Christmas highlights:
It was our turn to host the Warren family Christmas. Unfortunately, Aunt Wendy was sick and could not come. We did have a wonderful day of family, food, presents, and visiting.

Ella performed in Holiday Magic for her ballet studio. Sarah was also in it! As a family we went to see Carolina Ballet’s The Nutcracker. Everyone loved it. Jonah got a little “antsy” in the middle of the second act, but he did fine. He loved the Rat King part, of course. After the ballet, we went skating in downtown Raleigh at an outdoor skating rink. Jonah’s feet were like a Scooby-Doo cartoon. He kept saying “I can’t stop my feet!” As usual, Santa made an early visit to our house and we loved every moment of our special family pre-Christmas celebration. Then we packed up and headed north.

VA/MD had gotten a LOT of snow during the weekend before we arrived. Luckily, the roads were clear and the snow was still on the ground—so we got to enjoy the best winter-wonderland Christmas without all the hassle of travelling in a snow storm! We visited with Grandma Gill, Susie, Nicky, and her girls. We had a blast having snowball fights and eating snow in Grandma’s backyard. Then we met up with Jan, Mark, Timmy, and Molly and had a great visit at their place. The next day we met Papa, Leah, Katie, and Eddie in DC. It is our tradition to spend the morning of Christmas Eve at the Botanic Gardens. Back home at Linden Street, we made Jabba-the-snow-Hutt in the backyard. We enjoyed Papa’s bells at Christmas Eve mass and then a rocking Linden Street Christmas Eve party. The kids did great. The grownups did great (no one got sick this year!! YEAH!).

On Christmas day, we opened presents in stages. Then we went to Aunt Peggy’s for dinner. The “kids” all went to the bar at Leah and Justin’s hotel and had drinks and a fun time. We visited with Katie, Bruce, and Emily and then returned to NC. GREAT holiday.

Sarah, Andrew, Ella, and Jonah