Second Christmas

We came home from Florida yesterday and now have a short vacation from our vacation. Our time with family was wonderful. We were able to see everyone in the family, including Zach who I haven't seen since his return from his mission. Today was great since we had the whole day off, rather than just the evening. Leigh was in charge, but since it was a Thursday she forgot that we had the whole day and just planned the evening. This actually turned out to be perfect because then we were able to sleep in (until 7:30 which is late for us) and play a game of tennis in the cold.

We came home and ate breakfast and then had our second Christmas! Since we traveled to Florida, we are both only take a few presents to actually give to each other and then take pictures of some other gifts that we can open when we get home. One of those gifts that Leigh bought for me was tickets to see South Pacific at the Kennedy Center!

So in the afternoon we drove down to DC since the metro is awful on weekends. We parked next to the National Academy of Sciences, which has a famous statue of Albert Einstein out front sculpted by Andrew Berk. Dinner was at a place called Farmers and Fishers on the Georgetown waterfront. The duck was amazing. I didn't know you could order it medium rare, medium well, etc. I've only had roast Peking duck before. We then walked over to the Kennedy Center to see the show. In front of the opera house, there is a bust of JFK by the same artist, Andrew Berk. Overall, the show was pretty good. Leigh kept singing "I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair" even though she said she wasn't mad at me :) Hats off to Leigh for a wonderful 30th!

Christmas Lights?

This date was a short one since it fell on a work day. I got off at 4:30 and came home. We ate a simple and quick dinner at home and then went to see some Christmas lights since the holiday season has officially begun. The Festival of Lights at the Washington DC temple is supposed to be one of the best displays in the area, but we planned on seeing that later in the month, before one of the performances at the Visitors' Center. So we decided to go to Brookside Gardens down the road from our house. It was rainy and cold and we showed up and they wanted $20 to get in! The Festival of Lights is free! We didn't have any better ideas, so we just ante'd up and pulled out our umbrella. It wasn't much compared to Disney World or many other light displays, but they tried. Unfortunately we think they got the Halloween decorations mixed up with the Christmas decorations because they had spiders and spiderweb lights. If you live in the DC area, it's probably not worth your time.

Afterwards, we went to a friends house to celebrate a birthday. We were able to talk and eat birthday cake and relax. Sometimes it's hard to get out and see friends, but it's worth it once you're there. The last two dates have been somewhat short and simple (and Leigh thinks boring). December 30th we both have the day off and Leigh has something planned, so I'm excited.