Christmas part 1

We've done a few Christmassy things so far, and taken blurry pictures.

The Botanical Gardens.

Decorating the tree.

Messiah singalong.

Lots of Santa hat wearing.

Ward Christmas party where all the kids met Santa. Theo cozied right up and apparently told him he wants a Nintendo DS (what...?), Ida sat on his lap but was too nervous to talk, and Lars pranced over and stopped 6 inches away. I've never had a kid under the age of 5 who even wanted to get near Santa. I could not stop laughing.

Apparently what Ida really wants is a robot Santa and robot reindeer that really move and walk and talk. Where does one get these things? She asked for the same thing last year and got a Playmobil Santa and reindeer which... she admitted to me this year... was not up to snuff. At least she was polite about it last year.

Yesterday Ida and I went to the Nutcracker.

And last night we all went to the DC temple to see the lights and hear our friend Liz perform. Ida was in a mood. (A bad one.) and as usual it was almost impossible to get Lars to wear a coat. But the concert was lovely.

Might submit that one for a photography award. The overexposed background, the dark blurry foreground. It speaks to me.

Over the next week and a half we have the National Cathedral Christmas pageant and the Messiah singalong at the Kennedy Center. Kids' class parties. Christmas cards need to be mailed (most are addressed at least, but I need to buy stamps). Aaaand I still have most of my Christmas shopping to do. The Christmas season is flying right by as usual, but we are having a good time with it.