...bowling at THE White House...

One of the most exclusive bowling alleys in America is the Harry S. Truman Bowling Alley aka as The White House Bowling Alley which originally was a one-lane bowling alley in the basement of the White House under the North Portico. The bowling alley was first built in 1947 in the West Wing as a birthday gift for President Truman but he wasn’t fond of bowling himself so he allowed his staff to use the facility and even start a league. Later in 1969, President and Mrs. Nixon, who were both enthusiastic bowlers, had a new one-lane alley built in an underground workspace area. At some point (the sign reads established 1955), the bowling alley was moved and renovated in the basement of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building which is on the White House compound.

With my university being so close to The White House, I actually have a close friend/ colleague who works within the West Wing. She has been in the room with the president and our first lady and I’m not writing this in a nonchalant way at all. It’s pretty amazing. 

SO, when she sent me a text asking if I wanted to go bowling IN THE WHITE HOUSE, I said YES before I even knew that it was on a Sunday night right before I had a morning meeting (read that as a looonnnnggg commute!) When I asked my fella if he wanted to go bowling (pause), he looked at me (end pause) IN THE WHITE HOUSE, he looked even more puzzled but quickly sad YES as if time would somehow erase this amazing opportunity. We filled out our background check information and we booked a hotel on my university’s campus. We were set.

That night, we met members of the group for dinner and then headed bowling. We were super fortunate to have the receptionist of the United States aka the ROTUS, a play on POTUS – president of the United States, accompanying us.  After a fun evening of bowling, we were given a tour of the Eisenhower Executive Office. 

While there were many beautiful rooms such as this one on the left which includes a historic flag (the 48-star flag of the United States from 1912-1959), I snapped this picture (on the right) because it included bats :p I tried to do a little research to see what the event was but I only fell down a rabbi hole of haunted places.

... new Christmas Eve tradition & Catching Santa!...

I have a few Christmas Eve traditions. For starters, I go to Christmas Eve Mass with my father. For the past several years, my fella has joined us although he isn't Catholic. He loves when I'm happy and I'm probably most happy at Christmas... plus, I really, really, really enjoy that there is incense in the Church during Christmas. Everything looks beautiful and with the incense, everything smells great too. 

On Christmas Eve night, my fella asked if we could sleep on the sofa so that we could fall asleep watching the tree and be ready to catch Santa. We've been trying to establish our own *Family* traditions. In a world where folks expect us to have kids, not everyone treats us like the family even though we are. When my fella decided that we should sleep on the sofa, I thought it was a great idea. We have a large L-shaped sofa that is incredibly comfortable and it's cool downstairs. Yeah, did I mention that it's been in the mid to high 70s. We went to bed with our heads touching and our bodies extending toward either end. I listened to Neil Gaiman’s reading of “A Christmas Carol” before my eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep.My fella hit the pillow and was out. So much for catching Jolly Ol' Saint Nick!

The next morning when we woke up on the sofa, my fella whispered, "Santa peeped in but saw that we were content and happy, and that we didn't need anything so he went on to other houses." I think my little black heart just grew three times larger.

My fella said Clive couldn't see so he had to sit on his head to watch the Hallmark movie

...partying like it's 1893...

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. While our Christmas was a bit hectic traveling around town and visiting with family, Christmasing together this season has been our respite! Even when our lives are hectic with work, we're still finding time to spend together. 

In this post, I'm going to go back in time a bit to share some of our adventures. This event actually took us back in time 122 years!

On Friday, December 18^th my fella and I attended one of Maymont’s Victorian Holidays events-- Maymont by Moonlight. As I noted in my “yester gothidays... how the Victorians Christmased...” post, Maymont is a 100-acre Victorian estate that was left to the people of Richmond. 

Our evening began on a cold evening. It’s hard to even remember that because the days before and the days after have been in the 70s. I'm writing this while in shorts with the air conditioner on (mostly for the humidity). It’s been a rather warm Christmas season. 

That one evening, we dipped into the 40s and were actually wearing coats and gloves! The evening began at the historic estate entrance. There we were greeted and then escorted to horse-drawn carriages that carried us under a starry evening down a path with lanterns to a bonfire where carolers were dressed in period clothing. 

 

If this reads like an advertisement, it actually is what they promised; and, it all came to fruition. It was the perfect evening for a ride which led us to a bonfire where we would then walk to the Maymont Mansion to begin our Christmas 1893 experience. 

From the moment we reached the bonfire, costumed Victorian ladies and gentlemen welcomed us to the home of Major and Mrs. James H. Dooley who were experiencing their first Christmas (in 1893) at their new estate. The actors played the parts of the Dooley’s domestic staff, family friends, and family members. Unfortunately, we were told by other family members (actors) that Major and Mrs. James H. Dooley were not present because they were at the orphanage being charitable (if I remember correctly). We were *the guests* who were dropping by for a visit right before a magnificent ball. We were even given calling cards to use as our *tickets* to the event. 

As we walked through the rooms of the mansion, there were scenes where we *the guests* were included. Some actors spoke directly to us about what we were witnessing while sneaking in costumes of the day.  Some of the family members were preparing for that night's ball; others were getting ready for Christmas day. The children were even making up songs and playing games in preparation. 

At the end of the evening, we were served hot cider with rum which was tart and delicious. 

It was one of the best events I’ve attended at Maymont, which says a great deal since I’ve been frequently this place since the early 1990s. While I’ve walked through the mansion dozens of times on tours, the Maymont staff did an excellent job transforming the very event into something unique and new. The acting scenes and all the little touches of decorations made the event one to remember, as I'm sure the actual Christmas was 1893 was one the Dooley family cherished all of their lives.