New Years Eve

Peter wanted to get "dressed up" on New Year's Eve. He put on his bat costume and decided to take a nap in Kahlua's new dog bed.

Christmas Day

I was up before anyone and had plenty of time to enjoy a cup of coffee and some quiet. Jeff and Peter woke up around 9:00 AM. We started with our stocking first and took our time opening the gifts. Peter was so excited with his marbles and was devastated that Santa did not brign him his rocket. We found out later that Santa hid it at the very back of the tree. Peter got a lot of books and looked at each one before moving onto another present, he is such a librarian's son! Jeff got some unusual gifts from my parents, and as usual Jeff went overboard with the gifts he bought me, and as usual I took many of them back. I did keep the guitar, and I am hoping to take lessons this year.

Christmas Eve

We got all decked out to spend our first Christmas Eve in Pennsylvania alone. We went to an early church service and Peter fell asleep on the way to the church. It was a candle light service and was enjoyable. The church was Manor Presybyterian. They had a big youth group and we even saw a living nativity there.

Blizzard Conditions

Daddy and Peter Pre fat lip

Nanny and Peter Pre-black eye

Peter woke up and said, "mom there is snow on the silos."

The storm came from the south, which is always a good sign to produce some snow, but we had at least 18 inches. Ironically my parents had stopped by our house on their way to visit their favorite child, my brother and his family for Christmas. My mom had a great time sledding with Peter. We had two accidents and Peter wound up with a black up and a fat lip. He likes the snow, he doesn't like sledding now.

Nativity

Since birth Peter has been convinced of two things at Christmas:
1) he was born in a manger
2) Charlie Brown in Baby Jesus' dad
We were on a mission this year to show him that he differently. We set out with good intentions to see three nativities. It was freezing so we only saw one.

Gaylord and ICE

Lobby of the Gaylord

The main attraction for us to stay in the Gaylord was the package for ICE. The pictures do not do it justice. It was amazing. Peter loved to slide down the ice slide with Jeff. We had two extra tickets so we invited our friend Kristen and her daughter to join us. As we headed back to Pennsylvania it began to snow.

Gaylord Hotel at National Harbor DC

The rear of the Gaylord Hotel

Tree on the Harbor

Future NHL Star

We spent a very expensive night at the Gaylord hotel to see the most amazing show called ice. Friday night Peter and Jeff got to spend some time breaking in Peter's new hockey skates. Skating was beautiful because it was outside with Christmas music playing. We saw some amazing lights and some great street shows. Disney is building a resort at the harbor, so we can only imagine the next few years how the shows will improve.