It is no secret how much we love the holidays.  We fill our calendar with fun holiday events and experiences.  These are some of my favorite memories year to year.  Here are some of this year’s fun holiday things.

Enchanted Village

Chris and I went to the Enchanted Village as kids but then the tradition ended due to financial reasons.  Jordan’s Furniture bought the collection of dolls and set up a beautiful display a few years ago.  We have gone a few years and the kids love it (and the fake snow!).  This year they added and indoor skating rink!  And this year Bren was tall enough for the Polar Express Ride.  So much fun!

Christmas Tree Lighting

4th Church welcomed the kids who performed in A Christmas Carol – and all kids – to come to the neighborhood Christmas Tree Lighting.  It was a cold night but the kids finally got their wish of Christmas Caroling!

Read Boston Event

This was an adult event- but still holiday fun.  Chris and I attended the ReadBoston fundraiser- a book signing event by local authors.  We got a few Christmas presents there and met some local authors.  Best of all- the entertainment- Dropkick Murphy’s!

Velveteen Rabbit

The holiday classic story the Velveteen Rabbit was once again performed by Boston Children’s Theatre.  We loved seeing the show!

Condon School Christmas Concerts

Both boys are finally in the same school- but their concerts were on different days!  I love how festive their school is and how they celebrate the holiday season!

Aidan’s Field Trip

A great neighbor of the Condon, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, invites the third grade students each year to meet the executive chefs who work there and make gingerbread cookies.  Aidan was so excited to go and I got to go along to chaperone.  They were so wonderful to the kids and there was such a holiday spirit as the kids sang to the staff there!

Christmas Pageant

It was my 18th, Aidan’s 4th and Brendan’s 2nd.  But each year is the best year ever.  After a few delays because of weather and scheduling, in the end we had one practice and our dress rehearsal.  But as always the kids were great.  My favorite part was watching the helpers work with the kids and make a nervous talking angel confident by working with the narrator to be sure she had her lines in front of her.  The kids are the best part of Christmas.

Cookies

We have to make cookies for Santa of course!

Parties

(some of the 27 Pascarelli great-grandchildren with Nana)

The kids loved seeing family friends and family at a few parties.  We take lots of pictures (of course) so it’s fun to compare how much the kids have grown up each year.

Our Christmas Card

We started talking about it in the summer and had a lot of fun taking pictures with our friend Brendan.  Judging by the reaction of others- it was a hit!

Twas the night before Thanksgiving and where did we go…to A Christmas Story!

We all loved it!  It was true to the movie and perhaps more poignantly drove home the message to enjoy children and the holidays and not worry about all the details.  A good message to go into the holiday season with.

Then came the surprise for the boys- a backstage tour, courtesy of family friends!  We saw the sets, costumes, props and all the inner workings of backstage.  It was so awesome!  We even met one of the actors from the show- John Bolton who plays the dad!  We mentioned Bren’s love of theater and his summer performance of Pippin- a play he had been in as Pippin!  I’ve never seen Bren’s eyes so wide!  He shared that the two plays had something in common- both had dead duck!

The boys couldn’t stop talking about everything they saw- both backstage and during the show! (and were upset they have to wait until Monday to share)

Now they need to see the movie!