Our Last Taste of the Holidays

Over the New Year's Holiday weekend we had gotten a lot done around the house. Charlie got all of the outside decorations put away. We got the tree down, put away the inside decorations, got everything back to storage. Cleaned out the boy's dressers. Cleaned up the Christmas mess. And although it was productive, I hadn't taken a moment like I wanted to to do something fun with the kids.

I decided to take them on a quick ride to the District. We immediately headed to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for hot chocolate. The kids think they are so cool when they get one of those grown up coffee cups :) After that we headed outside to sit and enjoy our drinks. It was a little chilly out but not too bad. We were in for quite a treat. At 6:00 pm the huge Christmas tree that anchored the center section of the District began flashing with a beautiful light display set to music. It was breathtaking. What a wonderful job they did on choreographing this light and music display. We watched for what seemed like hours and then decided to cross to the other side of the District to ride the carousel. It was a relatively quiet night at this usually bustling area. So we took our time. We took in all of the lights and decorations and just savored one last taste of the holidays. It had been so rushed this year that this leisurely stroll was just what my family needed. When we reached the carousel it was absolutely beautiful, there by itself, nobody was on it or even near it except the ride attendant. It was surrounded by trees draped in glistening white lights. The kids rushed to the gate, almost like they didn't realize that there was nobody else there, they had their pick of which animal they wanted to ride. I bought them a couple of tokens and just took it all in. Their laughing faces spun by over and over and I tried to capture their picture every time.
After the carousel it was time to eat so we mosied back over to the other side and were in for a surprise when Charlie walked up to meet us. We strolled up and down trying to decide on what to eat. We finally decided that soup from Panera sounded pretty good. After dinner it was hard to avoid a treat from Ben and Jerry's that is directly and so conveniently across from Panera. It was a perfect night. A last taste of the holidays. I had felt like I had just let them pass me by until tonight. Tonight I got to just stroll along, take in beautiful sights and sounds and most importantly, just see the awe of it all in my children's eyes.