Christmastime by the Water, in the Woods, and at the National Mall!

More from the holidays!

It was a full season and this post features some of our favorite memories from December.  The second weekend of the month, we went to the National Harbor for a picture with Santa, and rides on the Capitol Wheel and carousel.  Later that week, the girls and I rode down with my parents to another delicious lunch with the Miles family, and the day after that, we went into D.C. for our annual Old Ebbitt Grill meal and National Tree visit.

Starting by the water...

 Other than the green screen, it was a pretty sweet picture with Santa :)

In line for the Capitol Wheel

 Little lady with big glasses

 A ride on the wheeeeee-l

 Beautiful views and lots of sweet fun

 From the wheel to the tree...

 to the train...

 to the carousel!

 

It was one of the unusually warm December days which made for a long afternoon at the National Harbor and lots of special memories.

More Christmastime fun was had the Friday before Christmas at one of the coolest homes, on a beautiful property with woods, a barn, and lots of animals, owned by one of our favorite families, Steve & Mava Miles. Steve is my mom's cousin and this was our second year taking part in the beautiful luncheon they put together for their ridiculously cute and sweet college kids (Maelee's "BFF," Madie, and big brother Wil), Aunt Mae (Steve's mom and my Nanabug's sister), Randy (Steve's brother), plus my folks, Too-dad and Mary Catherine, and Tom & Viv.  While we missed our own Steve (he had a big conference call that couldn't be missed...), it was a very special afternoon filled with delicious food and sweet memories.

 Mava set up a beautiful table just for our little ladies and 

Madie was so sweet to sit with them!

 Lilee petting the kitty statue with Wil :)

The beautiful and incredibly talented chef, Mava, with the scrumptious pies!

Key lime and peanut butter.  Yum.

 No nap for this little gal but she had a great time!

 Especially with Belle, all dolled up and ready for rides!

Maelee was over the moon to go for a ride on this sweet pony!

Of course, Lilee had to have a turn, too.

 Meeting Remy, Madie's handsome horse.

 

  The girls were tickled at these adorable, and very generous gifts from the Miles family!

Made with love by Madie at the Build-a-Bear Workshop :)

 Four sweet kiddos

What a family.

Such a fun day! The next day, we went with my folks into D.C. to see the National Tree and enjoy a late lunch/early dinner at Old Ebbitt's Grill.  Once again, the girls had lots of giggles for Nana & Pop-Pop at the restaurant and especially liked the trains around the tree.

 

 That face!

 

Maelee's attempt to not blink...

Yummy food, fantastic company... this tradition is always a great time! Onto the tree!

  

 Little Missy not as content to be carried...

 

It was one of the more crowded and colder visits to D.C. this Christmas but still well worth it.  One of our favorite holiday memories. And there's more to come!

Slideshow of more:

Holiday Highnotes & Hi-lights!

Happy New Year! Halfway through January and it is time to get the hundreds of pictures sorted and posted from the Christmas season...  They won't all be chronological but I'll try and keep it somewhat cohesive!

This first little summary will have some random shots from throughout the holidays with a focus on some sweet performances we saw and some cool lights we saw, too.  Finally, there's some non-holiday December thrown in at the end!  

Decking the halls to start things off...

First ornaments on the tree

Captivated by the trains

First surprise from the Advent Calendar

Chocolate!

Painting the fall pumpkins to look Christmas-y

Steve was in Orlando for a work conference the first Saturday of December so the girls and I spent the day in Old Town with my folks, enjoying the Scottish Christmas Walk Parade in the morning and the Parade of Lights in the evening! 

The girls were especially tickled at all the candy being tossed to them at the parade!

Some gingerbread house decorating with Nana during the afternoon

Masterpiece!

Great spot to watch the boats all lit up across the Potomac!

To finish off the weekend, I surprised Maelee with tickets to the Nutcracker in the advent calendar the first Sunday of the month.

We loved our "2nd Annual" date!

More pretty lights and sweet notes at the Shirlington Village Tree Lighting ceremony during the first week of December.  We decided to skip the long Santa line this year and instead enjoy the horse and carriage ride!  It was pretty fun.  The pictures don't do them justice but the horses were similar to Clydesdales and were just beautiful!

Doing some decorating :)

Face paint!

The 2nd weekend we had the treat of watching Nana sing with her Potomac Harmony Chorus group!  It was a fun holiday sing-a-long and we loved our dinner afterward with Pop-Pop's brother, my Uncle Bill, and Bill & Lori!

Lilee's adorable, "cheese!"

Imitating the cheese :)

Sweet family-

cousin Bill & Lori, Uncle Bill, and Nana & Pop-Pop

Maelee's last week before winter break included a "Winter Fun Day" that I was able to volunteer at! 

So great to see her in her element and her little class at work :)

Checking out some decked out homes the week before Christmas,

including one that was a little too decked out...

It included a little woodland fairy scene complete with dozens of little taxidermy creatures...

that Maelee desperately wanted to take home!  Steve happened to catch her reaction when he had to break it to her that we were not taking one.

Thankfully, she quickly recovered!

Slideshow of more holiday fun:

And since there were plenty of noteworthy but not holiday specific moments from December, I wanted to include a handful of those snapshots, too!

Just a sweet pic of my sweet girl during a sweet Sbux date.

With two of Lilee's pals, Logan & Alden, during a "babysitting share" I'm doing with a couple gals from church.

Reading to this cute little dog!

Enjoying our last music class of the fall semester

Yay for ice cream!

Trampoline fun!

Celebrating Steve's birthday over a delicious brunch in Old Town.

And cupcakes after!

Playtime with Chloe!

My little gymnast after completing another semester!

This was actually holiday-related, but it fit better with this post than future Christmas ones...

Our church community group in a fun and hilarious White Elephant Christmas Party.

This is how this little someone finally decided to nap (for 20 min or so at least) at Nana & Pop-Pop's one afternoon.  In stroller, hat on, one mitten on...

Storytime with Pop-Pop

So happy to celebrate Uncle Dan!!!

More pics from Dec:

And that concludes the first of many more posts from the month of December! Many more pics to come. With this crazy storm predicted ahead, I just may get them all posted before February arrives! Maybe...