Staunton Holiday Day

On Saturday, we spent the whole afternoon in Staunton partaking of various holiday activities:

We started at the Blackfriars to see the American Shakespeare company do A Christmas Carol

On to the Frontier Culture Museum, where we met the Dukes and Shadels (and Father Christmas) for a lantern tour

Watching mummers in Ireland

The kids being silly in the dairy barn after the tour (they'd all had cocoa and cookies to get them ramped up)

Gingerbread Houses 2018

Our yearly tradition of decorating with the Dukes:

Field Hockey Banquet

Much delayed, but finally happened last week. Awards were given, there was a slide show, the little kids played in rolling chairs and the coach announced she is leaving after 12 years in Cville, which was very emotional for many of the girls:

Benji, Cy and Katherine amusing themselves

Elisabeth, Abby and Eve saying goodbye to Coach Eure

Snow Day #1

After the Sunday snow, we had Monday off of school and Benji went sledding at Greenbrier:

Snow Day Hike

We got a LOT of snow last weekend, much more then was predicted, and it threw all of Charlottesville out of whack (including 2 snow days and 2 delayed starts for the schools). We had planned to see the Moscow Ballet perform the Great Russian Nutcracker at the Paramount on Sunday afternoon and were loathe to skip it, but worried that the roads would be impassible. We decided to try the walk downtown (Benji and Kevin had done it on the John Warner Parkway once before). It was far longer and snowier than we anticipated (we walked during the 2 hours when snowfall was the heaviest), but we made it in plenty of time and the hike was beautiful:

Leaving our neighborhood

The path was definitely not shoveled

Benji's favorite waterfall along the John Warner Parkway

We got to the Paramount, wet but ready for the show

Christmas tree on the mall after the show

The mall was pretty deserted, but beautiful

Walking to the Omni to try to get an Uber

We made it home! Look at all that snow.

Toy Lift 2018

We volunteered to help pick out the gifts for kids at Walker (Kevin and Benji's school). This is always a fun task and we got to "shop" for two families:

Toy Lift is set up this year in the old Fresh Market space

Our cart, ready for a family with 2 toddlers and an 11 year old

The rest of Hanukkah

Chanukiah Contest 2018

Each year, CBI has a "creative chanukiah contest" where each family is asked to create one entry. (It is not really a contest, as everyone gets a certificate that says something like "most colorful chanukiah" or "most likely to be used at the zoo.")  Benji and I made our caterpillar chanukkiah last weekend, but the contest ended up postponed because of snow:

Matched Set

Kevin and Benji in their Walker Band T-shirts for last week's spirit day:

Rock Shabbat

It was the Fifth and Six grade classes' turn to help lead the service:

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

We drove out to Four County Players to see Anya as Beth (one of the leads) in this play:

It was a really funny show and Anya did a great job.

Trimming the Tree 2018

Tree trimming treats

New matching pajamas

She was able to get the topper on without a ladder this year

First Night of Hanukkah 2018

We ate latkes and lit candles and played dreidel:

And just to throw a little Christmas into the mix, Benji was playing Rudolph on the piano