Christmas Wonder

Christmas morning came again with waffles in the morning and lots of presents for all of us. Anastasia really liked playing Santa, distributing the gifts to everyone to open. She also loved opening her own.



Among the presents this year, an iPhone for Myney, a netbook computer for Orlando, a Kindle for me, and a Wii for the whole family. There were lots more, but we managed to not take pictures. Anastasia and I took a break from the action to make a couple playdoh hamburgers.



Once the gifts were opened, it was time to get started on dinner. Orlando came up with the idea of suckling pig for Christmas dinner several months ago. The hardest part was finding a farmer to get the pig from. He picked up the newly slaughtered piglet three days before Christmas and stuffed it with fruit and onions to begin brining. On Christmas day, Orlando trashed the stuffing, and prepped piggy for the oven. He fit, but barely. After a couple hours, he looked like this.



We invited a few friends over to join us for dinner, Mark and his brother Jeff, Abby, and everyone's favorite bartender, Mo. After oysters and cheese with wine, it was time to sit down and dig in. Fortunately for all of us, Mo has actually carved a suckling pig before, so he did the honors for us. Everyone loved the dinner. We expected to be eating leftovers from our 17 lb piggy for several days, but we picked the carcass very clean.



After dinner was cleaned up, it was time for the grown ups to hit the Wii for a little play time, after Anastasia showed us how it's done. She was surprisingly good at it!



We had a lovely, if long day. By the end of the evening, Orlando was in the mood to just soak it all in. Already contemplating what we're going to do next year to make it better. I can't wait.

Winter Wonderland

A record breaking storm hit DC this year, which of course excited Anastasia. It started snowing about 9:00 on Friday evening, and continued steadily for about 24 hours. When it was over, we had nearly 2 feet of snow.



I had planned to spend Saturday afternoon finishing my Christmas shopping. The snow changed my plans slightly, but a Metro ride across the river got me to the Mall. Unfortunately, an hour into my shopping trip, Orlando called to tell me that the storm had gotten so bad that metro was shutting down all the above ground tracks. With my shopping trip cut short, I hightailed it to the train station and managed to get on the last train that crossed the river. I went to Orlando's restaurant to avoid the cold walk home from Union Station. The snow was pretty, though.

When Orlando and I got home, it was clear that Anastasia was desperate to get out into the snow. A couple layers, two pairs of socks, plastic bags and rain boots on the feet and the heavy winter coat and she was ready to go. While Orlando quickly shoveled the front walk, Anastasia went on a long walk through our front yard. She made snow angels and really loved pretending she was a shovel.What really made her laugh, though, was jumping into the drift piles.



On Sunday, Orlando had to work, so it was up to Myney and me to clear the walk. There is one down side to living in a corner house. By 5:30, the federal government had announced a snow day for Monday, meaning I had a full day to rest my achy muscles and play with Annie in the snow.

Christmas Prep

The holidays are upon us. Last weekend we got our Christmas tree (actually 3 trees), which Anastasia and I decorated together while Daddy rested and watched football. Anastasia is getting very excited for the day Santa comes. We've got an Advent calendar that she's been opening one door on every day. She loves counting how many days are left until we get to number 25.



There are other preparations in the works, too. Lots of gifts to buy, which Anastasia has been helping with. Shopping with her is sometimes challenging, but it's also fun to talk about all the gifts we're giving to everyone on our lists. We've picked out gifts for her secret Santa classmate, something for Daddy and something for Myney. We've also gotten some nice things for her cousins, who we're going to visit right after Christmas.

The other day, we went to visit Santa Clause at the mall. We've been to see this Santa every year since Anastasia was born, and the last two years, she's been resistant to sitting on his lap. This year, she initially said she didn't want to sit on his lap. She only wanted to stand in front of him and tell him what she wanted. When it was our turn, I introduced her to Santa and she told him that she's a nice girl, not a naughty girl. He asked her what she wants him to bring her. Her list, in it's entirety is:

1 - A teeny star for the top of her Christmas tree
2 - A lot, a lot, a lot of stickers
3 - Yellow, red, orange, purple and blue cars

Then Santa convinced her to sit on his lap for a picture. Will have to edit to add the picture later, it seems to have been mislaid in all the hullaballoo.

Girls' Day Out

Last week, Anastasia's school had parent teacher conferences, which meant a day off for little girl. After Orlando and I had a visit with her teachers (all good news) it was time for a girls' day out in DC. Myney and I had planned a morning of visiting DC's traditional Christmas installations: the Museum of American History, the Botanical Gardens, the Capitol Christmas tree and Union Station. We bundled up for our walk on the cold morning. Annie was eager to get moving.



Our first stop was the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We had read about the exhibit they do every year titled "Holidays On Display" and were very excited to see what they had in store. I'll admit we were a little disappointed. We had the impression that the displays would include window displays from some famous department stores. It did not. But, not ones to let a little disappointment ruin our day, we set out across the mall.



On the way to the Botanical Gardens, we of course had to pass the carousel. Anastasia was the only one on the ride, so she got to pick what ever horse she wanted. Myney and I were both surprised when she picked the horse that had been primed to be repainted. She was very excited to ride on her "white horse". It was definitely white.



We got to the Botanical Gardens and were not disappointed with their holiday display. They do wonderful scale models (made entirely of plant materials) and train displays throughout the front portion of the gardens, with the highlight being a very fanciful display with lots of trains and fairy tale houses. Anastasia was disappointed that she couldn't play with the trains, but she loved the displays.





After a long walk through the gardens, we were off toward Union Station. We walked across the Capitol grounds and got to see the Capitol tree. Anastasia was most interested in running, and the Capitol grounds were a great place for that. Lots of room, lots of security, not a lot of people on a cold day.



Our final stop was Union Station, which every year has a wonderful train display put up by the Embassy of Norway. Again, Annie really wanted to play with the trains, so we didn't linger there long. Instead, we decided we all needed lunch (late, though it was.) At Thunder Grill in Union Station, Anastasia carefully examined her menu before deciding she was famished, and must have some chicken.



She dozed on the way home, but didn't really sleep. It was a long day, but we had a lot of fun exploring just some of the fun things to see at the Holidays in our wonderful city. There's something to be said for being a tourist in your own home town.