Christmas in the City

On Saturday, December 15, the Center City District will host this exciting FREE festival from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Talk about fun! There will be a Holiday Treasure Hunt, Karaoke sing-a-long with Frosty the Snowman, plus seasonal arts and crafts. Children will enjoy Story Art, presented by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Free Library of Philadelphia; Snowflake Science, courtesy of the Franklin Institute; Cold Weather Creatures, presented by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University; and Cookie Decorating at Milk & Honey Café. The Philadelphia Parks & Recreation’s Young Performers Choir will offer a concert of songs of the season.

To top it all off, Santa will be there! Make sure to bring your camera, and get ready to enjoy exciting, kid-friendly WINTERFEST!

A Chinese Thanksgiving

 Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed over to the Chinese church Dave works with for a special program and dinner. Lilia was thrilled to see some of her Chinese friends from school. She had a great time with them.
The audience was a sea of Chinese faces hear songs, skits and preaching of the gospel. I understood NOTHING, but I loved being there. It felt like 2 things...
1. I was in China for a stretch of time, but the atmosphere was with Christians, so many Chinese Christians. It was beautiful.
2. It was a glimpse of heaven.

After the program, which was all in Chinese (naturally for a Chinese audience) we had a big feast together. They prepared Turkey and all the fixins...egg rolls, peas & shrimp and seaweed. Dessert was red bean soup with tapioca balls. I tried most things. I liked most things, but not enough to go back for seconds.

Rittenhouse Tree Lighting

I believe we have a new family tradition. On Wednesday we trekked over to Rittenhouse Square for their annual tree lighting ceremony. We walked over with another family who has recently joined our team, the Flenners. Lilia and Alex adore their kids. Afterwards we walked back to their house and all had dinner together. It was a really great night that we hope to do year after year.

Peddler's Village

Every year my parents go to Peddler's Village with their friends to experience the tree lighting ceremony. This year the kids and I got to go because Dave was away at a conference.
As you gather around in the dark, the countdown begins, 10, 9, 8, 7...3, 2, 1! Suddenly it's as bright as day as every tree, bush and even building is covered in an assortment of colored lights.

Horses and Tractors

Lilia and Alex were in their glory on Saturday as we spent the afternoon at Tony and Patty's.
Lilia got to feed the horses carrots and help Patty get their dinner together. She also got to ride Crem, a former race horse.
Alex got to ride on the gator around their 23 acres, as well as help Tony drive this small digger-type machine.

Tony & Patty's House

 Tony has been cutting trees for his whole career. As a result he is an incredible ability to make any and everything with wood.
This is their house. Someone came in to custom build the house, but Tony made a lot of the furniture in the house, including the banister and rails on the stairs and second floor.
My mom and I requested some tree cookies (a sliver of a tree trunk). We all headed out to his wood shop, which is bigger than our down stairs, to come cut some goodies.

The Bird Sanctuary