Holidays

Merry Christmas from a DC suburb! Due to the usual multiple-family tetris that the holidays are, my extended family celebrated a few days ago. I spent the days leading up to the festivities touring DC (pro tip: the holiday lights at the zoo are free, but you will not actually see any animals when it is night), taking the kids to the playground, and talking plumbing with my Dad.

     My brother and his family left this morning, and my parents are staying for a few more days. I absolutely love my family, but hanging out with seven people almost every day was a lot for little ole introverted me. I am looking forward to some quiet at the end of the week. Since I'm still exhausted from all this socializing, some photos:

 Ada looking dashing in her Christmas bow.

 For Christmas dinner, we had homemade fettuccine (which the kids helped make), Italian sausage meatballs and paneer/nut meatballs, a red sauce, green beans, and cheesecake. This had something for everyone but meant I didn't spend all day in the kitchen.

Molly the cat is fourteen years old, but this was her first Christmas. She also received her first ever toy. You might think that a ball in a tray would not measure up to the real live mice she used to catch, but she went crazy for it. I will have to hide this every night because the sound of the ball rolling in its tray at two am will make me bonkers.

I managed to create a separate scavenger hunt for each kid, so that the gift under the tree was just the first clue to the hunt. Surely I must be nominated for an Aunt of the Year award for this.