The Night Before Christmas

 

Christmas Eve preparations..putting out the 'Santa please stop here' sign with Grandpa..

 

A spot of cookie making with Grandma..

 

Rest and relaxation before the big day - poor Theo has been feeling rough today..

 

The tree is ready and train in position;

 

Stockings are in place...

 

Christmas outfit tried on....

 

Photo opportunity by the big tree!

We are all ready for bed now!!

Keeping Busy

 

Unfortunately poor Theo seems to have chicken pox and so we have had a quiet day today, keeping busy indoors or close to home. After breakfast this morning, Theo enjoyed playing with his Play Doh.

 

This afternoon we ventured out to play on the grass below the house..

 

We couldn't help but think that a little snow would have turned this slope into an excellent place for sledging!

 

Later Theo and Grandpa opened some lovely Christmas cards brought from home.

 

We hope that he continues to feel better tomorrow. 

Christmas Visitors

 

We were thrilled to receive these photos this morning and to know that our little family was en route for the US.

 

 

Although it seems to us a relatively short time since the last visit at Easter, Theo has grown up such a lot since then and now looks quite the seasoned traveler - although an 8.5 hour flight is enough to try the patience of any child or parent!

 

For me it was a day of tidying and preparing..

 

Once we arrived back from the airport, Theo was quick to explore the train that David had fixed up - in the true US tradition - around the bottom of the tree.

 

Looking forward to the week ahead!

'Twas the Night Before..

 

Just a few minutes before midnight and tomorrow our VIP visitors arrive!

In order to preserve the surprise I have not blogged our decorations this year ... but I will tomorrow!

In the meantime meet one of the new tree ornaments that we acquired during the year..

 

He is from the Spy Museum in DC so presumably can be relied upon to keep a secret!!

Santa Wall

 

Shopping in Giant early this morning I was surprised at the huge wall of boxes of drink cans that had been created.  I was mainly concerned about not bumping into it with my trolley as it looked rather precarious.

 

However, a member of staff pointed out that a pattern had been created to look like Santa.  It wasn't particularly obvious until I took the photo .. then it was very clear!

Star Wars

 

As predicted by Maggie in her comments on yesterday's blog, David is a big fan of the Star Wars series of movies and so tonight we went to the IMAX theatre at the Steven F Udvar-Hazy Centre at the Air and Space Museum to catch the latest film.

Rogue One had some impressive special effects - especially when viewed in 3D on the IMAX screen - claimed to be the biggest screen in Virginia!

Seasonal Films

 

This evening we have been watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' - this film is now over 70 years old and the version we watched is a digitally coloured version of the original black and white film.  Always a classic for this time of year.

The second film above, The Bishops Wife, was recommended by an American friend.  I don't remember ever seeing it before - it was made in 1947 and stars an improbably young Cary Grant, also David Niven.

I wonder which of today's films will still be watched and seen as classics in 70 years!