today...in a nutshell

Today we had a family holiday fun day!  I'm sitting here amazed that we squeezed so much fun into one day with four children in tow.  Here's our day in a nutshell ::

 

First up this morning we had breakfast with Santa (hosted by Family Friendly Cincinnati, Downtown Cincinnati Inc, The Cincinnati Fire Museum and Panera Bread).  This breakfast was so much fun, Santa was a delight and the museum is amazing.  If you have not been to the Cincinnati Fire Museum you should make a trip!

After breakfast we went home and Henry took a quick nap and then it was off to a performance of  Santa's Toy Factory put on by the Children's Theatre at the Taft theater. 

 

After the show we walked to the oldest bar in Cincinnati, Arnold's Bar & Grill on 8th Street where we enjoyed a delicious lunch.  The whole family was happy to see one of our favorite bands, Jake Speed and the Freddies, walk through the doors to set up their show for later that evening.

 

Jake Speed & the Freddies even serenaded the kids during their practice in the courtyard.  

After our late lunch we headed to Cincinnati Christmas Saengerfest in Over the Rhine.  Our first stop was St. Francis Seraph church on Liberty where we listened to the lovely sounds of MUSE. 

MUSE sang so beautifully, and the church was lovely.  I hope that Saengerfest is a tradition that continues every year. 

Outside of St. Francis we saw the nativity.  Henry hushed us because baby Jesus was sleeping.

The man tending the animals at the nativity invited the kids to jump in the pen with the animals.  Max was so happy to hang out with the goats and sheep.  The animals seemed to love all of his attention as well.

A lovely angora goat.

After St. Francis we walked over to Moerlein Brewery to enjoy another choir, The Young Professionals Choral Collective.  They sang many traditional Christmas carols, and I'm not going to lie...I sang along.

After Moerlein Brewery we decided to call it a day and go home and watch Elf with the kids and enjoy some popcorn and hot chocolate.  Ella said before bed that it was a perfect day, and Sam declared it the "best day ever".  I concur.
Now the children are in bed, and I have my pj's on and we are watching one of my favorite holiday movies, Love Actually.  It's just been a wonderful day of holiday fun all around.  Goodnight.

ps...thinking this picture of the kids with the moerlein flying pig would have made a good picture for our Christmas cards...too bad I already printed ours out for this year!

Disclaimer: Through my work at Family Friendly Cincinnati I received free tickets for the events we attended today.  Although, after experiencing all of these events, I'm quite sure I'd pay to go to any of them next year.