A Christmas Kind of Weekend!

Happy December! This weekend has been FABULOUS! It all started last night when our church choir went down to Old Town Manassas to sing a concert in front of the Harris Pavillion for the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting and Santa's arrival. The photo above is of Emma and her friend Bethany waiting for a ride on the haywagon around Old Town.

Here are Mark and I right before the concert started - see our choir folders all wrapped up for Christmas?! We even had little book lights so we could actually see our music! A minor detail....

Here is a shot of our choir along with members of another sister church. I am on the front row, 2nd from left. Our choir director Scott is at the far right in the green jacket. He and the other church's director took turns leading us.

We do a song called the Sound of the Round and we split into two choirs - it's so cool! It's a really fun, but grand song that almost sounds like a viking anthem at one point. If you are a music lover, look it up on iTunes. We need both directors for that one. Can't wait until Scott sees his bald spot....

Here is a close up of me with my bff Angie to the left. I hate looking at pics of myself singing. No one looks attractive with their tonsils hanging out!

While we were singing, Emma, Bethany and Lydia were skating on the outdoor rink at the pavillion behind us. They had a blast! And the weather was perfect, not too cold at about 48 degrees, but just cold enough for the ice to stay firm. The outdoor rink is a great experience for Emma. She can just play around and have fun, it's not like being at our home rink where she trains. When she's there, she always feels like she has to be "on". Kwim?

I love this pic of me and Angie. We've been friends for so many years, I've lost count! We stand next to each other in choir and in the Adult Ensemble and it's so hard to sing without her in my ear. We really depend on each other to keep each other on key! Sometimes we have waaay too much fun in choir and Scott gives us the fisheye, but hey, we're having fun!

And boy, what a crew this is! Scott and Debbie, Mark and I, Chris and Angie. I'm so blessed to have great friends!

But here's my greatest two blessings, my hubby and daughter. Love them so much! I love this picture too - probably going to be with our Christmas Card this year. What do you think? Too casual?

The girls together on the haywagon - it had no hay, what's up with that?

Love this shot down Center Street - it's much prettier in real life though. This is my hometown where I grew up. I have years and years of memories here of being in the Christmas Parades with my Girl Scout troop and on the church floats, shopping with my Grandma at Rohr's 5 and 10 (which is now a gourmet food shop) and going to the hairdresser with my Mom (which is now a barber shop), right on this street.
We live about 10 minutes away from downtown and I'm so blessed to be able to live where I grew up. Most people who live around here are come here's not from here's and since my home has changed so much over the years, they will never have the memories of growing up in this wonderful small town that I do. Manassas isn't always what it used to be with all the growth and urban sprawl, but I'll always have memories of what a great place to grow up it was. It's times like we had Friday night that remind me of this and make me bittersweet for my childhood and my loved ones who are no longer with us.

Saturday morning was a winter wonderland! Here's a picture of my backyard and across the alleyway.

Emma didn't waste much time building her first snowman of the season! She even conned Mark into coming outside too. I know he was having fun though, he is such a great Dad!

We discovered today that Susie is a snow lovin' dog! She spent so much time outside just running and playing in the backyard. Mark and Emma were throwing her snowballs and she was catching them and eating them. This will be our first Christmas with Susie - last Christmas she was hiding under our neighbors deck with a broken pelvis. We think someone dumped her in the neighborhood and she was so scared, she wouldn't come out if anyone was near her. It was heartbreaking! It was bitter cold last Christmas and while we were gone for the holiday, our other neighbor got her to come out and took her to the vet to rehab. No one claimed her for a month and I just bugged Mark to death about it until he caved and we adopted her. Now, they are inseparable. Susie loves him so much and the feeling is mutual. He is like a little boy with her. I love it!

My two favorite snowman builders and their creation - top hat and all! Not very tall, but it IS just the first one of the season!

I hope you've enjoyed this look at a slice of life around here. It's been a great weekend so far and it's not over yet! I hope you all have fun too and be sure to hug the ones you love and maybe build a snowman too!
Blessings,
~~Robin