Old Groove, New Pastimes

We've been having a little trouble getting back in the groove after all our travels. I think we have vacation-itis. It's not that our regular activities are so unpleasant, they're just not as exciting as vacation. Alas, we can no longer pretend to be on vacation. I've been slowly working through all the pictures from Christmas, and they'll be up very soon ( I hope). The kids have been enjoying all their new Christmas toys and patiently awaiting the arrival of some very special boxes from VA. It's not so much what came in the boxes as what came on them. Trevor spent a very special evening in VAwith Grandpa looking at stamps and has been bitten by the bug. He chose some stamps from Grandpa's stash, and those, along with some other hand-selected stamps by a very excited Grandpa were beautifully arranged to cover the postage on two boxes. We always know boxes from Grandpa because they are covered with stamps. This time, Grandpa picked out the most interesting-looking stamps for two budding philatelists. Now they're patiently awaiting Grandpa's visit so he can help them soak the stamps off the cardboard to put in a special album. In the meantime, though, it's time to get back in our groove.

O National Christmas Tree

The National Christmas Tree has been on the Ellipse for 31 years. For almost that long, I've been going to see it every year (well, I've missed a couple since I moved away- but not by choice). It's a wonderful tradition that we had growing up to drive downtown and meet my dad (coming from work) at the Yule Log. Then we would walk around to find the Minnesota state tree and the Maryland state tree. We'd visit the live reindeer and the creche. All in the glow on the biggest Christmas tree I've ever (to this day) seen. Then when we were too cold to stay any longer, we'd go get pizza. This year we shared that tradition with the next generation. We found the Arizona, Michigan and Virginia state trees. They watched the trains going round and round the base of the National Christmas Tree. We listened to a choir sing Christmas carols while they looked, in wonder, at the biggest Christmas tree they've ever seen.

Winter Wonder

We just got back from our trip out to Virginia. We had a wonderful time being with family and doing things that we just don't get to do at home. Trevor and Braden had been hoping for weeks to see some snow on our trip, and what do you know? We saw some! A lot, actually! When we woke up on saturday, it was snowing lightly. Trevor told me, "Mommy, I prayed to God for snow, and it's snowing!"

Well, the weatherman predicted a dusting, but it ended up snowing all day, leaving more than enough for a snowman...or two...or three... even if the grass did start to peek through.



And after the snow family was built, there was plenty more left over for a good snowball fight. I had to be careful not to get caught in the cross fire. Snowballs went flying with no regard for age, size or expensive cameras.



No children were harmed during the making of this blog post.

Moonrise

We are loving the cooler weather here and are outside as much as possible. This time of year, it's great to have the whole desert for our playground.