Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007. To me this photo was classic Mattie. Naturally it was around the holiday season and Mattie had his Santa hat on. But he did not stop there, he had his Red Sox hat under the Santa hat and also pulled out his duck whistle that he got earlier in the year when he went on a duck boat ride for Father's Day. Check out the shoes too! On his right foot he was wearing his OWN shoe, but on his left foot, he put on one of Peter's shoes. It was the eclectic  photo!






Quote of the day: At least three times every day take a moment and ask yourself: What is really important? Have the wisdom and the courage to build your life around your answer. ~ Lee Jampolsky


Tonight Peter and I went to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. I thought it would be nice to see Christmas lights and that would help us transition into the holidays. The last time we went to a similar light display (at Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring, MD) we had Mattie in tow. 

Of course I never imagined that when we went tonight (during the week), that we would be inundated with tiny children and families. In fact, we were so overwhelmed by this that we practically did not see the light display. All I know is though there were about one million lights in front of us, something seemed like it was missing.... and of course that was Mattie. So I am not sure I would go back to this event again.

After leaving the gardens we went out to dinner. Thinking we would have some quiet and peace at Clyde's of Tysons. Of course it did not dawn on me that it is Christmas party season. The restaurant had six BIG parties taking place tonight. In spite of the chaos and liveliness inside, Becca (the executive chef, and the phenomenal person who donates and cooks the food at our Foundation Walk) came out to visit with us and we chatted for a while. Becca was the highlight of our day, and it was good to see a friendly face after how we were feeling. 

Here are some photos of the lights we saw on display. As you can see this is NO ordinary light show. The beauty of it is you park your car and walk through this garden winter wonderland.

The lights are very thematic. There was a butterfly garden, a garden filled with flowers, a stream with fish jumping out of it, and the list goes on. 

Here is the stream with the jumping fish!

Naturally the butterfly garden caught our attention and Peter snapped this photo of me since butterflies remind me of Mattie. 

There were dragonfly lights twinkling in the trees and that too was magical and something Mattie would have loved. 

At the end of the walk, there is a fire pit where families were given long sticks and marshmallows to roast. This would have definitely been a Mattie stop, because unlike me, he loved marshmallows!



Here is a video of the garden lights from 2012 that I found on-line, however, this year's display looks VERY SIMILAR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDM_dPeTvHY