My favorite Christmas present wasn't one that I got, but one that the kids got. Santa brought them LeapFrog Tag readers and a set of books. These things have made the bed time routine at night such a breeze. I'm not sure how long that will last, but it is definitely holding their interest for the time being.

Just a picture of the sky one night at sunset, as seen from my front door.

The day after Christmas we went to the National Zoo. We were going to try and go to the National Harbor to see the Ice Show at The Gaylord, but the ticket prices were outrageous! Then we thought we might go to the Botanical Gardens to see the trains set up, but when we drove by the line was wrapped around the building. So it was off to the zoo!

Trent and I have started making tomato soup from scratch. We make the meatball soup recipe from Deceptively Delicious, but don't make the meat balls. I love it. He says he does. I think he just likes making it.

We had breakfast at Panera the day after Christmas. Yum!

This is what it looked like right after Santa visited our house. The kids totally didn't deserve it, but who can resist giving your kids a good Christmas?

I made new recipes this year for dinner. I made a roast in my dutch oven that was just wonderful, and cheesy crock pot potatoes, fresh pesto bread and lemon garlic roasted broccoli. It was sooooooooo good. Just what we needed after a day of eating sweets and nothing with much substance.

We had a rough Christmas Eve. Our anniversary is the day before, so after the kids went to bed Garrick and I went downstairs to watch movies together. We fell asleep watching the Hogfather. Trent was good enough to wake up and upon discovering that we were not in our room, searched for us. When he found us downstairs he proceeded to climb all over us and talk to us. When we didn't respond, he spent the rest of his time running around the house. We just didn't have it in us to even acknowledge him. We finally got up at three in the morning to go to bed and found the boy sitting in our bed eating food and watching tv. 

How can he sleep like that?

The dog was beyond interested in the presents that were under the tree. I think she loves Christmas just as much as the rest of the family.