We had a great Christmas this year. I think it is safe to say that we thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas with Elias. He is truly the greatest gift we could have received all year round. We also had a lot of fun dressing him up in various scenarios and, you guessed it, taking pictures.
I was a little stressed out that I wouldn't get everything done that I needed to before Christmas, but I did pretty well. I'm not going to go all out and say that I got EVERYTHING done because I actually have a bunch of cards I still need to give/mail out that I haven't done yet...and it's the middle/endish of January.
In preparations for Christmas, we looked around the city for things to do to celebrate the birth of Christ. One of the obvious things to do was go to the DC temple visitor's center festival of lights, which we did. We went and saw a high school choir perform Christmas music (which Elias loved) and saw the nativities and Christmas trees on display. We didn't take any pictures though because it was waaaay too cold outside. Elias was not interested in the Christmas lights at all outside, but he loved staring at the full-sized nativity, even though it was outside in the freezing cold.
Thanks to a couple of our awesome friends, Ryan and I were able to go see the lighting of the National Christmas Tree. That was very exciting. I have always wanted to go and had never had the opportunity and this year I did! Almost 10 years after having moved here!
There were a ton of people there and we saw the president and his family (even if they were specks on the horizon) and very good musical performances. I have a picture of the tree before it was lit up, but the after pictures did not come out very well. I guess I still have to learn how to use my camera :)
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| The very large crowd (I'm sure they appreciated this picture, haha) |
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| The national Christmas tree before the big lighting :) |
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| A model of the Lincoln Memorial surround by poinsettias (almost the whole national mall was represented by these models in the main room) |
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| My guys discovering flowers :) |
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| Christmas ornaments among the palms |
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| Train Room |
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| The train room had an "Around the World" theme, which was very nice. Last year it was fairies, which was also very nice. Can't wait to see next year's! |
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| A real waterfall! These people go all-out for Christmas! |
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| He was more interested in eating up my mom's nativity set :) |
We enjoyed a quiet, happy Christmas morning and Elias enjoyed his presents, most especially his new car (which will have to stay at his grandparent's house because it won't fit in our teeny apartment):
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| He did not want to get out of this car under any circumstances and looooves to be pushed around in it. It's still his favorite toy. Thanks Mama Ive and Papa Kelly! |
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| "Who needs a banana? I've got candy!" |
We had some serious Christmas miracles on Christmas morning.
First:
It SNOWED!!! I can only remember it snowing once before on Christmas here in MD.
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| Snow! Christmas Miracle! |
Elias audibly said "I love you" after Mama Ive said it to him. There were four people there to hear it and marvel. Christmas Miracle!
Third:
Elias started crawling on ALL FOURS. I thought it would never happen. Now he's an expert crawler and has abandoned his signature scoot. Christmas Miracle!
Fourth:
Elias got to meet his Uncle (Elder) Chris over skype. That was really cool and now they've kind of officially met each other. Christmas Miracle!
It was a wonderfully miraculous day!!
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