Christmas Morning

Waiting on the top step to drink a glass of orange juice (B's family tradition) before going down to see the Santa presents.




Top left corner. With some Mod Podge stuff, scrapbook paper, and a weekday pill organizer, I made Princess Sparkley a necklace organizer.

Little Guy hugging a soccer ball pillow (which wasn't actually a Christmas gift) while wearing THREE soccer ball whistles, which were high on his Santa list. (The one he actually wanted is just like one Buddy has and is shaped like a soccer ball, but we found a three pack of whistles with a soccer ball on them for $1, and that was perfect for him.)

PS with an Our Generation Doll. She got one from family and one from Santa!

Buddy opening a giant box. He was super excited about how big it was. Inside... a giant container of cheese balls!

Buddy with his Lego airplane from Santa.

Little Guy with a short cape I made him. The big kids have capes that they wear now and then and have been wearing lately. So I made him one but the inside fabric is trucks and tractors and had to be a certain direction and I only had 1/2 a yard in my fabric box... so he got a short cape. But I customized it with an L for him. He liked the idea until I buttoned it on him.

Christmas Eve

During the day I rearranged our living room temporarily so that the couch was facing the tree. The thought was that then B and I would sit on the couch and watch the kids tear open presents. In reality, we were all still sitting on the floor anyway. Buddy also insisted on rearranging the presents so that we could set up a train track under the tree (like we saw at the National Christmas Tree) with his battery-operated Thomas the Tank Engine on it (see top left corner picture below).

On Christmas Eve we go out for Chinese food, have a little family night reading about Christ's birth from the Bible and then we open family presents (starting with PJs).

Quote of the night-
Little Guy (excitedly): Now we can hit each other!!
After opening three light sabers from cousins in California.


B and I trying to take a picture of us with the Santa Cookie plate on Christmas Eve after the kids were in bed.

U.S. Botanic Garden and the National Tree

I read on someone's blog that the United States Botanic Garden had a fun train display for the holidays with everything being made of plant material. I wanted to make this work with a trip to see the National Tree and luckily on Tuesdays and Thursdays the Botanic Garden was staying open until 8 (normally it closes at 5). So we waited for traffic to end and headed into DC arriving just after 7PM.

Here's the description from their website:
Don’t miss this popular exhibit which includes Washington landmark buildings all created with plant materials set amidst pathways and pools of blooming poinsettias and other holiday plants. Our famous garden railway will feature world landmarks from the continents of Africa, Asia Europe and South America.


The trains.


The kids LOVED it! They love all the different famous world buildings (some which I'd never even heard of, and one B hadn't which is really saying something). And of course, they loved the trains. They even had a Thomas train and a Percy train as well as a cool caterpillar looking training.


The Washington Landmarks.


The Capitol at night at Christmas time. It's in the background of the kids' picture too, you have to look closely above Buddy's head.



The National Tree at The Ellipse. Our camera did the best it can at night (and we used B's cell phone some). All around the base of the tree are small train displays. Buddy declared this the best train day ever. He is also making plans for rearranging the presents under the tree and setting up his battery operated Thomas the Tank Engine under there.


The White House.


Princess Sparkley and the White House (which you can't see in the picture).


The Virginia tree. Each state, territory and the District of Columbia had a smaller, uniquely decorated tree around the National Tree.

It was cold! And windy. Brr. Mid-thirties, felt like low-twenties. We parked near the Botanic Garden and the drove and ended up parking in front of the Museum of American History so we had a little bit of a walk to get to The Ellipse. Brr.