Grandkids And Radio City And Gingerbread Houses

Something that has become a Seasonal tradition for us is a trip downtown to see the Christmas show at Radio City with the grandkids and then having them decorate gingerbread houses.  We always go to the show on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Mia was so excited this year and she kept asking me, "Grandma how many more days until the Rockettes?"
Ray drove into the city early and we parked in a mid-town garage, and then walked a few blocks to a diner.  It was very cold and windy, and Mia had to go to the bathroom very badly, she was afraid she couldn't hold it but we made it in time ~ even though Ray made us stop for a picture (because the marquee for the show 'Mama Mia' was across the street and he thought it would make a good background!  You can't even see it!):

 We had no lines when viewing the windows at Saks (they were very disappointing, I don't know why they feel they have to be so artsy and elitist all the time, just give us some nice Christmas scenes, or at least some pretty Winter scenes to view) and no lines to view the windows at the American Girl store (very cute window displays!), and it was wonderful walking near-empty streets to view the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center:

(The pictures don't do this tree justice, it was really pretty, and I usually don't like 'flashing' lights, but the lights that flashed on this tree made the tree look like it was shimmering and gleaming.)

We also stopped into the Lego store that was in the Rockefeller promenade and both Mia & Jayden had fun making three little figures each to take home:

 (Notice Mia made sure to take her Rockette doll along with her!)


And then it was on to St. Patrick's Cathedral to light a few candles and say a few prayers:

I am always bothering St. Anthony when I've lost something.

(He is the patron saint of lost articles.)

So I wanted to thank him for always putting in a good word for me (I've found every article I've ever lost when I ask him to help out), so I said a little prayer of thanksgiving and Jayden was happy to light a candle by his statue for me:

Beautiful Pieta

Here Mia is saying a little prayer by the statue of St. Theresa.

And then it was soon time for the show!

And I think we have a future Rockette here!
(No one prompted Mia to pose like this, it all came natural to her!)

The show was a little different this year and I think Jayden enjoyed it a lot.  There were two little 3D movies and one of them was about a video game ( one of his favorite pastimes!).
And a lot of my 'old favorites' were still in the show!

 "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

"March of the Wooden Soldiers"

"Christmas in New York"

"Santa's Helpers"

This is how Mia sat through the whole performance ~ such a little lady with her hands clasped in her lap ~ captivated and enthralled.

And, of course, we all loved the finale!

I guess we wore these little ones out because they both napped on the ride home (we did A LOT of walking on long city blocks!):

But they perked up later and were happy to decorate their  gingerbread houses...

"Grandma, we have no more heart gumdrops!"

...while I enjoyed eating gingerbread men with a cup of coffee!
(NO, I'm not going to let you see me chowing down!)

Erik & Lori stopped by later with Sophie, who was not very happy sitting in Grandma's lap...

...but she was in her comfort zone with her Daddy!

Oh!  I almost forgot!  Jayden lost his top tooth at the show!  I love that smile!
(And the one next to it is loose.  I wonder if he'll be singing "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"!)

Ray's Wonderful Suggestion For Eóghan's Baptism Celebration

In my last post I wrote about my sister Diane suggesting that Eóghan be Baptized on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  And while Thanksgiving weekend was a very busy weekend (Thanksgiving we had the family over, the next day we put up and trimmed our Christmas tree, we took the Fall decorations out of the front window and put up our Nativity window display, and on Friday we also decorated the outside of the house too, then on Saturday we had a Sweet Sixteen party to attend),  still, all in all, having Eóghan Baptized on that Sunday was a wonderful way to end such a happy weekend.


After Church we went to our favorite restaurant ~ Exo ~ it's a Greek restaurant right down the street from us.  Ray suggested that we celebrate there instead of the usual catering halls in the area.  And since we have a very big family (fifty-three of us were there that evening), the owners were exceptionally kind to us and they closed the restaurant to other patrons in order to accommodate us.  They also explained to us that they usually serve all the food 'family style' for parties rather than present each guest with a choice.  I was a little leery of that at first since we have some very "picky eaters" in the family, and, also, some family members have some medical issues that prevent them from eating certain foods.  But it all worked out well as there was such a variety of food that kept coming out, so everyone found something to their liking and something they could eat.  (I, of course, found EVERYTHING to my liking and I could & did eat it all!)


Here's some pictures of the celebration:

(This used to be the outdoor area, but Exo put in a 'three-season' room, the glass walls can be taken down for the summer.)




(Below is my cousin Kathy, my Aunt Marion, my cousin Mary & her husband Lenny sitting in the 'indoor' part of the restaurant.)

(Our family has two sets of "Katies, Saras and Jimmys"!  Ray's brother Kenny & his wife Eileen have Sara & Katie {in the photo below} [Ray's brother Kenny & his nephew Jimmy weren't able to make the party]...

SARA

KATIE

...and my sister Marybeth's daughter Rebecca & her husband Jimmy also have a Katie & a Sarah & a little Jimmy [we call him 'Jamesy Boy!])


Below are photos of Marybeth's daughter and her grandgirls:

REBECCA

KAITLYN

SARAH

And in the 'kissin' cousins' photo below is Jamesy Boy with Mia & Jayden:

And, yes, Eóghan got passed around A LOT!

(Proud Grandpa!)

(Sister-in-law Eileen)

(Sister-in-law Ann)

(Donald)

(My niece Erin)

(Ray's Mom & sister ~ Helena & Susie with Eóghan)

(Eóghan getting some loving from his Great-Grandma)

And while this was Eóghan's big day, we also had lots of fun with the other little people in attendance!

(Mia being entertained by Rudy)

(Erik, Virginia, Lori, & Sophie being entertained by Mia)

(Lori & Mia)

(Virginia & Sophie)

And I was having lots of fun raising little Miss Sophie high in the air and playing "What are doing up there?  Get down!"  ...

...BUT...

...while Sophie usually loves that game, she was having more fun playing with Grandma's necklace!

And she wasn't very happy when Grandma put a stop to it!  But in my defense, she was trying to eat the beads!  I had no choice.

Just some random pictures:


Godparents George & Erin

(Here with Eóghan)

(Parents Katie & Jayson and Godparents George & Erin)

(Erin with her Mom ~ Ann)

Helena

Erin & Ray

Erin, Eóghan & Mia

We got the cake from a local bakery and I thought they did a beautiful job decorating it:

Not only did it look good but it was delicious, with a whipped cream icing, and half the cake was filled with chocolate mousse while the other half was a canoli filling.

Just look at how big Eóghan's getting!  He looks like he's been eating lots of cake!  Beautiful healthy boy!


Ray took this picture of this motley-looking crew outside the restaurant ~
(Doug, Linda, Donald, myself & Susie)

Excellent food, excellent service, excellent company!
Exo was a very good call on Ray's part!
It was a wonderful celebration!