Home Again, Home Again (Jiggity Jig)

We trekked back to VA by way of Hershey:

And saw a glorious sunset as we headed from PA to WV:

Twas the Day After Christmas 2017

We had one last day in NY to spend with the family:

Bowling with the Payne cousins

Followed by Carvel

And ending with Uncle Tom's birthday celebration

Christmas Day 2017

Filled with all the usual fun and family:

Abby opened her Christmas cracker first thing and donned her crown

Finally got a picture of all of us in our reindeer PJs

Benji was thrilled to get a laptop from Santa

This year featured the new game of "pass the Harper"

More Christmas crowns

Annual tradition of trying to get all the grandkids smiling (normally) in one picture. This one was close

And presents, of course

 

Twas the Night Before Christmas 2017

After spending the afternoon at Aunt Barbara's, we had a quiet Christmas Eve at home preparing for Santa. Benji asked Abby to help him with a letter for the big guy:

After inking something out, Benji expressed doubts as to whether the letter was "good enough." I told him it was fine, as long as it came from his heart, at which point he teared up and asked if he could try again. Here is the letter he finally produced on his own and left for Santa:

Driving to NY

We left early and broke up the trip:

First stop: Route 11 Potato Chip factory

Second stop: Christmas museum in Lancaster, PA

Frontier Culture Museum Lantern Tour

Before we left for New York, we had one last fun Christmas activity - a holiday lantern tour at the Frontier Culture Museum. The skits are hokey and it is always cold, but we enjoy this holiday tradition:

First stop: 16th Century English homestead, where we learned about Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads victory over King Charles' Cavaliers

Third stop (after the Irish mummers): German farmstead, where Benji pretended to trim the zuckerbaum

Waiting for our horse drawn carriages to take us to the New World

Loaves and Fishes

For the second day of break, we volunteered at Loaves and Fishes, a local food pantry, along with our girl scout troop: