December Calendar

Apart from having fun company and a bad head cold (which I blame for the fact that I'm just now posting these pictures), here are a few of the things we did in December:

Right off the Bat:  Twinkled
It has been a really mild winter so far (with a few abruptly cold 30 degree swings), so we took advantage of a 65 degree day to put up twinkle lights.  Such fun to come home to, as always.  I made the mistake of telling Jason that you are supposed to leave the lights up until Epiphany, not realizing that Epiphany is January 6th and not late January like I thought.  The lights came down on the next 65 degree Saturday, but so worth it in the meantime.

Also, this was my favorite Christmas decoration of the year, which Jason brought back from Germany last spring.  (Somehow he keeps going to Germany without me, and yet I'm the one who speaks German, what?)  

December 4th:  Much a'did
Embracing what may be our last chance ever to go to the theatre, we hit DC's wonderful Shakespeare Theatre in early December for a showing of Much Ado about Nothing, my all-time favorite play.

December 5th:  Visited the White House
I'd never actually been to the White House at Christmas, so MJ took me as her guest of honor.  So fun to see it all decorated.  And for the record, since I'm posting this more than a month later, it is weird how not-pregnant I look in these pictures.  No wonder the security lady wasn't sympathetic enough to let me use the bathroom.

December 9th:  Decorated our own tree
Our poor tree stood in our living room in nothing but lights for two weeks.  I pretended it was because Hudson and Carter were coming over to play and I didn't want to tempt them with our not-child-friendly ornaments.  That only made me feel better for a week, though.  Our tree was the perfect size this year.  So nice, in fact, that I was actually a little sad to take it down after New Years.

December 17th:  Christmas Caroled
We actually did go Christmas caroling with friends this year (no pictures, sad), which was so fun.  I love that our friends want to make these things a part of their children's lives and they let us tag along.  But we also went to see A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre with Kevin and Missy.  As usual, it put us in the perfect Christmassy mood.

We also, you know, passed a federal budget right in the nick of time, wrapped Christmas gifts just before we headed out of town for the holidays, and lit the Advent candle in church...which required just one too many dress-up maternity outfits for the week.  December absolutely FLEW by, but what a fun whirlwind of celebrating family, goodwill, and, most of all, our Savior's birth!