We hosted Christmas again this year, with a crowd of 27. It was a little chaotic and lot of fun.
We started with a quiet morning with just the family. Lauren was up at 5:30, but waited to wake us up until 6:30, and then we had to wake up Soph, who was slightly grumpy about it, even on Christmas morning!
The crowd came over around 1 and we had dinner around 3:30 (to be sure to catch the Eagles game at 4:30). Dave and his mom cooked the entire thing again and it was delicious.
After dinner we ate dessert and opened presents. The crowd was gone by 7 or so, and we had the rest of the evening to clean and relax. It was an excellent Christmas!
This December was full of holiday festivities, including the Philadelphia Girls Choir holiday concerts and this year also three performances in the Nutcracker with Philadelphia Ballet. Mom, Becky and Ari came up to celebrate an early Christmas and watch one of Sophie’s concerts.
Phila Girls Choir Holiday ConcertSinging in the NutcrackerSoph after a Nutcracker performance Early Christmas!
The concerts were excellent and always get us in the holiday spirit. The girls are really good. This is Sophie’s last year with Cantata before she moves up to Concerto, which is the oldest group.
As is our tradition, we headed to Yaeger’s Tree Farm to cut down our Christmas tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It was slim pickings this year – which was the case everywhere I think. We did find a good one though that everyone agreed on. Dave cut it down, and we headed to a celebratory lunch afterward.
the chosen tree! Sophie was thrilled to decorate, trulyPetunia Clause
We had a great this year! We hosted again and had a crew of 25 for dinner. Christmas morning was nice and quiet with just our family. The girls both got what they wanted – Sophie a pair of Air Jordan’s and Lauren a make-up table (she’s been very into make-up as of late).
Christmas morning! Sophie got Air Jordan’s Lauren’s new make-up table and lot of accessories Zoe, Maithili, Joan and KishoreDick and DonDylan, Dave, Ed and Ed Kishore, Lauren, Ashwini, SophieDave, Madeline, Maithili, Kishore, Kelli, JoanMadeline, Sophie and LaurenThe Sharp / Fallon / Boyle clan
We’ve been hosting Christmas for a few years now and have the routine down. Dave cooks the dinner, with his mom making the ham at her house, I get everything set up, and from there everyone shows up and enjoys themselves. The crowd only stayed until about 9 this year, so we had plenty of time to clean up and enjoy the evening.
December has been filled with recitals and holiday celebrating. I decided that this year instead of taking the kids to see the Nutcracker again, we’d try the Philly Pops Holiday Spectacular at the Kimmel Center. It did not disappoint. The music and singing were great and it was a very entertaining show. Beforehand we did the holiday brunch at the Union League which was very festive.
Sophie had her winter band concert mid-December, which ends up being her last one because she decided she doesn’t want to be in band anymore. They were impressive for a 7th grade band, and Soph was smack center playing base drum.
The following weekend were two holiday concerts for the Philadelphia Girls Choir – one in a performing arts center in New Jersey and the other at Temple Performing Arts Center. As always, the girls were amazingly impressive. I’m continually blow away by how professional this choir sounds.
And finally we got together with the college friends at a Christmas party at Justin and Steve’s house. It was great to connect with everyone again. I hadn’t seen Erin in over a year, and Vahid even longer.
Holiday brunch at the Union League Sophie’s 7th grade band concertReunited with the college gang at Justin and Steve’s holiday party Philly Girls ChoirPhilly Girls Choir
I love December and everything leading up to Christmas. This year did not disappoint and we’re all in the holiday spirit.
Christmas is back! After essentially being cancelled last year, we were back in action this year. There was a slightly smaller crowd this year – all vaxxed and tested ahead of time – but we were all together!
Christmas morning came early – 3AM to be precise. We told the girls they couldn’t wake us up until 6AM, so they entertained themselves for three hours with stuff from their stockings. I can’t believe they woke up that early – or that there was not a huge crash that afternoon, which I really thought would happen.
When the girls came downstairs they both found exactly what they asked for under the tree.
Lauren got a Vespa electric scooterAnd Sophie got a phone!
After the morning of present opening and breakfast we cleaned up and prepped for the crowd coming later that day.
Calm before the storm
The Sharps, The Boyles, Don, Zoe and Maddie came from Dave’s side of his family, and Dan and family and Joan came from my side.
Don, Dave, Ed, DylanThe cook sous chefZoe gave the girls a tumble mat and Shannon taught them some movesFierce game of UnoDon and DaveDave and DonShannon, Sophie, me, Lauren, Zoe
As tradition goes, we performed a Sharp Family concert before dinner. Sophie played Carol of the Bells and Lauren did Jingle Bells. Accompanists were Kathy on clarinet, Dave on trombone, me on violin, and for Jingle Bells, Kish and Ash joined in with bells.
Later that evening my parents, Becky and Ari came up – just in time for dessert. It was a lovely evening, mostly because we all were able to be together again!
Like everything this year, Christmas was very quiet. So quiet in fact that I forgot to take any pictures past the morning present opening.
We did our traditional seafood dinner on Christmas Eve. Dave decided to go with a Christmas in July theme (why not?!), so we had crab and corn chowder, shrimp cocktail, and lobster rolls. All were delicious, of course.
Lauren making sure the cookies and milk are all set for Santa
After setting out cookies and milk for Santa, and a carrot for Rudolf, we all headed to bed. The girls were up at 5AM and in my sleepy confusion, I thought it was later, so started coffee and stocking opening before I realized how early it was. Oh-well, why not?
The 5AM crew ready to go downstairs and see if Santa came
Sophie got some Harry Potter stuff and a makeup desk from Santa, and Lauren got a white Christmas tree for her room, pretend iPhone, and big outdoor swing. Since we couldn’t visit Santa this year, they girls wrote him a letter instead and some of these things are what they asked for.
first present of the day
Lauren got Sophie a Paris puzzle
Sophie with her new makeup desk and Gryffindor scarf
Lauren with her new “phone”
Big swing from Santa
Rainer family Zoom
The rest of the day was lazy – big breakfast, playing outside with the new swing, some movies, a family Zoom, and dinner with the Sharps. With just the six of us I didn’t even break out all of the Christmas china, just the plates and a few serving platters. While I missed the crowd, it was also nice to keep it quiet this year. But I look forward to the big crowd again next year.
For the third year in a row we hosted Christmas at our house with a combined Sharp/Rainer clan. This year’s total was 27 people! The new kitchen vastly improved the experience for everyone – especially Dave and his mom, who did all of the cooking! Overall I feel like we’ve gotten the hang of things and it was less stressful to pull together. We had a quiet, low key Christmas eve at the house and a nice relaxing Christmas morning.
I call this the quite before the storm…
The dogs enjoyed themselves on Christmas morning – doing what they do best -sleeping. Benson got this toy snowman and carried it around with him all day. It was pretty cute. The girls before present opening. The big present this year was a Nintendo switch, which Sophie had asked for and Lauren had not, so the reactions were pretty predictable.
Everyone arrived around 1 and dinner was served around 4. We do it buffet style in the kitchen with everyone sitting in the dining room and living room. We brought out a folding table right before it was time to eat for the overflow.
After dinner there was a lot of dessert, drinking, and opening presents.
The day after the anniversary party we got our tree. That’s a week later than usual, but we didn’t want to have it up during the party to save a little space. The last few years we’ve gone out to a Christmas tree farm called Yaeger’s Farm in Phoenixville. They have tractor rides out to the trees and then give you a saw and you cut it down yourselves.
The perfect tree!
Dave doing the cutting with Sophie keeping a good eye on his cutting accuracy.
In this area there is apparently a shortage of tall Christmas trees, so we found the tallest one we could, which was only about 6 feet. But it ended up being perfect – and we didn’t have to smoosh the star on top.
Lauren had ballet rehearsal for his holiday show and didn’t want to change, so this year she decorated in full ballet gear – making her a perfect dance partner 😉
Later in the month we enjoyed two other Christmas traditions – visiting Santa, this year in the Macy’s Santaland, and going to the Nutcracker, performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet. The girls got haircuts between the two below pictures. Sophie wanted the minimum amount cut and Lauren went for more of a bob, which she likes wearing with one side behind her ear. So stylish.
We arrived home from Virginia Saturday night and went out to get our tree on Sunday. We waste no time getting Christmas into high gear here. We headed to the same tree farm that we went to last year, called Yaegers. It includes Santa and a hay ride.
The girls with Santa before we went to get the tree. Lauren is still wearing those dress up glasses.
Hayride selfie.
The girls agreed on a tree pretty quickly, and Dave chopped it down with a little help from Sophie.
The team with their kill.
When we got home we realized that we got a little aggressive with the height of the tree and Dave had to chop off a significant amount at the bottom and top. But after some finagling and maybe some cursing, it’s up!
That evening we decorated it.
The girls and Lina putting on ornaments.
The final product. You can see that the star has been less placed on top and more shoved in there, but it works.
