Christmas Activities!

I love the Christmas season and I really like the area I live in! There are always a lot of Christmasy things to do. :) I don't get to do everything I'd like to but this year I've done some things I've never done before as well as some of the things I usually do.

The first Saturday in December, I did Christmasy things the whole day and it was awesome! I only got pictures from one of the things I did that day.

I started off the day going to my ward Christmas breakfast. I don't always go to this but this year they asked me to help out, which I was happy to! Having a job to do helped me to stay the whole time and I'm glad I did; it was fun. ;)

After the breakfast, I had some time to run errands and relax before my next event.

I had heard of the Wolftrap Holiday Sing-a-long and had been wanting to go for a few years now, but it never ended up working in my schedule. But this year I could go and I was so excited for it! I convinced two of my friends to join me and it was awesome! (I didn't get a picture with them, but Shari and Karen came with me).

The sing-a-long was awesome! It's free and they do it every year. The U.S. Marine Corps Band is there to play a few songs by themselves and then to accompany us as we sing. As we went to our seats, they gave us a book with the lyrics to the songs we would be singing. There were two hosts that led us in the singing and the majority of the concert was just the audience singing our hearts out. :)

I think I need to make the Wolftrap Holiday Sing-a-long part of my regular Christmas traditions. :)

The hosts were funny, the singing awesome, and the band rockin'! (The three pictures above this were from the Wolftrap sing-a-long).

Right after the sing-a-long Shari, Karen and I headed toward Ashburn where we went to the D.C. Temple Choir concert. The choir was awesome! (I know four people in the choir). Overall this Saturday was just so great and it made me so happy. :)

Every year, one of the things I do at Christmas time is go to the holiday market in downtown D.C. I picked a day after work that I could go, convinced one of my co-workers to join me, and left right from work.

I love looking at all of the cool, creative stuff they have at the market! I usually look at all of the tents on one side of the market and then at the end turn around and go down the other side so that I don't miss anything.

It wasn't as crowded as I've seen it before, which I was okay with (I think the threat of rain scared people from coming that night). It ended up not raining, which was great!

I didn't get a good picture of the market but I liked the JOY sign and this nutcracker decoration that they had in the middle of the market.

I ended up buying a few things at the market including a dulce de leche filled churro. That churro was soooo good!

This is still the night of the holiday market. I wanted to see if we could see the Christmas Tree at the Capital Building from the Mall but alas it was too far away from the part of the Mall we were on. But look at how cool the Washington Monument looked that night. :)

I knew Lara and Glen weren't going to be in town for Christmas so I wanted to see them sometime in December before Christmas.

One weekend I was able to drive up and visit them. One Saturday morning, I set my GPS to avoid toll roads and made my way to them! Can I just say that I loved the roads it took me on?! I was on country roads in Maryland and Pennsylvania and it was beautiful!

We had some good laughs, good conversations and good times while I was visiting Lara and Glen and family. :) I'm so glad I got to visit them for the weekend!

I went to church with them on Sunday and then I made my way home.

Another holiday tradition I have is visiting the National Christmas tree on the Ellipse in front of the White House. One Sunday after church I decided to go.

This year I did it a little differently. I went before it was dark to look at all of the little Christmas trees and the train sets etc. Then I waited outside of the crowd for the lights to come on.

 I live in a cool area!

 I loved just standing there watching the train sets go around.

After I was finished looking at the trees and train sets around the tree, I made my way over to the happenings going on at the Menorah.

The day I went downtown happened to coincide with the first day of Hanukkah. They were having a celebration for Hanukkah with singing and speeches etc. I stood there for quite a while listening and got to see them light the candle for the first day of Hanukkah.

This picture was taken right after they lit the shamash and then the first candle for the first day of Hanukkah. It was really cool to see and I was trying to enjoy the moment without my camera.

After the celebration at the Menorah was over, I made my way back to the Christmas tree. I sat on a bench outside the crowd to wait for the lights to come on. When they finally did, it was beautiful!

I was glad that I'd seen all of the stuff around the tree while it was light out because the crowd around the tree was crazy now that it was dark. I got some pictures of the lit tree and then headed home.

Isn't it beautiful?!

I'm grateful for the things I've been able to do thus far this month! Some other things not pictured here, a cookie exchange with cooking club, cookie baking and delivering, a book exchange with book group, cookies and caroling party at a family's house, movie watching at the theater and at home, The Nutcracker performance with some girls in it I know.

Pretty Autumn Pictures and Misc November Pictures!

November was a pretty month! I went on morning walks in my neighborhood and saw some beautiful autumn scenery.

Enjoy some of the scenery pics as well as some miscellaneous pics from November.

I love this shot in my neighborhood I took one November morning!

 And another one.

 And another one. Isn't autumn time beautiful?!

 This was one day as I was leaving work.

Another day leaving work. The sky can be so colorful and beautiful!

Sometimes I'm reminded of what a cool place I live in. My brother, Tim, mentioned one day that Norm Lewis was going to be at a free concert at the Library of Congress and asked if I wanted to go. I agreed to go, because how could I not?!

The concert was in a small theater at the Library of Congress with a Broadway star for free. It was soooo cool! Norm Lewis was amazing! :) He was funny and that man knows how to sing! I saw him in The Music Man at the Kennedy Center a few months ago too and he is just so cool! :)

As I've mentioned before Lara and Glen and family moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania. I'm sad that they moved farther away but I'm glad they still live within a few hours drive so that I get to see them occasionally still. :)

One day they came to Virginia so that Adam could get his driver's license officially. I got to have a quick dinner with them before they left town. I'm glad I got a chance to see them, if only briefly.

I was going to have Thanksgiving with just my friends, Rachel and Cat this year. But a family in our ward invited us over to their house, which was awesome! I was put in charge of making rolls. And I loved it!

I made sweet potato crescent rolls and they turned out pretty dang well, if I do say so myself. ;)

I love baking and I really enjoyed making these rolls.

November was a good month. I don't always take pictures of the things I do, but November was a good month full of good friends, good food, beautiful scenery, awesome family, and fun entertainment etc.

Hike- Point of Rocks, MD!

I had this last Monday off for Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day. Yay! I took two of my nieces on a hike at Point of Rocks, MD. I liked the hike and it was a lovely day on Monday!

Two trains passed as we walked beside the train track and we got both train conductors to honk their horn at us after we waved at them. :)

We wanted to cross the train track but a train was coming so we waited to cross (although there was plenty of time before the train actually got to where we were waiting). That train ended up being really long and we couldn't cross for 10 minutes (seriously).

Waiting for the train to end... which it did eventually. ;)

Although I didn't get a picture of the main trail, it was a nice trail. It was wide and gravelly and shady. This was a little off shoot trail that led us to a dock and the river. It was beautiful!

There were two boats tied to the dock and B really wanted to get in one. She didn't get all the way in the boat, but she did try.

We sat on the dock for awhile enjoying the gorgeous day and beautiful scenery! We also made a little music video here... How Far I'll Go from Moana.

It seriously was so nice outside!

We found this ominous gate on the way back to the car. ;)

Another trail down to the river.

Aren't my nieces cute?!

Almost back to our car!

After the hike we went back to their house and made cookies. And M stole my phone and took this selfie. :)
I'm glad I got Monday off so I could spend time with my nieces and enjoy the lovely day outside!

Hillwood Museum and Gardens!

Two of my friends from work and I had been talking about going to Hillwood Museum and Gardens for awhile... this last Saturday we all were finally able to go.

I've actually been to Hillwood before but it's been a few years. The house has some beautiful and interesting pieces of art and souvenirs from the travels of Marjorie Merriweather Post (she was the owner of the house). And the grounds are beautiful!

 I loved this tree!

Marjorie Merriweather Post collected fabrage eggs! Look how beautiful and intricate this one is!

And this one too!

Us three were fascinated by this table setting in the dining room. We learned it's a traveling piece of art. It was broken dishes and transformer pieces and silverware weapons and a weeping angel.

You can read about it a few pictures down.

Isn't it cool?!

There were so many pretty things in the house! I couldn't take pictures of all of them because I was trying to enjoy them without my camera in front of me. But the house was awesome!

After we finished in the house, we walked around the grounds. I loved the grounds!

Leo the Lion! This statue might be a couple hundred years old. ;)

We were all laughing because we weren't sure how this selfie was going to turn out. ;)

Look how pretty this flower is! The color, the texture, the raindrops.

The Japanese-style gardens on the grounds! I loved all of the grounds but particularly these gardens!

I photobombed Sandy! hahaha

I liked this light!

There were so many unique plants and flower in the greenhouse!

We spent a few hours at the museum and gardens and it was awesome! It was a nice day on Saturday and it was good to be outside. :)