We got our Christmas tree early this year, on 12/1!

We got some hot cocoa at Cocoa per tradition!

And we went to Sarah’s annual soccer banquet.

We spent Christmas in PA again this year, but started off our visit with something new — a trip to the Pinball Gallery in Malvern. For a reasonable fee you gain entrance to pinball nirvana with free play on a huge number of machines. So much fun!

Back at Ingeborg Road we helped the Mahoney cousins finish a Peanuts Christmas puzzle, which they had declared to be impossible! Uncle Fran did most of the heavy lifting though, staying up till midnight one night!

On Christmas Eve Eve, Uncle Fran and I took Blaine and Sarah into center city to visit the Museum of the American Revolution. It was a cool new museum built to house Washington’s actual tent that he used in the American Revolution! Sarah was not impressed by the tent, but the rest of us thought it was pretty cool! No photos allowed, and they keep it in a controlled environment to preserve the fabric. The rest of the museum was very informative, as well. As a side note when the kids went back to school in January we were amused when Blaine’s social studies teacher had the class do a virtual visit to this very museum!

After the museum we met up with Uncle Tim and fam at Franklin Square to see the light show (featuring a giant light up kite!) and have some hot chocolate. It was cold!!

Then we went over to Yards Brewing for dinner. Yum!

The next day was Christmas Eve and so in the morning we went for the traditional bowling with all the Mahoneys, followed by lunch and the Gift Grab at Ingeborg Road this year.

After the luncheon the kids were very happy that we managed to have the 2nd ever Mahoney Cup Mario Kart Tournament. Sarah won — again!!

Christmas morning was a blur of presents and food, but around lunch time we got some outside time on a short cold walk on a trail at Haverford College.

After our walk I was on cooking duty! Tim made the filet mignon and I was in charge of the mushroom risotto, roasted broccoli, and arugula salad. I’ve always been underwhelmed by my attempts at mushroom risotto in the past but this year I combined some aspects of Dad’s recipe with tips from J Kenji Lopez Alt and some advice from Andrew and I was pretty pleased with the results.

A picture of the kids on Christmas Day, including ours, Tim’s, Liz’s sister’s kids, and my cousin John’s kids.

Back home the next day, and we got to work on this puzzle Sarah got me for Christmas celebrating the deliciousness of bread.