Marie Comes To Visit

Tom's sister Marie drove from NJ for a short weekend visit and we kicked off Friday evening with a quick drive to National Harbor to see ICE!  The whole harbor is beautiful with all the lights and activities but we headed to the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center which is decorated magnificently for the holiday.

 We came for the ICE! show which is in a large tent just outside the hotel.  This is an annual event and this year's theme was:

We were issued these cozy coats as it is 9 degrees inside the tent and I can tell you my hands were achingly cold by the time we came out maybe 30 minutes or less later.

 I don't know what I expected but it was all more intricate than I could imagine.  Couldn't fathom working in that space for long periods of time but here's a link that talks about the artists.

There were these cool (literally) slides that the kids were having a blast on so Tom and I felt compelled to give it a whirl.  With our blue mega-parkas tucked strategically behind our butts, it made for a speedy ride down the ice!

 It was very tempting to not touch the ice though we had been warned not to…..I had visions of A CHRISTMAS STORY and not being able to remove my hand so I heeded the wisdom of the employees and kept my hands to myself.

 After the Night Before Christmas carvings there was also a room with a salute to NYC and then the gorgeous nativity all made of crystal ice.

Because I couldn't maneuver my camera with my gloves on I had them off the whole time we were in there and seriously, as my fingers thawed out (it was an unseasonably warm 65 degrees outside!) they hurt like heck.  Can't imagine what frostbite must feel like!

Strolled back through the hotel to get to our car and enjoyed some more of the gorgeousness of it all!

 

I had spent some time the last week going through recipes and had pulled out a few I wanted to try as I am attempting to dump some that I've held onto for years.  I know you're never supposed to try out new recipes on guests but I always do it anyway.  So it was a Mushroom Leek Bread Pudding with Gruyere Cheese.  Our consensus was….it was okay; really just a glorified stuffing so it went in the trash (the recipe) but we still enjoyed the dinner.

 Marie had brought some items from the Italian Market in NJ to make meatballs, sausage and sauce but we needed some additions along with a few things she needed from Costco.  Tom and I had accidentally run into this flea market one weekend but it was almost closed up so we stopped again on this Saturday morning to check it out as we started out for errands running.

I won't go into the misery of trying to maneuver DC traffic on the Saturday before Christmas but it's a good thing I didn't have this knife in my hand during the hours it took us to make two stops!

 Marie and I spent the rest of the afternoon making homemade meatballs, sauce and sweet and hot Italian meatballs to have for dinner later in the evening.  I was hoping we could get out and see some more things but Marie was just getting over a bad sinus infection and really just needed to crash so instead we settled in after our yummy dinner and watched White Christmas.

 Sunday morning was still warm but drizzly, so after church we took a walk over to Eastern Market where Marie bought this beautiful scarf (she bought me one too!) before we jumped back in the car to do a quick tour of the city.

The scaffolding continues to come down….

View of The White House from the steps of The Jefferson Memorial

The tidal basin from The Jefferson

 We finished off the tour with a drive through our old neighborhood and a stop at Tom's office before heading back so Marie could be on the road by 1pm.  A quick trip but we can squeeze plenty into a weekend!