December, we even tackled a new gingerbread house creation: the Lincoln Memorial! It was so fun to brainstorm how to make it and hilarious to personalize it, down to the blue Jell-O reflecting pool and gummy bear tourists!
See the likeness??
Also holiday-esque? Sebastian decorated his cultural heritage doll (the forever 3rd grade project), complete with his homemade menorah. He included Italian Scopa cards, of course!
And then moved next door to Truva, the new Turkish restaurant. The food was phenomenal.
Yay, ladies!
Also, these arrived for my virtual work holiday party/wine tasting!
What a fun event and I learned so much!
Like year's past, Santa biked right by our house, delivering candy canes!
And the big kids got to attend a retreat in downtown Cincy!
Our tree got a new ornament this holiday!! 💮💗
The next morning we were off to a bar mitzvah = more fun!
The kids now give speeches...they're always really heartfelt!
Photo booth time!
There were lots of fun gifts this year, but these matching PJ pants were at the top of my list!
After the crazy fall I had with work, I was so excited to have time to bake cookies...all so yummy! It gave me great joy to drop them off at a few friends' mailboxes and spread some cheer. It came back to us, if you know what I mean, so it was wonderful all around.
We started with gingerbread...Hebrew letters (ha!)...
And a familiar dog...
Followed by my favorite holiday go-tos...
A big storm was due to hit most of the country the day we had planned to drive to NoVa, so we packed up and left a day early. Blossom was very clear that we should NOT leave her...
She even escaped the back of my car and got onto the laps of the kids during our drive. What a ham!
Once in NoVa we breathed a sigh of relief and had the best time doing arts and crafts...
Making beautiful music...
Playing cards...
Decorating cookies...
A major perk of Tony's parents still living in NoVa is that we get to see old friends. We now have a special tradition of visiting Jackie and Justin and their girls while we're in the area. They love music, too, so the kids had a little holiday music jam session!
We also spent time with Jay and Courtney, which Blossom especially loved. Their dogs Cricket and Piper are her buddies. She could barely contain her excitement!
And then it was Christmas! Brie crocheted charms of the different Spiderman characters for the cousins...
And just the grandparents and grandkids...
Blossom got lots of love (and a small amount of tranquilizer)--making her holiday extra chill!
That night we tried out a new game the kids got for the holidays. It was BONKERS!! So many rules and hard understand!
The Shimizu JETs had a holiday Zoom like last year. Just fabulous (as always) to catch up with everybody!!
Then we headed to Virginia Beach!!
Who needs breakfast in bed when you can have it on the couch??
Ah, yes, the height thing...
We went out to dinner and Sebastian ordered the filet mignon and garlic mashed potatoes because he's brilliant.
Here are all of us, including Beth's new guy Brian. We had a wonderful evening!
More sleepover fun!
And snuggles with Lolly.
The weather was pretty chilly while we were in Springfield, but it improved significantly by the time we got to Virginia Beach. It was time for a sunny trip to the dog park!
And a visit to the beach! Sebastian wanted to go swimming, but the water was toooo cold for that.
And you know we had to check 7-11 off our to-do list!!
And walks in the evenings!
And the big kids put on a show for everyone. Can you tell Lolly is into it??
I love New Year's in VB! We got dressed up...and I was psyched to wear my new favorite dress again!
Heading out!
We ate at Esoteric with Beth and Brian. It. was. so. so. so. delicious.
Then back to Beth's for more drinks and yummy things, plus Cards Against Humanity. 😅
And then we enjoyed yet another sunny, gorgeous day--jogs, Jungle Golf, fried chicken. It was great not to have to drive home on January 1 for once!
Bas got a hole in one on the first AND second holes (and a few others later), which cracked up the people in front of us who clearly had never held golf clubs before.
And though I did have a little work to keep up with over the break, I appreciated the double furry company!
Then, sadly, we had to return home. On the upside, we not only knocked out everything we wanted to do while on vacation, but we also set a land-speed record on our drive home: yeah! This looks like the kids are snacking on ice cream sandwiches in the back, but they're actually space ice cream from the museum! That was a big favorite when I was little! And a sweet ending to our trip!
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