Tailgates and Tanlines: Christmas Festivities

This December (well this whole year really) seemed to fly by. I had so many things I wanted to do this holiday season, but it seemed like we just never had as mch time or money as we needed. So I've already started planning everything we want to do for next year, but we did manage to squeeze a few things in there for the 2012 holiday season. Last weekend, we drove to Manassas for the Bull Run Festival of Lights, a drive-through light experience. Unfortunately, you can't stop during the drive so I wasn't really able to get as many pictures as I would've liked; the shutter speed just wasn't fast enough. There was a walking festival of lights that we were hoping to do yesterday, but it was so windy that they had a wind advisory all day, so the idea of walking a half mile in 40 degree wind at 7pm just wasn't something we were looking forward to! We decided to reschedule for Christmas Eve, but with a 70% chance of rain all day, it looks like we may be going next year instead. That's okay, now that we know about it, we can plan better! But a couple pictures came out decent from the drive-through lights, so I included those below.

A couple of weeks ago, I was driving through one of the nearby shopping centers on a cold and rainy day to grab some frozen yogurt and do a little window shopping while Josh was spending the day helping his dad out, and I happened to see a horse-drawn carriage ride go by. I asked the people running it if they were going to be back, and they said between 12 and 4pm on December 23. So I decided to surprise Josh by bringing him by on the 23rd! He's been super intrigued for the past couple of weeks as to what I could possibly be planning, so I was really excited about his reaction. It was just a quick 15-minute ride around the area, but he loved it! Or at least he's a really good liar if he didn't ;). And the weather ended up being perfect! He's lucky enough to get the day off tomorrow, with the President closing the government at the last minute. I COULD have the day off, but I don't want to use any paid time off so I figured I'd go in. It'll be really slow I'm sure, hopefully the day doesn't drag! We're planning an evening of Christmas movies and cuddling on the couch while opening gifts, should be a great Christmas Eve. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday as well!