Merry Christmas!

Christmas in New York

Christmas 2014 was an eventful one for Anna. Between outings with friends, the Christmas sights around town, parties at school, Santa Claus, and visits to family in Massachusetts and New York, Anna had a holiday to remember.

Fun with Friends

Anna enjoyed celebrating the holidays with her friends throughout the month of December. She got to see a local version of The Nutcracker with her friend Maggie. Her friend Sofia was dancing in the production, which made the show even more fun for the girls. She joined her Girl Scout troop for their holiday service project - caroling at a local assisted living facility. The girls also made holiday cards and scarves for the residents that attended. Anna also enjoyed a couple of ice skating outings with her friends.

Anna & Maggie at the Nutcracker

The last week of school before Christmas break was full of celebrations. The last full day of school was party day. Anna's teacher, Mrs. Miller, had hot chocolate and doughnuts waiting for the kids when they came in. Before lunch, they celebrated December birthdays, which meant ice cream sandwiches and cupcakes. After school, Anna had a party at aftercare that included ice cream sundaes. Finally, Anna enjoyed more ice cream at her friend Aidan's house for dinner. It is no surprise that she brought her lunch home untouched. The last day of school was the annual Christmas program.

Christmas

Christmas was a quiet, family day at the Fagella household. Anna had some questions about Santa Claus this year, but opted to be safe and leave a plate of cookies for him. She was hoping to talk to the "real" Santa, which she determined is the one by the White House Christmas tree. Apparently Santa relocated this year as he was not at his workshop for kids to see ....ever. Anna was quite disappointed with this (we need to talk to the National Park Service). In the meantime, she still got to see the White House tree and the always lovely botanical garden train display. She also saw a Santa impersonator making his annual ride around the neighborhood on the Vienna firetruck handing out candy to the kids.

Christmas Eve we enjoyed mass and a delicious seafood dinner. Anna left cookies for Santa along with a note explaining the cookie types, and made sure to move the fireplace screen so that Santa did not trip. The next morning, Anna woke up at 7 to find that Santa did come. After opening packages and enjoying a quiet day, the family headed out that night to see the Christmas lights at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna. It was a very relaxing Christmas day.

Anna & her ski instructors - Luke & Andrew

Massachusetts

The family loaded up the car early on December 26 and headed north to Massachusetts for a Christmas gathering at Aunt Lucy & Terri's house. Aunt Loren, Aunt Mary and James also made the trip for the family gathering, which included a wide assortment of delicious food. After an 8 hour trip up, we pulled into Aunt Lucy's driveway only to be surprised by a crowd of 7 people dressed in assorted Santa hats and reindeer antlers jumping out from behind the cars. Joe threw the car in reverse thinking we may be in the middle of a bizarre holiday car jacking. After recognizing the potential car jackers as family members, we decided it was safe to pull in.

The big highlight for Anna was skiing with her cousins - Luke and Andrew. Both Luke and Andrew are ski instructors at a local mountain, so Anna got the equivalent of private lessons from professionals for the day. Joe did some early ski runs with the boys on the advanced slopes (Joe opted NOT to do the jumps, 360s or 180s that Luke and Andrew were doing) before they picked up Anna who was warming up on the bunny slope. She quickly hopped onto the ski lift with her cousins and was off. She improved dramatically by the end of the day. Skiing may be the one thing that Theresa does slowly. Luke noted in a very diplomatic manner that she "has good control of her speed" (aka - she is slow). Aunt Mary and Aunt Lucy came out to check out the skiers and James decided to ride the mountain coaster several times. It was a fun day on the slopes!

We concluded the trip to Massachusetts with more delicious food ( Aunt Mary brought her famous sausage bread, which weighed roughly 5 pounds per slice -Theresa nearly pulled a muscle when she lifted the entire tray off a shelf) and the opportunity to meet Andrew's girlfriend, who braved the large family for introductions. Aunt Mary assisted Andrew in wrapping Christmas presents for his girlfriend (although her artistic abilities were somewhat limited by the available ribbon options). Anna was quite happy to sit with Andrew while he gave his girlfriend her presents....until her parents waved her on and explained the need for a little space.

It was a great visit with family. A big thanks to Aunt Lucy and Terri for hosting us!

New York

Sunday morning it was off to Aunt Mary's house for the next part of the trip. Aunt Mary got tickets to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular on Sunday evening. The show was spectacular! This was also Anna's first trip into Manhattan and it was memorable.

Aunt Mary & Anna at Radio City Music Hall

It was hard to tell who was more excited - Anna or Aunt Mary. Sunday night, Aunt Mary drove us all into Manhattan for the show. Anna got to really experience Manhattan, including the Christmas tree and Rockefeller Center, and the massive crowds. We had incredible seats to the show, which was full of spectacular dancing, lights, videos, and special effects. The grand finale included a live nativity scene with real camels and sheep (we were wondering if the animals were union and where they were stored when not performing). Afterwards we enjoyed dinner near the Village, warm cookies at a cookie shop, and a peak at the NYU library thanks to James.

Anna & James at Rockefeller Center

Monday, Joe, Theresa, and Anna went back into Manhattan to sight-see. They enjoyed the holiday window displays at the stores, checked out the New York Public Library and Bryant Park, FAO Schwartz, and Central Park. Most importantly, they had a delicious lunch of New York City pizza. Once again, it was incredibly crowded. Anna experienced her first New York City Subway ride as we headed back to Penn Station to catch the train back to Long Island. Aunt Mary had a delicious dinner prepared when we arrived back that night - tired and hungry.

Aunt Loren & Anna on Liberty Island

Tuesday we decided to take Anna to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island before heading back to Virginia. James and Aunt Loren joined us for this adventure. It seems that no one in the Fagella family has ever visited Ellis Island before (outside of the relatives that came over on the boat), so it was new for everyone but Theresa (it figures the non-New Yorker has been there). James served as tour guide and photographer for the day - a job that extended to several others as tourists kept asking him to take their picture. We got to experience some of what the immigrants went through as we were herded through a massive security line before getting on the ferry. We found that they were still doing restoration on Ellis Island from the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Despite that, the museum was still fascinating. We had fantastic views of lower Manhattan from both locations and on the ferry rides. It was a fun day out! Afterwards, James and Aunt Loren headed back to Long Island while we hopped in the car and made the trip back Virginia.

A big thanks to Aunt Mary and James for a great show and tour! Thanks to Aunt Loren for joining us on our day trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.