Things to Do - And (Finally) Some Snow

We've had a mild winter, extremely mild (Saturday the temps reached the 70s), but, finally, on Monday, Northern Virginia received some snow, huge super-wet flakes, blanketing our new house in a layer of white. And everyone was smiling, you'd pass random people on the street and see them smiling. It felt good, "real" for lack of a better word.

The height of the flurries occurred in the mid-afternoon, when we picked F up from school. T seemed the most amazed, as he's probably too young to remember last winter, he kept saying things like "now snow on my hat. now show on my arm." The only sad part of the night was when Dan came home at 9 and said "apparently it snowed today, I had no idea." He has a window in his office, but I guess he was too busy to notice.



Of course we all had to catch snowflakes on our tongues. Of course.



F ran home to get her favorite doll, Cybil Lily, and take her exploring in the backyard. P soon joined them. I love watching kids in the snow, just taking it all in, the sense of wonder they bring to such moments.

By Tuesday, all the flakes were gone and the temps returned to the 50/60s.

Things to Make - Coffee Filter Snowflakes

Let's face it, cutting squares into circles is hard work. Why not just start with a circle? I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I owe all inspiration to the Artful Parent. The girls' snowflake cutting skills need improvement, but they loved painting everything. In the end, our snowflakes did not really resemble actual snowflakes, but we had a lot of fun and that's what matters.

HAPPY SOLSTICE EVERYONE!! I found a great article on historical solstice traditions (in several cultures) click here to check it out. And, of course, Wikipedia has a ton of great information on the solstice. Click here.

I don't know of any solstice celebrations in the DC area, but here are 4 fabulous light displays that you might want to check out:
1. Zoolights (National Zoo, Washington D.C.)- We went to this last week, it was crowded but the lights were quite lovely
2. The National Christmas Tree (Washington D.C.) - lots of "little" trees for all the states, plus a great model railroad exhibit
3. The Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens (Wheaton, MD) - I've never been to their light display, but I've heard it's amazing
4. Bull Run Festival of Lights (Centreville, VA) - We visited this light display over the weekend. T's fever kept us homebound for the most part, so I was really thankful for a "drive through" Christmas activity. If you do want to leave the car, admission includes entry into a winter carnival.