EVERYONE has been telling me that I have to go see Bruce Munro's Light installation at the Hermitage Museum and Gardens, and finally, the day after Thanksgiving, we listened and went.

Light is magical -- there's no other word for it. A field of floating colored globes takes up a huge field in front of the Arts and Crafts mansion, spreading out like wildflowers, the lights changing hues slowly from green to orange to purple. A ring of neon towers shine from between the trees like standing stones from another world. Inside the Hermitage, delicate teardrops hang from the intricate ceilings, casting swaying shadows on the paneled wood. Reading about artist Munro's vision for each piece, and how he and his team brought it about, was a treat, a full look inside a concept from beginning to end.

Anouk and her friend T. loved it. Even though they were bundled up in their strollers against the cold with coats and hats and blankets, they took in everything. We all especially enjoyed getting to roam the Hermitage at night -- to see it lit up so dimly was kind of spookily awesome.  The exhibition was tailored specifically for the Hermitage to highlight its spaces and gardens, and the moving, living lights made us notice details that we hadn't really seen before. (We adults were also big fans of the bar set up on the edge of the property -- festive hot toddys FTW!)

Admission was steep -- $15 per adult and $12 per child under 6, but worth it. The Hermitage is a special place at any time of year, but with the ethereal lights everywhere, it was even more so. We highly recommend a visit before Jan. 10 -- the day when Light leaves! It's the perfect way to celebrate a season marked by darkness and experience a new way of seeing an old familiar favorite place.

Yesterday we headed to the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center to see the man with the bag...AKA Santa Claus! Every Sunday in December, the aquarium puts on two Claus-related programs for the wee ones and since we already have the membership, we decided we really couldn't miss this one. We met up with friends to put our lists in bright and early (better chance of getting what we want that way, right?)

We started by visiting SCUBA Santa in the Chesapeake Bay Aquarium. At 11:15 on the dot, Santa came swimming up amongst the fishes in full regalia: long white beard and red suit, hat and all. Swarms of bubbles came up as he swam around and demonstrated how his tank worked for the little ones while an aquarium volunteer spoke about the basics of SCUBA diving. At the end of the show, he nicely posed for photos with each individual kid (and there were a lot of them -- the room was packed full. Plan on getting there early to get a good seat.)



After Santa waved an underwater goodbye, we explored the Chesapeake Bay wing and spent some time at the touch pools and then headed over to the Marsh Pavilion (the aquarium's second building) to see the man in red all dried off. While we waited in line for the chance to sit on Santa's lap, we took advantage of the nearby ornament crafting tables (where we made some paper Seuss-fish and beaded candy canes). And then it was Anne and her friend A.'s turn to get their photos taken. Both kids had a little bit of a hard time with the concept -- Anouk didn't cry like last year but she did turn stony silent and refuse to say a word at all to Mr. Claus (besides a resounding NO when he asked if she would sit on his lap). So I climbed up, too, and you can bet I gave Santa a long list of all the goodies on my wishlist even if Anouk wouldn't.

This was our favorite Christmas experience around town yet -- nicely done, and one of the reasons why we think a membership to the Virginia Aquarium is one of the best deals in town. Be sure to check the aquarium's calendar of events for more info on other upcoming holiday programs (including breakfast with Santa, a sailing trip with Santa, and a Polar Express pajama day).

On the first day of December, my true love gave to me -- a mini-road trip out to Back Bay to cut down our own Christmas tree! Specifically, we headed for Bright's Christmas Tree Farm, which is pretty much an evergreen-lover's paradise. The weather was unseasonably warm (we didn't even need coats) but the smell of pine in the air was enough to make up for that and things felt all exciting and extra-Christmas-y.

Turns out picking a Christmas tree is pretty complicated, especially when you're two. And your parents keep telling you to pick a BIG Christmas tree -- all of them look pretty big when you're just about three feet tall. Anouk fell deeply in love with a few Charlie Brown trees and threw her arms around their scraggly little bodies and did not want to let them go.

After some quick talking, we were able to persuade her that a nice 6-foot white pine was more the way to go. We alerted the Brights that we were ready to cut by waving a huge bendy white stick in the air until they found us in the sea of trees. This might have been the best part -- we all took turns waving it. The tree was cut and loaded on the top of our car, and then we took him (Anouk says it's definitely a boy) home and set him up in our living room, which is now the best-smelling place on earth.

Bright's is open Saturday and Sunday, from 8 to 5, and has all sorts of wreaths, garlands, ciders, jams and jellies besides their trees ($6 per foot for long needles and $8 per foot for short-needle varieties). It's a hike if you're coming from Norfolk or the peninsula, but worth the drive if you can make it. I promise.

Have you put up your Christmas tree yet?

All year long, as my sewing skills matured, I've been pinning more and more elaborate DIY advent calendars that I planned to recreate. But of course procrastination got in the way, and here it is, mid-November, and I haven't started on one. Usually procrastination doesn't pay, but in this case, it did, because I'm in love with the advent calendar we ended up with, featuring Christmas (and Hannukah, and Solstice)-themed picture books, 25 in all.

I scouted these books over the past few months from various thrift stores and used-book shops. (All in all, for a total of 24 books, I would estimate that I spent roughly $12). I wrapped each book individually in Trader Joe's bags, tied some with bakers twine, stamped others, labeled each with a number decal, and put them all together in a basket. Come December 1, Nou will have one to open every night, and James and I will read it to her before bed. By Christmas, she'll have a whole collection, and after Christmas, they'll all go back in the attic to wait for next year (prewrapped, to cut down on prep time). As she gets older, we can replace some of the more toddler-appropriate books with books for big kids or even chapter books and YA.



The winter holiday season is definitely already heavy on the sugar and material goods, so it meant a lot to me to be able to find a way to offer Anouk a holiday treat that was fun without being unhealthy, and also offered us a way to spend time together as a family. Anne has already been poking around the book basket, asking, "Mama, WHEN can I open them?" The anticipation builds. I can't wait for December, and our first holiday season with our big girl. :)

For a complete list of all the books we used in this project, click here or visit the tab at the top of the page.

What are your favorite holiday reads? For grownups, too? For some reason I always think of Gone With the Wind as a Christmas book, not sure why. It's definitely the opposite of heartwarming.

Birthday season is officially upon us, which means that lately, A. and I have been wrapping lots of gifts for friends of all ages. I've mentioned before that Anne isn't the craftiest kid, but something she's always up for is making some DIY wrapping paper to use for our presents. It might be because it's always more fun to make something for someone, it might be because it's a really free-form, unrestricted activity -- there really are no limits, no rules.

I used to buy a lot of gift-wrapping stuff, and dedicated a good amount of space in our tiny apartment to wrapping paper, gift bags, boxes, and bows, which was all pretty bad for the environment. But these days my wrapping paper stash takes up approximately 1% of what it used to. A roll of (recyclable, compostable) craft paper, some dot markers, and a couple of stamps are all we need. The results are always festive, if not professionally perfect. It feels nice to give our gifts a personal touch and to know we're not creating a lot of extra waste.

A couple of our favorite finds are the to/from stamp we bought from Etsy to use in place of tags, and rolls of colorful baker's twine to add a little pizzazz to our designs. Do you create your own wrapping paper or cards? What are some of the supplies you use?



Have a happy weekend, all! And happy birthday to all the birthday boys and girls we've celebrated with recently. :)

We celebrated Easter with my extended family by going out to brunch at the historic Chamberlin Hotel -- a whole crowd of us, 22 people in all. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, the works. People you love + good food + chocolate bunnies and jellybeans for all = what's not to get excited about?

The Chamberlin is located on the grounds of Fort Monroe, in Hampton. Because the base was decommissioned in 2011, after we ate, we were able to walk around and explore everything. James, Anne and I set off down the seawall to Overlook Beach and took in the sights: the old fort, which replaced an earlier one built in 1609, the Civil War-era barracks and batteries surrounded by an imposing moat, and the tons of beautiful historic houses. Since the base is being partially reclassified for residential use, some of these old mansions are actually for sale! We spent a long time picking out our favorites -- I eventually chose one with sleek white columns for my dream house. I think I could even handle having to drive over the bridge-tunnel all the time if it meant I could live there.


But the most exciting part of the day by far was getting the chance to see a panoramic view of the base and bay. During brunch, I asked our maitre'd if there was a place I could go outside to take photos, and she kindly offered to take us up to the top of the hotel where we could see everything -- almost the entirety of the giant stone fort, most of Old Point Comfort, and across the bay to Fort Wool and Rip Raps just offshore. So much history in one glance! It was amazing.


All in all, it was a very special day and a holiday to remember forever. We're planning to go back to Fort Monroe when the weather is nicer to visit the Casemate Museum and see a little bit more of the grounds. And James really wants to take his kayak over to Fort Wool (I think I'll wait for the boat tour).

Happy Easter to you, if you celebrated! And if not, hope you had a happy weekend.

With all of the gardening prep going on at our house lately, Anne has started to get very interested in plants and seedlings. I thought we should try to grow something, to give her a sense of the process. It's still a little early to start our seedlings for our garden, and besides, I wanted something a little more toddler friendly (i.e., able to be touched/experienced/loved on without too much damage), so I searched for another plant that would make a good project.

We decided to grow wheatgrass. It's the perfect plant for kids. It's hardy, it doesn't ask for much, and it grows so quickly that sometimes I feel like I can see it growing, which means that it offers pretty quick results, nice when you're dealing with toddler-sized attention spans. Not to mention that it will make a perfect Easter centerpiece, and we won't have to use that crinkly cellophane grass that makes the cats throw up. We could even harvest it for wheatgrass juice once it's full grown, if we were so inclined (I'm not -- whatever the health benefits might be: YUCK.)

Here is how we grew our wheatgrass. First, we ordered some seed online (Todd's Seeds offers inexpensive, organic products, so that's where we got ours). Once it arrived, we sprouted the seeds for a day in a jar of water that we changed every eight hours or so. Then we filled a small pot with a layer of rocks (for drainage -- if your container has drainage holes, you don't need to do this). Added some pre-moistened potting soil, scattered the sprouted seeds in a thick layer on top (so that almost no soil was showing), and covered the whole thing with a damp paper towel. And waited.

Within two days, our sprouts were an inch high, so we took the paper towel off and moved them to the light. Wheatgrass doesn't like direct sunlight, so we keep our pot on the radiator cover in the kitchen, just under the window. We've been watering our seeds twice a day with a plant mister and they've been growing like crazy.


Anouk thought the little seeds were babies, and she calls her grass her "baby grass." Several times a day we take the pot down and check to see how it's grown, check the soil, and give it a nice stroke. The other day I caught her trying to brush the grass with a tiny Barbie brush, and that was my cue to move it to higher ground. :)

Here's the Woody Guthrie song that this post title comes from, btw -- so simple that it shouldn't be a favorite but it is. Have you ever grown anything with your kids? What did they think?