Christmas in NJ

This Christmas season was a little bittersweet for me.  It was our first Christmas that we weren't traveling and the first Christmas we weren't spending with family.  It was nice to not have to stress about catching flights and such, but I also felt a little lonely and worried how Christmas would turn out with it all on me.  Luckily in the end it turned out just fine.

On Christmas Eve Santa flew in to the Princeton airport.  It was such a great idea, I couldn't pass it up.

Waiting on the runway.  He flew in and did two low loops in front of us.

And there he is!

 He came with toys for all the girls and boys

 That did mean we had to do quite a bit of waiting.  Luckily they had free hot chocolate and cookies

and a chance to check out the plane (Rachel didn't make it...she was too nervous about missing her name being called)

Whoa!  Who's driving this thing?

 

 Worth the wait!  (Although if we do it again I'll be sure to not drop the presents off on the last day :)

 On the night of Christmas Eve we went to a party at a friend's house and I was really impressed.  They had crafts for the kids and for the moms.  We had great dinner and they even had a nativity puppet show program that the kids were able to participate in.  Then there was a fun gift game and way too much dessert.  We had such a great time!  The other thing that made Christmas Eve magical was that it started to snow as we were headed to the party.  It was not in the forecast and completely unexpected.  There was a good trace on the ground as we went home that night.  Unfortunately it did not stick through the night with all the rain, but still my kids were so giddy about it.  It was really special.

Christmas morning.  I think they woke up about 7:15.  Hallelujah!  Rachel's ready for some fast present opening.

 I am surprised by how much she loves this thing.  She plays with it all the time.

 Snow clothes for her doll.  She wants to go skiing with her so bad.  Hopefully we get a chance!

 Cute a mommy!

 For those who know Tommy, you know he LOVES bubble gum

 Tommy asked Santa for this pirate ship for Christmas and he found it in my closet (I need to find better ways of hiding for next year!)  I had to run and do some last minute shopping and went through some CRAZY traffic.  And this ended up being from from me and Jake.

 I love Christmas morning...it's messy, the kids are stuffing themselves with candy...and it's all okay!

 We decided we ought to take the opportunity (in case there isn't one in the future) to witness the reenactment of George Washington crossing the Deleware River on Christmas day.  It's true the kids weren't thrilled about it but they were troopers (at least in the beginning).  Rachel even got to test out one of her favorite presents, her binoculars.

 When we got there we were told they weren't going to cross because of the tide.  But then they started getting in boats, but then they never crossed.  It was a little confusing and what was supposed to take 10 minutes, took probably an hour.  Well, we can now check it off the list right?

At least Kate was in a GREAT mood!



This is one of Kate's presents that entertains her really well.

 Rachel's giant gummy bear.  She hoped it would be as big as the house, but she was glad it wasn't that big when she realized she couldn't finish this one.