Christmas 2017

This year Sophie auditioned for and made it into the Philadelphia Girls Choir, a pretty prestigious choir in the City, which is associated with the world renowned Philadelphia Boys Choir. She started with the group in September, and had her first concert in December. It was held at the Episcopal Cathedral on Rittenhouse Square and was amazing! There were 750 tickets available and they sold out.

Here she is at the house in her dress before leaving. She was so excited and also so nervous.

You can see her here, second row on the right.

The girls were allowed to audition for either a solo or a dance. Sophie got a dance part (back facing the camera with the braid). During one of the songs she stepped down and did a dance along with the song.

The choir is made up of three sections: Etude (ages 7+), Cantata (ages 10+), and Concerto (ages 12+). Each section sang a few songs on their own, and then the entire choir sang together. Each group was more impressive than the next. In the picture above Sophie is second row, center.

A shot of the entire choir with all three sections. Sophie is center, about second row.

Afterward she was so excited and happy, it was so great to see.

Doug, Vicki, Quinn, Carley, Mom, Dad, Becky, Ari, and Lydia all came to the concert and afterward we all went out to dinner. Here Dave and I are with Sophie in Rittenhouse Square before dinner. It was extra festive walking through the park, which was all decorated and ready for Christmas.

At the beginning of December we spend a weekend in DC with our friends the Townsends. It was a cold one! We got the first snow of the season and it was wet, but we tried to make the best of it and enjoy all of the holiday festivities around the city.

This picture about sums up the mood when we were outside. “Please let us go in and drink hot chocolate!” Lauren is only smiling in this picture because she was bribed with hot chocolate (good parenting). They had put up Christmas trees for each state and decorated them with items that were symbolic for the state. The girls are standing on front of Pennsylvania.

Much happier after they got their hot chocolate and cupcake rewards 😉
Lauren and Bella get along really well…

…which also means that Sophie felt left out, which is obvious in this picture. She was not thrilled to be forced into this picture. This was taken in front of one of the many trees (indoors!) around the city. Crystal planned our whole weekend and we ate at some fantastic restaurants – this was in a lobby attached to one of them.

The girls and Dave also went ice skating (their third time this year so far). I stayed outside long enough to take a few pictures and then found a nice spot in the warming hut 😉

Since we got engaged (15 years ago!!), Dave and I have been going to NYC for a weekend in December, but last year we just decided it was too much – too expensive, too crowded, full of cranky New Yorkers, etc. So when the Townsends suggested meeting in DC instead we decided to give it a go and it was great! The City was beautiful, clean, and not at all crowded. We ate fabulous food, enjoyed all of the festivities, and didn’t have to spend a fortune and wait in hours of lines. I think a December DC weekend will be our tradition moving forward.