pizza + ping pong

The final adventure of our Saturday outing was a stop at Comet Ping Pong for some pizza. We were hoping to eat lunch here on Christmas Eve like we did last year, but realized they wouldn't be open so we stopped by a few days early. They have delicious pizza and the kids love to play ping pong while we wait for the food.

The brunch pizza, with potatoes and an egg. Yum.

Oliver actually remained seated through lunch thanks to a large screen TV playing A Charlie Brown Christmas.

national cathedral.

After freezing at the National Tree, we opted for an indoor activity so we made our way to the National Cathedral. They have a large display of beautiful nativities from around the world at Christmas time. Oliver fell asleep on the way there and miraculously stayed asleep in Ben's arms so we were able to enjoy the exhibit a bit more leisurely. The views from the cathedral are always beautiful. There was nobody else in the observation tower so the kids enjoyed running around looking out all of the windows and hiding from us.

I'm pretty sure this is the smallest nativity in the world...in the eye of a needle. Trust me, it's there.

frozen at the national tree.

The Saturday before Christmas we headed downtown to see a few more Christmasy things. Our first stop was the National Christmas Tree. It was a beautiful sunny day but super windy and freezing cold. We bundled up and I even brought hand warmers but it didn't seem to help. We viewed the tree and the trains quickly and ran back to the warmth of our car.

The White House.

lights!

We were able to meet Ben's parents at the Temple a few weeks ago to see the lights and the other Christmas displays. The girls loved looking at all of the nativities from around the world and the fancy Christmas trees.

It turned out to be a rainy evening but we continued on to nearby Brookside Gardens for one of our favorite light displays. They also have a fun train display there which was the perfect spot to warm up and take a break from the rain. It didn't rain too heavily until we were heading out and it kept the crowds away which was nice.

christmas cookies.

Christmas baking. I'm a fan.

Salty chocolate nutella thumbprints.

Orange slice cookies. An old family recipe.

 Peanut butter Bliss.

Chocolate cookies with peppermint bark.