Xmas and NY in VA

Now that it is almost the second month of the year I decided to get my butt in gear and post my update from the end of 2012 (a year in which we are very happy to say goodbye to!).  For the past 6 years we have been going to my sisters for the holidays we had two big firsts this year.  The first being that we made it there and back with not a single travel issue at all.  All flights departed and arrived on the correct day and time with all of the luggage on the correct planes.  The second big thing was the length of our stay.  Because of my work we usually are only able to stay a few days and have to be back by NYE.  This year we stayed until the 3rd.  This gave us the chance to ring in 2013 with Krystyn and Jim for the first time ever!  Krystyn and I tried to think of the last time we did this and decided it had to have been long before she was in college.  

Ryan was waiting at the door for JM to walk in
 so he could jump  on him!

But I am getting ahead of myself here, so lets go back to Dec 22, the night we arrived.  The boys were still up waiting for us and were super excited to see us walk in the door.  Instead of going to bed we decided to open birthday presents (Krystyn, Philip and I all have bdays within a few weeks of xmas).  Philip got a counter top ice cream machine so he can play around with different dessert ideas he has.  The boys were excited because they got to help him make a few different things.  The first was Egg Nog ice cream that we ate and loved! 

we could not get over how big James is now!

Krys saved all of her gossip mags for me and
wrapped them up in a box as a gift!

Every year my sister has an open house and this year it was on the 23rd.  It was a great night and it gave us the to chance to meet some of their new friends who we will be going to the beach with this summer.  Everyone was nice and seemed to have a really good time.  Before the party started we had Xmas with dad (he leaves on Xmas Eve to go back to NY so doesn't get to open gift with us on Xmas morning).  The boys loved the Lacrosse sticks dad got for them.

Since I have started painting again I thought it would be a nice gift for dad.  I painted him a picture of a hibiscus which is a flower that blooms all over Bermuda in all different colors.  I am pretty pleased with how it turned out (I always think there is room for improvement)

Christmas Eve we introduced Philip to the game of basketball.  Ryan's team had a practice and at the end they played a game of knock out that they pulled Philip in on.  He did really good for someone who have never even bounced (what he called dribbling)  a ball before.  That night we had another night of wonderful food and wine with the Duggans.  Ryan really showed his sweeter side with the note he wrote for Elfie (their Elf on a Shelf) to take to Santa.....

Christmas morning started the same way it does every year (and the way I wish it would forever!) with the boys waking us up jumping up and down on our bed with excitement that Santa had come!  We all got way more gifts than we expected and had a great time opening them.  I love that this has become our family tradition.  When we lost mom, Christmas lost a lot of its magic in my eyes, but now that I have Philip and Krystyn's family to create our own memories and our own traditions and the magic is back! The day was spent relaxing in our PJ's and playing with all of our new swag.  another tradition that we have started is Philip and I making Christmas dinner.  This year, as every year, we made individual Beef Wellingtons, potatoes and veggies.  Philip is always in charge of dessert and this year he made us Banoffe Pie.  It was sooooo good!

Philip did a really good job this year with my gifts, I loved them all especially my new camera that I plan to use to take all sorts of pics to paint from.  

On the 28th we did an adult dinner out and the four of us went to Fat Canary in Williamsburg.  It was so good! If you ever have the chance to go there, I highly recommend it.  

Philip and Jim at dinner...Philip looks extra happy after
having a few Blood Orange Dark n Stormy's

The big gift we got for the boys was tickets for all of us to go and see the Harlem Globe Trotters on NYE day in Richmond.  Because Philip has never been there before we decided to take the day and go show him the sites of Richmond.  Our first stop was the University of Richmond which is were Krys and Jim met each other on the first day of law school and also subsequently got married!  Here they are 13 years later in the chaple they got married in....

From there we went to lunch at a little place were they used to go in between classes (on days that Jim did not go to the undergraduate cafeteria to see all the co-eds!).  On to the Globe Trotters we went where we all had a great time.  It was the first live basketball game Philip had ever been.  I explained that a lot of what they do is not actually legit in a real game so he should not get his hopes up if we get the chance to go to a Celtics game that Rondo will flip himself up on the rim and sit there deflecting balls!  That night we feasted on an amazing surf and turf that Krystyn made for us.  She and I had some bubbly while the boys drank of our there keg cups!  The glasses were made for men their size as they hold 3 beers at once in them!  3 mugs of 3 beers each later, Philip was in great spirits for ringing in 2013!  We played games while we waited for the countdown and then were surprised when fireworks started going off outside their house.  We went out and were even more surprsied that we were able to see them.  We watched for a little bit and then decided it was too cold and went back inside

The next few days were spent relaxing before we had to head back to the rock.  All in all it was the best trip ever!  I am already counting down the days until next year when we can do it all over again. Until then, we have the OBX in July!