My family decided to get together the first week in January to celebrate the holidays. It’s a nice choice since flights are less expensive and it frees up the holiday for each smaller family to do their own thing/make their own traditions/etc.
The original plan was to visit my brother in Pensacola, so SMS and I planned a trip to Seaside. A few years ago, we took a Southern road trip, which included a few days on the Florida panhandle. We had lunch in Seaside and thought it was so pretty. We had wanted to come back and this was the perfect opportunity.
We had a relaxing few days. The pictures above are from the beach on NYE. We walked around the town and on the beach, biked, ate at different restaurants, and just generally lazed around. I usually plan very on-the-go vacations, but this time, we stayed in the same place for three days. We didn’t even use our car apart from going to and from the airport.
The original plan had been to spend time at my brother’s place, but plans switched and we met in DC instead. My brothers stayed at my sister and BIL’s house, while SMS and I stayed in the city near my parents.
SMS and I mostly spent the late afternoons and evening with my family. We had a White Elephant and kids gifts on the second night, which melted one of my nephew’s mind since he had thought it would be the first night. He was understandably, very impatient. Remember how as a kid when things would feel like forever? Yes, that happened to him. It was all forgiven the next night though, when the kids tore through the presents. I realize that a lot of the fun is just opening wrapped presents to see what’s inside so I think in the future, I’ll take a page from my other brother’s book and just wrap up things from around the house.
We went to the zoo with the kids, which was a lot of fun. The animals were very active! We even saw the leopard walking around, which is unusual since they are usually napping.
SMS and I also went to National Cemetery, where we saw the gravesite of his great-grandfather, who was in a high-altitude plane over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 during the bombing. There was no ordinance on the plane so there was nothing they could do. The story has been a little lost to time, but that’s the outline that SMS remembers.
Speaking of SMS, he was an excellent Lego and dinosaur assembler. I felt that he was either a special projects manager or a new intern with three tyrannical bosses. It was hard to tell.
We went to the American History Museum with the kids, where there is a really nice interactive area for kids. We walked along on the Mall for a bit and ended up in the Sculpture Garden. It’s one of my favorite places in DC. Until recently, I hadn’t known about the Chagall mural stuck in the back corner. It used to be in the backyard of a Georgetown brownstone. Can you imagine having that casually displayed in your backyard?!
There’s a woman in our town who is a sculptor and there are all sorts of things in her yard. I do not care for it, but I sometimes wonder if it’s all going to be worth a bazillion dollars someday and I’m going to feel terrible for not caring about it more when it was here local. Maybe that’s how the person with the Chagall felt!
What a lovely Christmas in January. I’m glad you enjoyed your time with family!
Thanks NGS! There is a fine line between treasure and hoarding and I think the latter is more common but who’s to know!?!
What a lovely belated Christmas getaway.
It was great!
Wow, that looks like a perfect Christmas, how wise to celebrate when things have settled down a bit. I was in DC in 2019 and I guess I walked right past that garden and didn’t even see it. There is SO MUCH to see in DC, and I’ve only ever been for a couple of days at a time. I think it would be cool to stay for at least a week sometime.
I strongly recommend a longer trip to DC. I lived there through high school and medical school and love it! The museums are world-class and free! Which is great for when you want to see an exhibit or two and then leave without feeling like you wasted $25-$30. It is so much fun to bike to different monuments around the mall and tidal basin. I love Penn Quarter. While I can’t get over that 14th St and the Wharf are now nice neighborhoods (what!?!?), they have great restaurants and music venues. Finally, the Kennedy Center has great shows, as well as Arena stage.