Drummer Boy

I tell you about this morning in our household because it gave much pause to stop the hustle and bustle of the holiday and reflect on what Christmas is truly about.  

This morning before school Mae and I were listening to Christmas music. Specifically, we were listening to Josh Groban Christmas music, which Pearson was thoroughly annoyed with but that is a different post for a different day. Anyways, The Little Drummer Boy came on and Mae, in typical fashion, started asking me about the song. I told her about the Little Drummer Boy who had nothing to physically give to Baby Jesus because he had no money so he gave of himself and "played for him." I told her that it meant more to Baby Jesus for someone to give of the wonderful gift of song that cost nothing and came from his heart then actually present him with an actual gift that he opened. I then went on to describe that Christmas isn't always about real presents but the presents that are in our heart. She seemed to grasp the idea, which I am grateful. Now that is not to say on Christmas morning she isn't going to be excited about tearing through the presents. Tis the season! 

"We wish you a Merry Christmas"

Tonight my neighbor and friend, Melaine, loaded our kids up in strollers to take a walk around the neighborhood and check out the Christmas lights. We gave all the kids hot chocolate, popcorn, hats, and gloves. What was supposed to be a walk turned into an impromptu caroling night. When the kids knocked on the first door and sang "We wish you a Merry Christmas" my heart was a big pool of holiday cheer. Seriously, I felt like the Grinch whose heart grew three times it size. One house turned into a dozen houses. The kids just wanted to keep going and going. On the walk home the kids and I talked about the need to send holiday cheer to others and tonight I think we definitely accomplished that or at least a little bit.

Excuse my annoying voice at the end. 

PS - As you can see from this photo my kids didn't understand the concept of caroling and went into everyone's home. Sometimes a little too far into their houses. As I have said in the past my kids are comfortable (I think a good trait anywhere) and think they own other people's homes. Clearly you can see from this video they are. 

Adventures of Whit and John - Holiday Edition

Today I took Whit and my nephew John to the National Botanical Gardens to check out the holiday decorations and the train display since Heather had some holiday shopping to get done. I originally thought I would take them to my gym day care but I have felt that we haven't done as many holiday things as in years past and was feeling the need to be festive. I think that is in large part to Mae having school everyday. I also don't feel there seems to be as much to do here around the holidays - surely that  isn't true. I just feel that I had my Seattle holiday routine down (Swansons Nursery, Gingerbread Houses at the Sheraton, Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont, Conservatory, and Holiday Ships). And the Seattle things didn't seem ever that crowded. 

We got there a half hour prior to it opening and decided to play around at the base of the Capitol. The boys loved stair jumping and despite it being on the chilly side no one complained. Once the gardens opened we headed in and were thrilled by the decorations and the boys loved the trains. They sat there just watching them go around and around. It also helped that there was a Thomas train. The boys were especially smitten with throwing coins in the pond. If I had more money on me I have a feeling we could have done that ALL day long. We did the loop around the garden TWICE because they wanted to the see the trains again and we even took the elevator up to the catwalk to overlook the jungle. The boys were a pure delight, listened beautifully, and didn't destroy anything. Well, John picked a fruit off one of the trees but I told him we weren't allowed to do that and it didn't happen again. 

I had just as great of a time with these two boys as they did with each other. The decorations were beautiful and being in a warm toasty green house in the middle of winter just feels cozy and special.  

As you can tell from these photos these two boys are like peas in a pod. They love playing together and  love each other so much. As the photos show, they rarely leave each others sides. This is the reason we moved back to Virginia.