Christmastime in the "Hood"

We have been enjoying Christmas festivities in our town with friends this year and we kicked it off with a trip to the town Christmas parade to see Emily play in the marching band! It was a bit cold but we bundled up and enjoyed some free hot cocoa while we watched!

This was our neighbor "B-Man's" first Christmas parade with us, and he wasn't as thrilled about it as we thought he'd be, but a ride on his Dad's shoulders cheered him right up!

Emil did an awesome job playing "Let It Snow" on the snare drums this year!

All of the dance routines are so fun to watch...

And we saw quite a few Grinch costumes this year! My favorite was the one on the motorcycle with Cindy-Lou-Who riding in back!

It was like trick-or-treating again with all the goodies we got!

We even saw Jesus ride by on a cloud before Santa finished the parade...

Afterwards, we enjoyed an afternoon with the neighbors at one of our favorite breweries, and the neighbor girls loved putting on Christmas shows for us...

North Carolina has NOT been warm this winter so far, but we would hardly know it with all of the indoor, freezing trips to the ice rink with Emily these days... She's doing great in her lessons, and I've even been getting a bit better too with her helping me out! This girl definitely loves to skate!

When she's not skating, or at a student council event, she's usually found in the band room, and we loved going to her annual Christmas band concert! We even picked up a couple new band groupies from the hood to go hear her!

Abby has enjoyed some Christmas baking this year, and she was ambitious in making peppermint swirl macarons... She killed it and it was fun having a baker by my side this year!

And of course, what would Christmas be without Ben in his Santa basket?!?!? He's grown a lot in 11 Christmases! Now we're ready for the holiday to begin!