Day after thanksgiving,The Tree goes Up!


Capitol Christmas Tree


U.S. Botanical Gardens Holiday Train Display

Part of the train display included Homes of the US Presidents, made completely of plants and organic material!





Christmas eve at Grandma Kelley's (I did not get pictures this year !) :( ----we had a terrific meal! Tex Mex! It has to be one of my favorite meals of the year! The kids LOVE opening their Christmas Eve gifts from Grandma...pajamas...to them it signifies the start of the vacation...they put their 'jamas on and stay in them for a week straight! (changing to go in public, but coming home and putting them right back on.) The pajamas mean christmas, hot chocolate, family time, relaxing and just plain fun for a week straight... they LOVE them!

Christmas Day was so great...(no pictures again !) :( -----waking up with our kids, going to church, spending time together after church and then going to Steve and Wendy's first ever Christmas dinner. Wendy did an amazing job hosting! She is a real pro and the traditional turkey dinner could not have tasted better! It was a great ending to a great day...

a few days later.....

4 days of Christmas with a few of my family members...(yes, all of us sleeping and eating in the same house!)


Lots of card games...where I pulled out a Win!...I say I am the 2011 knucklehead champion because I won the last game of the year...(none of my family can argue with me because they don't read my blog!!)

Lots of fun, food and family family family!

The inevitable family photo in front of the tree...."Tammy, Dale, get in front of the tree for a family picture..!" no warning. no hair, no makeup,no changing clothes, no staging, but I love it anyway! ! (I could stand to photoshop it, but who has time for that??)

And what would the break be without Hockey?!? Greg played a tournament at the Kettler ice rink (exciting because thats the home of the Washington Capitals)....Greg did a great job! This is him with his snowman buddy before the break...


David had a tournament during the break. fighting hard to get a win over a team from North Carolina that had previously beaten them...

the excitement after eeking out the win...coming in first place for the tournament!


of course we have to jump the goalie

and the banner...


It's January now, so down goes the tree.....

and up comes our routine again.Kids back to school, Percy, smokey and I back at home, alone. The house feels empty after being so full of people so often over the Holidays.

Percy is back to his routine, including my favorite.. every afternoon at 2 he sits and waits for the kids to return...he sits for 45 minutes just waiting, and waiting...

"They're here, they're here! My buddies are home again!!" -percy