At the beginning of the Christmas break I took the girls to see The Nutcracker performed by Pennsylvania Ballet. It’s been our tradition since Sophie was 2 1/2 (I still can’t believe I took her when she was that young). As always, it was beautiful and fun to get dressed up and go out.

After the show we walked over to the Ritz Carlton for hot chocolate. I can say this was hands down the most amazing hot chocolate the girls have ever had – served with about 8 marshmallows and a side of two cookies. I think we might make this part of the tradition as well 🙂

Two days later was Christmas!

We had a quiet morning opening presents with the four of us, Dave, Kathy, and Lina.

After the low key morning we got ourselves into major hosting gear. By 1pm there were 31 people in the house! As he’s done the last two years, Dave cooked the entire dinner, this year with some help from his mom, which was much appreciated. We were able to fit everyone by bringing in two extra folding tables in the living room. It was tight but we did it!

After dinner Dave, Kathy, Sophie, Laure and I gave a short concert of Jingle Bells. Dave played trombone, Kathy was on clarinet, Sophie piano, Lauren tambourine and I was on violin. It was a ton of fun. Back in the day Dave’s family used to have Sharp family concerts and I’m working to bring them back!

After the concert we took the tables down and everyone opened presents in the living room. By 8pm everyone was gone and the house was quiet again. All in all a very successful day!

Two days after Christmas Sophie broke in her new skis, and Lauren used her new hand-me-down skis, and we headed to Spring Mountain. Both girls did amazing. Dave is looking forward to a productive ski season this year 😉