Christmas Eve, 2011

Our beautiful Christmas Tree this year!! First year that we have not cut it down from the forest but it worked out just fine for us anyway:)



Cy's new Bike!!! Nana and Pap got him this tricycle "Schwinn"...it's so cool! He's still just a bit short, another month or two and he should be good to go with it:)

Cookies for Santa!!! Carrots for the reindeer!

Stars and Christmas Tree pancakes for Christmas Eve Breakfast

Presient Monroe's grave at Hollywood Cemetary in Richmond, VA.

Very elaborate and peaceful.

Taking a short snack break on our bike ride at Hollywood Cemetary.

Such a big boy! There were so many grave markings in this cemetary for 2 year old children in the 1800s, very common in this country before the genius of immunizations. I simply can not imagine having to survive something so horrible as that...I can't even speak of it.

Family shot!

Ready for Chuch, Christmas Eve 2011

A little out of order, snuggled and ready for our family bike ride. He has his woobie, his paci, his books, snacks, water, and his pillow. Good to go:)

My handsome husband. I am so lucky.

Christmas Eve is typically a day when we spend the whole day together, just the three of us doing things that we enjoy and preparing for Christmas. The holidays have been tricky this year because now that we are closer to family again it's expected that we will fall into their traditions when in fact we already have our own. So, we've tried very hard to accept invitations that we wanted to attend this season and decline, graciously, on ones that we did not. We were able to keep Christmas Eve as our own and had a wonderful day. We had a lazy morning in our PJs and I made a batch of yummy chocolate pancakes shaped like stars and Christmas trees. We then bundled up and headed out for a family bike ride which lasted for about 2.5 hours! It was great:) Cy slept for a good portion of it and Brad and I toured around through the city ending up in Hollywood Cemetary where there are a number of Confederate soliders buried from the Civil War, 2 presidents and additional dignitaries as well as other prominent families from the Richmond areas. Some of the gravestones dated back to the early 1800s...it was awesome. We stayed longer than we anticipated and had to book it home for a quick bite of lunch before heading to the 5:00 family service at the Welbourne Methodist Church on Patterson Ave. We have not been to this church yet but I've noticed it time and time again and have felt a certain pull towards it since arriving in Richmond. It's a beautiful little church tucked back off the road in the woods, very peaceful. The Chapel itself is quite small and the service was great. Cy did really well and enjoyed the music and songs, he stood on the pew for the most of the time and drove his racecar on the pew the other part of the time. We left church about 6:30 and went home and ordered chinese take out to settle in for the night. Cy helped me prepare Santa's cookies and milk and the reindeer's carrot snacks before getting ready for bed. We read Elf on the Shelf one more time to Cy and he said a final goodbye to Buddy before going to bed and awaiting Santa!! After Cy went to sleep we went to work putting together his new bike and choo choo train, organizing the playroom, cleaning out the baby books to prepare for a bundle of new books that we got for him and cleaning up his new "kitchen". We finally made it into bed about 1AM. It was a wonderful day!!