December starts out with us heading down to Alexandria to check out a Scottish Christmas Parade. Everyone said it was a must do and we have fond memories of the Irish Parades we attended in Newport, RI. Unfortunately, it was raining. These days, if it is a weekend in Arlington you can count on one thing - RAIN! We went, but it wasn't as festive as it could have been. We considered going back later that evening for the Boat Parade, but again, it was raining and nobody wanted to go back out in that. Sigh, maybe next year. The kids are mostly smiling in these pictures, but trust me, they were NOT happy to be there.
The following Saturday, Ben's Boy Scout Pack had a trip scheduled to Mount Vernon to raise the flag and participate in the wreath laying at the Washington Family Tomb. It was COLD!! The kids again, were not super excited to go back to Mount Vernon since they had just taken an awesome tour with Jim's family less then 2 years ago. Once they got there, as is in most cases, they had a good time. Afterward we had people over from Jim's work to watch the Army Navy game. Navy lost (again) which wasn't the outcome we were going for, but having beaten Army for 14 years straight, I think Navy can afford to let them win 3 years in a row (Jim disagrees). I believe Navy still holds the overall winning record 60-52.
We needed to wait until after the game to decorate the mantle so we decided to hold off getting a tree until then too. I am still on the fence. That meant we were really pushed to get the house decorated for Christmas (later than ever). We did get an incredible tree from Whole Foods this year! Several people had told us to expect less then stellar trees, but we really got lucky!
Ok, if you have read any of the recent posts you might have picked up on my new extremely high dislike for all the leaves that we mostly I have been raking up. Last month while we were gone for Thanksgiving this wonderful invention passed through our neighborhood and vacuumed up all the leaves in the street. We got word that it was due for another appearance second week of December. It is like Christmas come early for me people!!! The kids even helped me (a little) rake ALL the leaves from our yard into the street and we just sat back and waited. I missed him actually sucking up the ones in front of my yard, but did track stalk down the crew and got a horrible shot of them at work. It is times like this I wish I still had young kids so you had a reason to watch interesting stuff like this without the judgment. Sigh.
Jim scored us tickets to a free Holiday Pops concert at the Kennedy Center and then promptly told us that he was going to be out of town. Ugh. Bright side, his college friend "Uncle AJ" was in town for some meetings and he was going to attend with us! So not exactly ideal, it was still going to be fun! Last minute, Jim's trip got shortened and then suddenly he was going to be able to go. Bad news for AJ, until we were able to find another ticket for him and then we all got to go! It was fabulous!! As is proving to be a theme, kids grumbled until we got there. Afterward it was one of the best things we have done since our arrival. Of course it was!
Every year Jim makes nuts and bolts to give out to our neighbors and his co-workers. For several years I have been taking a picture of the kids in front of the treen in Christmas PJ's to serve as the gift tag. This year is the first year the kids are NOT in Hannah Andersson or Pottery Barn PJ's. I am so sad!! The ones they have are pretty cute, but it is just another reminder of just how big they are getting.
Speaking of nuts and bolts. I forgot to get some brown paper bags from the grocery store. Oops!! Good thing the leaf vacuum was just here and I didn't have to use our lawn bags this week. I PROMISE it was a new bag!!
Another bucket item on our list of things to do was to lay wreaths at the Arlington National Cemetery. Ben's Boy Scout Pack is usually involved with the picking up of the wreaths in January, but we may have a conflict with that, so we really wanted to do the laying of the wreaths. Lucy had a sleepover so she missed it. Lilly talked one of her friends into coming with us and we were able to meet up with some friends from Yuma that now live in MD for a bit as well. Of course it was raining - see the before-mentioned part of how it rains EVERY weekend. It was a goat rope finding parking but we were able to ascertain the "best" way to do it for next time - if there is a next time. Still it was totally worth doing, even in the pouring down rain. I also came to the realization that my rain jacket also needs to be replaced. It was fine for a shower, but in this deluge, it was pretty much worthless.
That evening, after the rain mercifully stopped, we again drug the kids kicking and screaming down to Georgetown to view what has been billed as the "region's only curated exhibition of outdoor public light art installations. Set against the historic backdrop of DC's oldest neighborhood, it's a whole new way to shine." Shockingly, the kids again pushed back. We had to entice them with the promise of dinner in Georgetown and potentially Christmas shopping, but by the time we had gathered everyone up from the afternoon of ice skating, play dates and generally goofing off, we were not able to squeeze in the shopping. The kids were less than pleased.
However, the lights were pretty fantastic. Jim and I really enjoyed them.
Suddenly it is the week before Christmas. Usually we are off at some fun location skiing but this year the kids have school so we are hoping to get some skiing in later. Our Church has live animals for the Nativity and after the service, we got to go outside and meet them. The camel was a big draw. He was perfectly happy to pose for a picture, we however weren't able to get one that was even close to be decent of all of us. Too bad we already sent out of Christmas cards, because this would have been a pretty realistic one! HA!
Jim's parent are coming up to stay with MC and David, but the bulk of the time we will be at our house! We are all super excited to be hosting Christmas for really the first time ever! Unless you count the year Lilly was born. My family flew out to meet us in Vegas when she was 6 weeks old and we proceeded to drive from Vegas to Yuma to San Diego and back to Vegas in a span of about 5 days.
Since we are on the topic of FAILS, we haven't made our Christmas Cookies yet. I decided to get the kids up earlier then they wanted on Christmas Eve to get that process going. I remember in years past I would make the cookies before hand and just get the kids to decorate them. That process took about 5 minutes and the cleaning up of the sprinkles took an hour! Now, the girls are more interested in carefully decorating them. The sprinkles still take about an hour to clean up but our cookies are BEAUTIFUL!
See I told you their new PJ's were cute! Here they are, waiting to open all gifts. Just a few short years ago, they would have already been knee deep in ripped off wrapping paper. So there are good sides to growing up!
This is more like it people! Lots of paper everywhere!!
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| Wesley looking for the Christmas squirrel he asked Santa to bring him |
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| We were able to get another whole family shot - thank goodness for a timer! |
After all the presents were opened, we got the house ready for Jim's parents and sister/brother in law to come over for dinner. I must say as much work as it was, it was nice to not have to worry about driving anywhere!
I took this picture on a morning run. The sun peering over the tree at my Grandmother's farm is truly breath taking. Unfortunately that very tree flattened a barn that you can just make out in the shadow. So while I can appreciate the beauty, it makes me sad. I am not sure if the barn will be rebuilt. The house has so much damage that needs to be addressed first. It could be a very long time before we get to the barn.
Speaking of storm damage, the marina has made some progress since November. Mom and Dad think they will be back up and running in time to catch the spring transient season. So that is good news!
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| These homemade stanchions were perfect as a dog hitch. I probably should take one home. |
My nephew Ward agreed to give Jim a fork driving lesson. I am not sure how I feel about this. I mean, he flews airplanes, certainly he can drive a forklift. I don't want him to take my job though! I had always thought I would have him working the office. Might need to reevaluate this plan.
Meanwhile Ben and Papa spent some time working on the scooter our neighbors gave him last month. They think they narrowed the problem down to motor. It works but it isn't as fast as it should be. Papa complimented me on my wiring work of the new batteries, but he still switched out all the connectors. So I am not sure if he was really impressed with my job, or just trying to make me feel better.
The trip was pretty quick, but we were able to see some friends, have a fish fry and I was able to tie up some things at the marina in preparation for closing out the 2018 books. We had to get a few family shots in front of the mantle before leaving. Wouldn't be Christmas in Swansboro without doing that!
We made it back home in time to join some of Jim's work friends at a New Year's Eve party. I must say I was ready to just celebrate it at home with the kids, but it was nice to get out. Happy New Year!!!
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