Christmas in DC

The best thing about living in the DC area has got to be Christmas.  I just decided at the spur of the moment, about a week before the big day, that we should go check out the national tree in front of the White House.  You just can't beat a sight like this:

Even though I figured it would be pretty cool to see a huge Christmas tree in the heart of our nation's capital, little did I know that there would be a whole entire replica town with cars and train stations and houses and little tiny marching bands surrounding it. And when you go at 11am on a Wednesday, you can even find parking, which is nothing short of a Christmas miracle.

I was impressed-slash-really sad at how accurate their portrayal of real life was in this scene-- even in a children's display, they were sure to park a police car right at the scene of the high school marching band.  No sense in letting them live in fairy tale land, right?

But for the most part, it was a fairy tale... view from the front:

And view from behind:

 

As well as a little celebrity lunch at the hot spot of the world's best (and possibly only) "half-smoke."  I think it's a half-hot dog/ half sausage, but who really knows or cares-- it's some kind of meat and it's delicious.  We must have just missed the Obamas and Bill Cosby, dang.  Maybe next time.

Brendan would have given his 2 front teeth for a bite of that dog, but I think he still enjoyed just tagging along for the ride.

Some other pit stops that week included the children's Christmas Pageant at the National Cathedral...

 

And Christmas lights at the Dragon's Castle-- AKA The Mormon Temple...

 

And that doesn't even get me started on the real, actual Christmas.  Next time :)