Hanukkah and Happy Birthday Dad!

 We celebrated the first and last nights of Hanukkah with my family, and right in the middle of all of that was my Dad's birthday, so it was a week of fun and food.

Vivian's Hanukkah got off to a rough start.  Her phone fell out of her pocket as she was getting out of the car, and the screen smashed.

She was really upset, but, honestly, all the adults were surprised it lasted unscathed as long as it had.  We cheered her up with yummy food and the opportunity to play with fire.  This was Elena's first Hanukkah handling actual flame, since she's used our wooden set in the past, so Safta stepped in for some moral support.

After dinner and candles, it was time for presents! Last winter, Mom and I had gotten a nice warm blanket at PriceSmart (Colombia's Costco).  It's everyone's favorite, and the girls keep stealing it from me, so when Mom and I saw the same kinds of blankets at Costco, we got the girls their own.  They were suitably grateful.

The girls have also gotten into bingo via their Roblox reality, so we thought we would get a real world holiday themed version.  Again, it was well received.

Of course, then we had to play.

And who should win, but Dad, the Hanukkah birthday boy!

I was okay with not winning, because I had already gotten my Hanukkah present, a new set of pots.  More than enough for the eight nights.

Dad's birthday started off quite foggy.

But then the sun came out, and it turned into a really nice day, so we decided to walk to my parents' house.  Along the way, we saw signs that Santa was going to be driving by with the local fire department.  We decided to find a spot to wait to see him.

We waited a while, and then we got our Santa sighting for 2020.

Then, we kept walking to my parents' house for an afternoon feast of pork shoulder and yummy apple birthday cake.  Elena took my phone while we were waiting for the food to be ready and recorded all kinds of silly videos which kept her busy and happy, and I'm sure will result in some laughs later on in her life.  The dinner was delicious, and so was the birthday cake.

The girls made cards, Jeff got a book, and I wrapped it as best I could.

Dad seemed to enjoy his birthday celebration, and we had enough time the next day to finally decorate our own Christmas tree, so the girls were extra happy.

For the final night of Hanukkah, Jeff stayed home and continued his Pooh Loves Art series, this time with the stuffed Pooh we have.

Vivian has moved from her beanie phase to an ear muff phase, so her ears were nice and warm for the final candle lighting. 

I love all the holidays that celebrate light and family during the shorter and colder days of the year.  That festive spirit is especially welcome this year.

Thanksgiving and Getting Ready for Christmas

 While Thanksgiving this year was smaller than usual, we were still really lucky that our Thanksgiving buddies from our Colombia tour were also here in Virginia, and we were able to celebrate with them as well as with my family.

We started the day off at our house, hosting our friends for breakfast and the parade.  I'm glad I only did breakfast and stuffing, because the kitchen was chaotic enough with just that.

Our parade tradition involves recording it, so that we can start when we're ready and fast forward through the commercials we're not interested in, so the parade was ready when the food and drinks were ready.

I'm so glad they didn't cancel the parade, since they've had to cancel so many things this year.  It is one of my favorite parts of the holiday, and the girls get into it too.

I also love that they included some archived footage of the original parades.

And the Christmas season got off to a great start with a reminder of our wonderful time in Central Park accompanied by a short dance from The Nutcracker. 

In the afternoon, we headed over to my parents' house for more food.  Vivian and I walked to help earn those extra calories, and Jeff and Elena rode with our friends to show them the way.  There was plenty of food to enjoy once we got there.

After feasting, the whole family walked home together.  It was a fun ending to a great holiday.

Of course, no sooner were we done with one holiday, then Vivian was clamoring about the next one.  She REALLY wanted us to get a Christmas tree as soon as possible.  In the past, we had gotten our tree at the Methodist church near us, so we waited until the weekend after Thanksgiving, when we saw they had them up, and then we headed over to pick our tree.

The girls quickly picked a winner.  Vivian led the way, but Elena's opinion was equally important, since this was her first REAL tree, and it will probably be our last real tree for quite a while.

We like to get our trees there, because they're really fresh, the people are super friendly, and we feel like the profits go to a good cause.  Of course, when the guys who put the tree on the roof of Jeff's car joked that it was guaranteed to get out of the parking lot, he and I gave each other nervous smiles.

When he turned onto Route 7, the tree rolled a little to one side, and I spent the rest of the short and slow ride home holding on to it through the sunroof for safe measure.  We got it home without incident though, and then worked on the challenge of getting it to stand upright in the stand.  Finally, we got it.

Vivian wanted MORE Christmas.  Luckily, Jeff had found some solar powered outdoor lights for our trees and bushes, so the two of them went outside to work on setting them up.

They're not super big and bright, but they're pretty and environmentally friendly, so we're happy with them.

The girls' hunger for Christmas could not be contained, and I wasn't ready yet to get all the decorations down from the attic, so I sent them and their enthusiasm to my family.  First, they decorated my sister's tree.

Then, they decorated at my parents' house.

Eventually, they were returned to me with their Christmas appetites at least temporarily sated.  The holiday season was off to a great start.

Fabulous Fall

 Fall is my favorite season, and one of the best parts about spending this year in the States is that I get to share that wonderful season with the girls.  Vivian has some memories of fall, but this was Elena's first real fall.  The paths around our house are surrounded by beautiful trees, so we didn't have to go far to find fall.

We've been trying to get the girls outside to play every day at the tennis court with the bouncy ball they got from the school. 

On the weekends, when we have more time, we try to get in a walk to Shirlington.

We even went on a leaf hunt around our neighborhood.  There were lots to choose from.

The girls got so into the leaves, that Vivian decided to include fall foliage in her science, food web poster.  Elena was happy to help punch out leaves in different colors.

Fall was also the season that I said enough is enough with this ridiculous Covid weight gain and decided to go on a diet.  I am so lucky to have such a supportive family.  Vivian found an app called Noom which she said she had researched, and it had the best ratings.  Jeff bought me a Fitbit to help keep track of my steps and keep me motivated, and they were both at the ready to go for walks with me to help me get to my 10,000 steps a day.  Of course, fall is the perfect time to decide to spend more time walking outside.

Elena was willing to go walking with us too, and we had a great wildlife spotting walk one day.

When we got back to our house, we saw that someone had raked up a perfect leaf pile, so we checked that experience off the fall list.

Elena has also been working a lot on reading.  She was my book buddy when I hosted my first Usborne online book party.

She's also been really into the Narnia movies, so she busted out our complete volume and has been reading The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe which brings great joy to my heart.

Vivian also touched my heart with her kindness.  She saw that I was making breakfast for both girls every morning, so she decided that she would surprise me by making breakfast for me.  She got up really early, and I found this waiting for me when I cam downstairs.

Not wanting to disappoint her, I took a "cool" selfie with the provided sunglasses while drinking my morning coffee.

I did, however, leave the breakfast food for her, since it was all of her favorite things ;-)

Despite all the challenges 2020 has presented, fall has been a good time for our family. The leaves have finished falling now, and we're excited for winter, snow, and the holidays.