Dreaming of a White Christmas

On the way to Virginia yesterday it started to snow!  Really big, wet flakes that no chance of sticking to the ground, but fun to see nonetheless.  It kept on snowing for a couple of hours, making the scene at the Reston Town Center, where we had lunch at Clyde's, quite festive.  

From our window seat we could watch the ice skaters at the rink next door, as well as the many people walking by on their way to the stores.  It was funny to see the little kids sticking out their tongues to try and catch the snowflakes, and to watch people take pictures of each other in the snow. 

The snow did begin to stick to the ground --see the white snow in this photo for evidence! -- but it was clearly a losing battle with the warming temperatures. The fun festive snow turned into cold soaking rain, as is so often the pattern here in Maryland.

Back home we had a cozy and quiet evening.  Paul and I watched The 12 Dates of Christmas which was pretty entertaining.  We opened a few presents, then set the table for Christmas Eve dinner.  The adults had a fabulous cassoulet that Ben had made and Paul had mac and cheese. 

After dinner Paul and I sat down to watch Home Alone 2, but I was too sleepy to stay up to the end.  It had been a full day, so I roused myself to wrap the final three presents and headed off to bed.

We aren't seeing any family today, but we all agree that we aren't feeling lonely, just happy to be together and not rushing about.   We opened presents, pointed out to Paul that his abundance of gifts was one of the (few) benefits of being an "only," went for a walk, and are now exploring our new toys.  We have a steak dinner planned for later tonight and then we are all going to sit down together and watch Hugo, courtesy of Amazon Instant Video.  

Paul told me after our walk that the thing he liked the best about our Christmas was "being with you and Daddy."  Aw, shucks.   Of course, I feel the same way!