Christmas in Virginia
Today, we kicked off our biggest theme yet with an endeavor to celebrate Christmas in all 50 States! It’s ambitious and will be spread over the next sixteen years (Ben already has each state’s activities and year through 2039 assigned), but we’ll start with one state at a time 🙂 The goal is to celebrate the unique ways that each state celebrates Christmas or to simply incorporate the state’s traditions and specialties in a very Christmas way.
We began our adventure with Virginia! Obviously, we had to tie in Ben’s college days at the University of Richmond as well as the family traditions of Dawn and Cameron Lee (Ben’s “adopted” family while at UR). We started with a round of family friendly virgin cocktails that the twins loved, celebrated the legendary “Real Santa” of Miller & Rhoads with some hot cocoa in a tea cup, honored the first state to grow peanuts and Edna Lewis’ famed caramel pie with a peanut butter caramel pie, and enjoyed some York-Town Peppermint Patties and “Manasses” Gingerbread Cookies.
For fun, we trekked one block over to share some of our accumulated Christmas goodies with our good neighbor friends on Virginia Street, we learned all about 18th Century Colonial Christmas menus and also “Aladdin the Mount Vernon Christmas Camel”, and of course, we featured the famous “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” in several ways.
To wind down, we played a calming playlist of Christmas Monti-Cello music while we read in the candlelight of a Chesapeake Bay Sweet Tobacco candle (in homage to Santa’s pipe). And to wrap up, we scratched off our first state from our 50 State Christmas Map. True to the state slogan of “Virginia is for Lovers”, we loved the day!
MENU:
Family Friendly Virgin Cocktails
Virgin Mulled Pomegranate Cider in University of Richmond Mug
“Legendary Santa” Hot Chocolate in a Tea Cup
York-Town Peppermint Patties
Manasses Gingerbread Cookies
ACTIVITIES:
50 States Scratch Off Map
Goodie Bag Drop Off to Neighbors on Virginia Street
Lee Family Memories: Christmas Plates, Nativity Sets, ABCD Lee Newsletter
“Yes, Virginia” Cartoon Film (ie: Virginia Reel)
Santa’s Pipe (Chesapeake Bay Sweet Tobacco) Candle
INTERESTING READS & CONTEXT:
