Tag: Holidays | Christmas
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cooking: christmas tamales
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for the first time in 38 years, there was something served in my house for christmas other than turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, green beans, boiled onions, and cranberry sauce.this year we went latin american, with hatch green chile tamales, two types of black beans, queso fresco, and white rice. beans and rice were pretty basic, but making the tamales was a bit of a challenge…
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christmas cartoon extravaganza
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this year, we didn’t get off our rear-end fast enough to do our annual christmas cartoon extravaganza, so we crashed someone elses party (thanks, petemma!) and brought the holiday specials with us. soooo much easier than actually doing something ourselves. -
sparklet’s christmas portraits
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at our holiday party tonight, sparklet found my camera (which is bigger than her head) and dragged it around to take pictures of the revelry. i have no idea how they came out so well, but i’m seriously thinking about letting her use it from now on.See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
sparklet’s christmas portraits -
the tree
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sparklet had a bit of a meltdown today, because we took down the christmas tree without her permission.she kept crying “my tree, my tree!” and was utterly inconsolable. so i did what any good father would do — i started quoting from eulogy scene for Tiny Tim from the muppet christmas carol:
It’s all right, children. Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it. I am sure that we shall never forget [our tree], or this first parting that there was among us.
father of the year.
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holiday cartoon extravanza
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If i have a “thing” over the holidays, it’s our annual holiday cartoon extravaganza.Each year we throw a party withe free food, free alcohol, and all the holiday specials you can stomach. In exchange, you just have to bring a plate of whatever Christmas treat you’re making for friends and family this year.
2011 is the fifth year that the lady sparkler and I have done it, but the tradition actually goes much, much farther back.
When I was at the college of William and Mary, the students of the theater department threw a party each year called “the grinch” — which ended the night with a showing of the dr. Seuss animated special during which you were expected to drink each time the word “who” was sung or said.
Every who down in whoville liked Christmas a lot.
But the grinch who lived just north of whoville did not.For the record, there are 39 uses of “who” but that ignores homonyms like “hoo” but also the songs and choruses, like:
Fah who for-aze, dah who dor-aze, welcome Christmas, Christmas day…
needless to say the winner was whomever was still standing after the first commercial, which was pretty much limited to the people who weren’t playing along.
Over the years, the format of our party has changed, but we’ve developed a couple rules:
- pick no special that lasts more than half an hour, and that includes rudolph which is remembered more fondly that it was ever experienced.
- pick no special based on the gifts of the magi, beit ernie selling his rubber ducky to buy Bert a box for his paper clip collection or emmitt otter’s jug band christmas –you will cry, and it kills the mood.
- the star wars holiday special isn’t so bad it’s good — it’s so bad it’s horrible, and it will clear the room.
and, we still close the night with the grinch in honor of our holiday party ancestors — long may their livers live.
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holiday card 2010
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dear friends,it’s been a crazy year, with hundreds of moments strung together into wonderful whole — and it was our friends and family that have bound the year together for us.
it’s you who’ve given us the framework for our joy and we want to say thanks before we get too far outside the window of sentimentality that the holiday season provides.
and so, may the very best of the season be with you this new year. may you experience in your life the joy, love and peace that you have brought to ours.
with much love,
tasha, evan and kate parkerSee Greeting Card on Pingg:
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’tis the season for cubicle decorations
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i love my co-workers.my team is the only group on our floor that’s decorated their cubes this year — and once again we’ve totally out done ourselves. the theme this year was “white trash” and i think i can safely say that
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anniversary
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it’s our second consecutive year celebrating our October wedding anniversary during the first week of December.so, we’ve now officially celebrated our anniversary in December more than we’ve celebrated it in October. we talked about just “moving” our anniversary to December, but i’m a little nervous that’d mean we wouldn’t actually celebrate it until February.
we had a late dinner at georgia brown’s (which made me realize i’ve was selling it short as “just a brunch place”) followed by drinks at the willard (we were cold, it was warm) and then dessert back in our neighborhood (the heights).
conversation was exactly what you’d expect — the baby we left at home, where we should go on vacation next year, TSA screening regulations, the desintigration of party unity on Capitol Hill, the rise of hyperpartisanship and it’s impact on the american psyche — you know, the usual stuff.
yup.
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
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first christmas, part 2
truth be told, we knew going into today that sparklet’s first christmas was going to be a little underwhelming for her — we’re still at the stage where the only thing about Christmas that captures her attention are the Christmas tree lights, and the tree’s been up for four weeks now.we got her a couple of small things centered around Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman, but this was definitely the calm before the storm … we slept in until 10 am, dawdled around with breakfast until noon, didn’t start unwrapping presents until 2 pm, and took our dear, sweet time. i’m pretty sure that’s the last time we’ll be able to say that.
if sparklet has a christmas of awe and wonder this year, i’m thinking it’s going to be when we go to see the Christmas lights display at the National Zoo. she’ll stare at our little tree for hours, so i can only imagine what will happen when she sees dozens of displays at two or three times the size.
Explore the Photo Set:
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first christmas, part 1
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make your own christmas television special, in five easy storylines
the lady sparkler and i are watching our way through our annual list of christmas specials, and as far as i can tell, there is a grand total of five unique storylines:- cute [animal/small child/old person/magician] is [sick/growing up too fast/angry], and [believes/is recently doubting/never believed in] Santa’s existence, and [protagonist] goes on a crazy caper which saves Christmas, and proves Santa is real in the process.
- [protagonist] is a [cute child/bumbling adult/cartoon character/muppet/angry hermit] who [finds out Santa is sick/finds out Santa is in trouble/accidentally injures Santa/un-does all of Santa’s work] and goes on a crazy caper involving a unique but belittled talent, which saves Christmas.
- [protagonist] is [home for Christmas/someone who never understood Christmas/haunted by three ghosts/a disgruntled relative of Santa or Rudolph/sent to an alternate world where he had never been born], and is driven by a dysfunctional but ultimately well meaning [self/family member/group of friends/unwitting arch-nemisis] to go on a crazy caper in order to save Christmas, and thereby remembering the meaning of Christmas in the process.
- [protagonist] is [looking for the perfect gift/concerned someone’s list didn’t make it to Santa], but doesn’t have any money, so he goes on a crazy caper where he [sells his favorite possession to get the money/earns the money through some crazy scheme/steals the present/builds the present from scratch] and even though the [attempt/gift exchange] is ultimately unsuccessful, he remembers the true meaning of Christmas and [Santa/intended gift recipient] saves the day.
- [protagonist] is disilusioned by the commercialization of Christmas when he [goes on a crazy caper/directs a school pageant, often with repetitive dance moves] and thereby remembers the true meaning of Christmas.
i’ve run through a list of 54 christmas specials and movies, and each one falls into at least one (if not more) of these five buckets. if i am missing a storyline, i can’t come up with it …
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first christmas tree
turns out, we might have been a little too eager to get a christmas tree this year.we started thinking through how we were going to fit one in the house back in October, and rearraged the furnature by mid-November. and then, come the first day after Thanksgiving, the lady spakler, baby sparklet and immediately jumped in the car and roared off in search of something tall, skinny and green.
finding a tree lot in DC is about like finding a gas station … they are around, everybody has their favorite, but you never can seem to find one when you are looking.
we started off looking in glover park, and the lot over there that we usually use still hadn’t opened for the season. we then drove out connecticut avenue to a stand i had last used in 2005 … only to find that the whole area had been plowed over and turned into a gas station.
by the time we crossed into maryland, we were feeling pretty good … because soon after we passed an SUV going in the opposite direction with a tree strapped to its roof like road kill.
and sure enough, after 15 minutes and trying two more “known” lot locations (from when i lived in bethesda, circa 1999) we finally found a lot that was open.
we bought the lot’s third tree of the season.
and, given how hard it was to find a christmas tree that was open, i’m guessing we bought the city’s third tree of the season as well. now we just have to dig out the hot chocolate maker, and we’re all set for the winter.
Explore the Photo Set:
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knitting and snowing
two signs of the coming apocalypse: it’s snowing at the beach, and i’ve learned how to knit.
the weather down this way has been crazy. in the last month, we’ve had just as many days above 60 as we had below freezing. it’s rained, it’s typhooned, it’s snowed, it’s blizzard-ed.
i wouldn’t be surprised to see dennis quaid snowshoe by, murmuring about having to save Jake Gyllenhaal (tho, to be frank, i would toss Jake back and focus my attention on saving Emmy Rossum).
i digress.
the lady sparkler and i are spending the long weekend on the coast of Delaware with Lighting Chick Knits, whose sister happens to have a house out here with a spectacular view of the sound (pictures of the view on facebook).
much as her blog would suggest, Lighting Chick Knits, well, knits. and, being the Renaissance man that i am, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add another tick to my “wide, not deep” resume of skills, probably best symbolized by my musical skills (guitar, bass, piano, violin, and harmonica) or my interest in foreign languages (russian, arabic, spanish) — all of which i can “do,” just none particularly well.
and so it is with knitting … i am neither exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. knitting fits nicely into my need for immediate gratification, but my skills are no where near the point they’d need to overcome my internal demand for perfection.
we’ll see. so far, i’ve made it through 20 rows of a scarf, which is just enough to make smallishly-sized bookmark … which seems like a just reward for annihilating the last remaining shred of my masculinity.
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happy new year
so, it’s officially January now, and the lady sparker and i have yet to send out our (mostly) annual holiday card.
it’s funny. thanksgiving snuck up on us this year, as did christmas and now new year’s. i guess it’s only fitting that sending out the card snuck up on us as well.
so, it’s going out this weekend, but just in case yours gets caught up in some super aggressive spam filter, you can view the card online right now.
as for timing, we’ll do better next year … i *promise.*
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Photos: Christmas in Williamsburg, Virginia
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Photos: Christmas in Washington, DC
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a (mostly) friendly Christmas competition
working in online fundraising, the fact that the end of the year is coinciding with the complete and utter collapse of our economy is casting a bit of a pall on what would otherwise be a festive time of the year.
this minor set back (alone) could have be taken in stride … but, when our philanthropy department neighboors started getting all up in our grill about how they were going to out “festive” us for the holidays, it was game on.
i mean, we can handle trying to compensate for the decline of western civilization, but to be called out for decorating supremacy was just a bridge to far.
we responded to this tyranny with resolve. we raided our collective attics, mobilizing all sorts of lights, ornaments, bows and garlands towards the decorating war effort (photos of the mobilization above).
but, in the end, it was over before it really even began … and philanthropy surrendered before we had the chance to get much past the “shock and awe” stage:
ok ok, you guys win this one. you really went above and beyond. I apologize for the trash talk and concede the title to you guys.
i’m a tiny bit sad they caved so quickly, because we had one more salvo of decorations we could have deployed had we needed the reserves to secure our merriment objectives.
i love the smell of trash talk in the morning.
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the most wonderful time of the year
well, the season has officially begun … the season of Christmas programming.we actually kicked it off over thanksgiving when special host jojo-pumpkin helped the lady sparkler and i toss out the ceremonial first “charlie brown christmas.”
we go into each year with a list of 60+ movies, cartoons and holiday specials to watch, and we are usually pretty happy if we make it through a third of them. this year sorta snuck up on us, so i’m thinking i’ll be happy if we get through even a quarter.
anyone up for a little, healthy christmas special-watching competition?
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musings: christmas wishes
as new year’s eve 2007 draws neigh, it would be a considerable understatement to say this year has been simply eventful. we have a new home, a few weeks in central america, and that whole wedding thing under our belts … and It has been our friends and family who’ve kept us sane in what has been a wonderfully crazy year.it’s easy for us trace our current state of happiness to the fabulous people who surround us, and so we want to take what time is left in 2007 to say thank you. with that in mind, may the very best of the season be with you this holiday, and may you experience in your life the joy, love and peace that you have brought to ours.
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musings: a tale of twenty-two parties
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Ah, ’tis the season of love, joy, and parties. This year, we have two work parties each, two more parties at our house, a couple trips to the theater, and about half a dozen happy hours between us.
Not that I am complaining, but I actually had to stop commuting to work via bicycle in mid-December, because we have something just about every day after work for the last two weeks before Christmas. Thank God we finished up our Christmas shopping in late November, or a lot of people would be getting a whole-lotta nothing.
The highlight so far — for us, at least — was the Christmas Cartoon Extravaganza. Each year we collect as many television Christmas specials as we can, and throw a party where they are playing in the background. Our place is a bit small, but we managed to cram in twelve people to watch three and a half hours of pure animated Christmas goodness, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty Returns, Robbie the Reindeer, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends christmas special, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
I think this is only the second or third time the lady sparkler and I have thrown the Extravaganza, but I have done something similar on and off for the last decade. I wish I could take credit for the notion, but the idea originally came from a Theatre Department tradition at the College of William and Mary where people gathered each year and managed to turn How the Grinch Stole Christmas into a drinking game.
The basic premise of the College version was to drink each time you hear the word “Who” — as in “All the Who’s down in Whoville” and “Cindy Lou Who who was no more than two.” As you can imagine, the “winner” was essentially declared by the first commercial break by looking around at whomever was still standing.
Fortunately, the thirty-something version entailed just sitting on the couch and thinking warm thoughts of friends and family, though we did “go crazy” by slipping some peppermint schnapps into the cocoa.
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home: christmas expedition
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IMG_7551, uploaded by [ecpark].the elementary school next door has a christmas tree sale every year, but some strange reason it’s not until the second week of december. (who waits that long?!?) as you can imagine, being genetically unable to wait for pretty much anything, the lady sparkler and i decided to head out of our hamlet and forage for a tree.
we passed through the seven levels of the rock creek forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and to a magical place called “north Georgetown.” we found a small, Christmas forest of pre-cut trees located at the corner of “Wisconsin” and “Calvert.” a kindly old man with a chain saw assisted us with the finest of skinny trees, and strapped it on to our late-model, german engineered sleigh.
there is nothing quite like a city christmas.
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musings: christmas extravaganza
it’s the weekend after thanksgiving, which means it’s the official start of the “get-evan-prepped-for-christmas” season. you laugh, but i have found that after 30+ years of christmases (christmi? christmasuses?) i have developed a pre-christmas routine that boarders on obsessive.
first, we have the music. i’m currently sitting on 600+ christmas songs (from 30+ christmas albums) which means i can listen non-stop for about a day and a half without repeating the same version of a song. my itunes currently features 18 versions of silent night (my favorite is a classical russian folk recording) and if you ever want to have a conversation about the definitive recording of “o holy night” then i am your man (my vote is for the new orleans benefit version featured on studio 60 last year).
but mostly, we have the movies. and television. and cartoons. it all started about a decade ago when i noticed that the more christmas “stuff” i watched, the more likely i was to have a good christmas. this has now officially spiraled out of control, and has resulted in me watching about 20 dvds worth of goodies each holiday during November and December. actually, i have taken to throwing a “christmas cartoon extravaganza” each year to help spread the love (or share the burden, as it were).
my checklist for this year has 50+ items on it. while i certainly won’t get through more than about half of what you see here, i’ve documented the whole list so i don’t have to keep recreating it every year. if by some strange miracle i have forgotten something worth seeing, please mock my omission in the comments.
Best Christmas Cartoons & Best Christmas Specials
this selction include christmas cartoons (rankin-bass!) and several live action specials including various muppets. also included are television show episodes worth re-watching during the holidays, especially aaron sorkin productions (who has a knack for christmas that i wish he could spin into the other 364 days of his work each year).
A Charlie Brown Christmas 
A Chipmunk Christmas A Special Sesame Street Christmas Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (“Christmas Special”) Frosty Returns Frosty the Snowman Frosty’s Winter Wonderland Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn’t Happen How the Grinch Stole Christmas It’s Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together Little Drummer Boy M*A*S*H (“Death Takes a Holiday”) Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey Olive, the Other Reindeer Pee-wee’s Playhouse (“Christmas Special”) Robbie the Reindeer Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Rudolph’s Shiny New Year Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (“The Christmas Show”) ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas The Life And Adventures Of Santa Claus The West Wing (“In Excelsis Deo”) The West Wing (“Noël”) The West Wing (“Holy Night”) The Year Without a Santa Claus Best Christmas Movies
some are good (miracle on 34th), some are bad (santa conquers the martians) but anything is fair game (die hard) if it happens at christmas.
About a Boy A Christmas Carol A Christmas Story Bad Santa Christmas in Connecticut Christmas Vacation (National Lampoon’s) Christmas with the Kranks Die Hard Die Hard 2: Die Harder Elf Ernest Saves Christmas Holiday Inn Home Alone It’s a Wonderful Life Love Actually Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Miracle on 34th Street (1994) Prancer Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Santa vs. Snowman Saturday Night Live Christmas Scrooge Scrooged The Muppet Christmas Carol The Nightmare Before Christmas The Polar Express The Ref The Santa Clause The Santa Clause 2 Trapped in Paradise White Christmas again, if i have forgotten something worth seeing, please share.
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Photos: Tacky Light Tour, Richmond, Virginia
Each and every year, we make one pilgramage (at least) to the best in neighborhood Christmas light displays. To spice things up, this year we change from going to a neighborhood off Todd’s Lane in Hampton, to houses participating in the Tacky Light Tour in Richmond.I had no idea this existed until I watched a Christmas special about it on TLC (or A&E). I’m not sure I am ready to give up Todd’s Lane, but it was great mixing it up with new material this year.
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Photos: Christmas Decorations, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
Originally uploaded by evancparker.
Originally uploaded by evancparker.Christmas in Williamsburg, and it’s time for the obligatory walk around the historic area (Colonial Williamsburg) looking at the Christmas decorations. For the first time since high school, though, we added the decidedly un-Colonial (but still spectacular) tree lighting on Christmas Eve.Explore the Photo Set:
Colonial Williamsburg Tree Lighting, VirginiaExplore the Photo Set:
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Photos: Christmas Lights, Washington, DC
Originally uploaded by evancparker.I have one empty weekend between Thanksgiving and New Years this holiday season, and I took the Saturday night to wander around the staples of Christmas in DC: the Capitol Christmas tree, the train display at the U.S. Botanical Garden and the ice skating rink in the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden.I am sure I should be out shopping, or home throwing a Christmas party, but it doesn’t look like either are going to happen this year. Perhaps it’s for the best.
Explore the Photo Set:
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Photos: Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg
IMG_2110.CR2, Originally uploaded by evancparker.The family walked around Colonial Williamsburg this afternoon. Collin and I traded shots on my camera and got some great shots between the two of us. It’s something we hadn’t done together since I was in high school. I had forgotten how much fun it it.
Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg
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Photos: Christmas Lights
IMG_2171.CR2, Originally uploaded by evancparker.Yet another iteration of the beauty that is my father’s and my Christmas decorating. This year was as extravigant as ever, and is the first year where it is (mostly) documented on film.
Christmas Lights
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Photos: Christmas off Hampton’s Todd’s Lane
IMG_2035.CR2, Originally uploaded by evancparker.Each year a neighborhood off Todd’s Lane in Hampton, Virginia, goes crazy with the Christmas lights and decoration. The houses that were decorated were just as elaborate as usual, though there did seem to be a couple fewer houses decorated this time around. Still well worth the trip.
Christmas off Hampton’s Todd’s Lane
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Photos: Christmas Tree Farm
IMG_1725.CR2, Originally uploaded by evancparker.Christmas Tree Farm
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Photos: National Mall
021_22A, originally uploaded by evancparker.Made the rounds of the lights on the National Mall in DC. Stopped by the National Gallery of Art’s skating rink, as well as the Christmas trees at the White House and Capitol.
Christmas on the National Mall:
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Flashback: First Pictures Together
Looking back, this appears to be the earliest known pictures of The Lady Sparkler and I. While we didn’t start dating until May 2004, we first met at a Christmas Party for work the previous December.Actually, it turns out that had known each other since 2002. She was the press person for Campaign for America’s Future, and I was her web contact at the Carol | Trevelyan Strategy Group. We never actually met in person, but we worked together via phone and email on and off for over two years.
The funny things is I just assumed that she was 45, married, with at least two or three children. Turns out that wasn’t actually the case.
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![[Grant Poppa Roberts, Williamsburg, Virginia]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/5293494701_d2da81c1b8.jpg)
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![[Alexandria Christmas Parade, Alexandria, Virginia.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/3626666863_1db0d0382b.jpg)
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![[Jackson at his Grandparents House, Williamsburg, Virginia]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2005/12/76752565_c2c69f6d32.jpg)
![[Christmas Tree 2005 at Home in Arlington, Virginia]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2005/12/75760698_9e26ffd54c.jpg)
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for the first time for either kid, while we were eating dinner in the zoo’s snack bar, he just walked right out the front door — looking for mommy, who had taken sparklet to the bathroom about five minute earlier.
fortunately, the dad of a family who was sitting near the door saw him wander out and assumed that something wasn’t quite right.
but it’s officially the end of the innocence for the parker family.