This year was no different....
Christmas #1 - Purcellville
Christmas Eve: attending - Don, Laura, Carleigh, Katie and Rocky and Rina (Laura's parents)
Our Christmas Eve traditions have evolved over the past few years. To sum it up: cookie cutter sugar cookies, homemade pizzas, matching pajamas, reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with Daddy, and Rocky and Rina....
After reading the story, Rocky and Rina usually leave and either head home or to my sister, Patty's house. This year...they were off to Bristow to Patty's house.
Christmas #1 contd. - Christmas morning:
Attending: just the four Purcellville Rahns - we tend to wake up VERY early in our house - I'm as excited as the girls are! This year was no different, we woke at about 5:00 a.m. and all head downstairs together to see what Santa brought. We look at our stockings, our Santa presents and then open our presents to/from each other. This is usally done in the span of about 1-2 hours. This year we were finished and ready to head out by about 6:30 a.m. We cleaned up, got the dogs pottied and ready and headed to.....
Christmas #2: Bristow, VA - Patty's House
Attending this year: Patty, Ev, Rocky, Rina, Don, Laura, Carleigh, Katie and... rotating guests at #2 vary from year to year...this year our VA family Christmas included New York family - Aunt and Uncle from New York Dave and Pam, and newly married local cousins (from the beautiful Castle wedding in September) - Dave and Jen
- This family Christmas is always a lot of fun and funny! Ev and Don tend to find a seat together and spend the better portion of the morning finding humor in just about everything that happens. Our morning traditionally starts out with seeing what Santa brought for the Pville Rahns to the family location and then a big breakfast/brunch...then we spend the rest of the morning into the afternoon opening the many presents that are there for all in attendance. Breaks are taken to have more food and then after all the gift giving has finished, a BIG lunch is shared.
Pam and Dave (from New York) with the original "Christmas Beanies" the my grandparents used to wear on Christmas morning over 50 years ago!!
Dad and Patty
I got a hat! Patty's dog, Bruno is very interested! :)
Katie having fun with Don and Ev.
Patty on top of Katie, having fun with Patty and Ev - notice Katie's legs sticking out between Patty's!
My sister....The "Bling" Queen! - shirt from her husband! :)
Don and Ev playing with Gizmo (Patty's other dog) and also the inserts from the Ugg boots that the girls got - they make good duck beaks!
Don and Ev got matching Yoda desktop motion detectors!!
It was a great day with fun family from far and lots of laughing and love!!!!! We left Patty's house in the afternoon to head back to Pville and get ready for.....ROADTRIP!!!!! and.....
Christmas #3: - Aunt Rose's House, Erie, PA
Every year, on December 26 we pile in the car and head Northwest to Erie, PA to spend a couple of days with Don's family. During the 48 hours in Pennsylvania there is usually an extended family Christmas Party with all the cousins, aunts and uncles that are home for the holidays! The number can be VERY large and the party changes locations every year. This year it was at Don's Aunt Rose's house and those in attendance were: Don, Laura, Carleigh, Katie, Rosie, Chrissy, Nana, Bubba, Aunt Rose, Aunt Gratia, Uncle Alan, Aunt Kathy, cousins Jamie, Jeff, Janet, Brett, Jane, Matt, Erin, Sue, Steve, Dave, and second cousins Ryan, Abby, Alex, Chris, and Izzy....a few were missing, but as usual...the group was very large and we had a lot of fun!! Don's sisters, Rosie and Chrissy went up early and Rosie (the cook in the family) wanted to prepare the party food for everyone, so by the time we arrived at Aunt Rose's house - Rosie was madly cooking....Katie jumped right in and wanted to help-
Aunt Rose distributing the gifts to the young ones....
If you look closely - you'll notice the beautiful teeth that all the "kids" are sporting! (Courtesy of Aunt Kathy and Uncle Alan)
Carleigh and Abby - having lots of fun together this year...Carleigh was finally old enough to "hang" with Abby (a freshman in high school).
After a long road trip, and a great party with all the PA family, we finally called it a night (at about 11:00 pm) and headed over to Nana and Bubba's house to begin.....
Christmas #4 - Nana and Bubba's house - Erie, PA
We all crashed, and woke up the next morning to more presents and more festivities! We spent that day hanging out at the house. Don and I escaped for a few hours to visit with some of his high school and camp friends that were in the area for the holidays, (thanks to Facebook - he was able to prearrange a fun lunch get together- probably to become an annual event).
Love this one!!! Bubba looks so happy!
We all ate dinner and then headed out for our last adventure in PA - tomorrow we would head back to Virginia.
We went to Asbury Woods Nature Center to explore their "Winter Wonderland." We were meeting up with Aunt Gratia and some of the cousins for this. It was a lot of fun, walking through wooded trails decorated with Christmas lights, snow, hot chocolate, smores by the fire and some fun crafts.
Nana and Bubba - and Don! :)
Getting ready for smores!
Aunt Gratia with the kids :)
Sister Love!!
Don and his cousin, Dave - another LCPS teacher, lives in Winchester
Carleigh, Abby and Katie
On December 28th we headed back to Virginia to remember what we all did at Christmas #1 - it was a busy 4 days, but SO much fun to spend it with so many people that we care about and don't get to see that often!
The fun that was had, the memories that were made, the reconnecting that happened....all part of our Rahn World....SELDOM A DULL MOMENT!!
Merry Christmas!
Stay tuned for 2011 - the year of the Great Alaska Vacation and who knows what else!! :)
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