December Daily 22

Today was the cookie party day for all of Hannah and Makaela's little friends.

How it went? Suprisingly well. Fortunately all were running a bit late so I had some extra time to do last minute cleaning. The kids made some great cookies for Santa. They looked so cute in their Gingerbread Man aprons!!! Unfortunately our attempts at getting one picture of all of them standing in their aprons didn't happen. :( They were on too much of a sugar high and running all over the house. It was great fun though and we ended the event with pizza for dinner.

Some of Hannah's cookies. She's a fan of lots of frosting apparently.


This was the only picture I got of ALL the kids.


And here's a picture of some of them so you can see the aprons.

Then we went to the Christmas light neighborhood in Chino. Not quite as impressive because lots of houses had their lights off. Wonder if we got there too early?

December Daily 21

A brief post because not a lot of exceptinal stuff happened today.

I had to work. Then I came home and began making sugar cookies for the cookie party we're having with all the kids tomorrow at our house. While I did that, Joel took the girls on a little bike ride around the neighborhood so the girls could see the lights. They had a good time doing that. I wish I had snapped a picture.

See, nothing too exciting.

I used this cookie recipe, but I used 2 tsp of vanilla. I recommend readin the tips in the reviews section. They're very helpful. Such as why it's important to use truly softened butter. Various things people added or tried to get a more successful cookie. My husband really has been enjoying them. He says they're the perfect level of sweetness for him (without the frosting). I am a frosting girl. :)

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program ...

GASP!

It's the 22nd of Dec as I write this and the last post I put up was December Daily 13. So much for staying on track right? Believe it or not, I do have most of the daily posts in the draft form that are just waiting for a few pictures. I'll try and get those up tonight.

December Daily 20

The day after the party!

Joel and I are always moving a little slower than normal on this day. It's nice not to have the girls there waking us up early. We got up and immediately began cleaning up a bit of the aftermath -- washing dishes, collapsing tables and chairs, washing table cloths, etc. We have so much leftover alcohol this year! I think that's in part to not a lot of people drinking heavily and that we had the bar in a tight spot. All the beer was drunk (drank? drunken? drinked?) but the vodka, rum, wine, champagne, and whiskey was almost completely untouched. We may nned to have a New Years Party.

After we got the house put back together some, we headed up to meet Joel's parents in Santa Clarita. They were kind enough to meet us halfway with the girls. We had a nice lunch and then headed for home. Since we were going through Pasadena I asked Joel to stop at a place I heard of a few weeks back. Stats Floral. Someone told me they did a good Christmas spread. Boy did they ever! I am looking forward to going back. Here is a beautiful piece they had hanging from the ceiling. Oh if I could do this in my house!

For the most part we relaxed the rest of the day.

December Daily 19

PARTY DAY!

The 7th Annual 4 Meats of Christmas party was a success. Somehow Joel and I managed to get everything ready and set up. When our guests arrived, tables were set and candles were lit. This may have been a first for me. Usually I am having the first guests to arrive throw silverware on the table or light candles. But we were in good shape. My food was made (my dishes were the Crustless Pumpkin Pie and Cabbage Salad). Joel made Morcon.

The night flew by but there were many laughs and lots of fun. I just love this event. We've hosted it at our home for the past 7 years and each year we have at least 40 people. For some, it's the only time of year that people see each other. We all get so busy as our families grow. All of our friends comment each year how much they look forward to it. It means the world to Joel and I that they make the effort to come. I hope we're still doing this party 20 years from now.

I was lucky #1 and hurray for me, I picked a Stetson cologne set with a cigar and mini bottle of Jack Daniels attached. Needless to say, no one stole from me. Merry Christmas Joel. :)

The hot gift of the night was the Snuggie. Can't say I am too surprised. They're everywhere.


The unfortunate thing for me is that my husband stole the Snuggie! The pink one! I had better not unwrap this on Christmas morning.

December Daily 18

The day before the big party!!! Always a hectic one. Fortunately Joel had the day off so he did a lot of the laborious stuff.



I had to work which entailed my office Christmas luncheon. Always nice to relax with the coworkers. We're a small bunch and more like family than coworkers.



Then had a hair appointment. By the time my hair was done I would have been sitting in rush hour traffic. So I thoguht I would steal a few minutes to get some Christmas shopping for Joel done. Then I fought traffic home to meet Joel and the Boiler. It's a restaurant that cooks your food by steam. I wasn't all that impressed but the meal was good enough and who can complain about the company?



But then it was back to serious business. For me, that meant cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom. It took me a few hours but afterwards it was sparkling and I love that. Especially when every single guest of our party will be in the kitchen at some point.

December Daily 17

Drove the girls up to Tehachapi.



Crazy day. Hannah had last day of preschool for this year which meant Christmas party. She gave Miss Chrissy and Miss Erin each one of those 3 wick candles from Bath and Body Works. The scent was Candy Cane and it smelled so yummy! Some of her classmates gave each kid a little goodie and I felt like a bad mommy. We'll for sure have to do something for Valentines Day.



I rushed home to pack them up.



Then we picked up Hannah and swung by Joel's work so the girls could drop off some toys in his Toys for Tots box. Also so he could say goodbye. We explained to Hannah that we were giving toys away to kids who didn't have any. I think she got it as well as any 4 year old can.



Then we were off for the long drive to Tehachapi (2.5 hours). Made it up there and had a yummy dinner made by Lola. Papa was wonderful as usual and bought Snow White. Hannah loved it. I think it's cute that he can't wait until Christmas to give them presents. Makaela is very attached to Papa. There's no way I would have been able to leave if he weren't there. As it was, she sensed I was going to leave and got a little clingy. So I stayed a few extra minutes and cuddled with her. I explained I would be back. Then we distracted her with drawing and I snuck off.



Got home at about 9:00PM and jumped right into preparing the house for our big party.

December Daily 16

Tonight was Hannah's very first ever performance. And what a treat that it's a Christmas performance. She, along with her other preschool classmates performed a series of Christmas songs at the church. They sang Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Jingle Bells. They wore the cutest little reindeer antlers with little gold bells on them. During Jingle Bells, they all shook their heads so the bells would ring. It was hilarious.

It was so fun to watch her perform. You could tell she wasn't quite sure where to look. Because she's one of the taller kids, she was in the back. She looked at us the whole time with a huge smile on her face. At one point she began to dance and jump while she sang. I'm very proud of myself that I was able to just let her be her instead of trying to get her to stand still and sing like the other kids. One of her sweet little friends couldn't even bring herself to look at the crowd. She sat on the steps and huddled into a little ball. This girl is so social and talkative in class and I just felt so bad for her because clearly she had stage fright and that's no fun.

Please forgive the poor quality of the photos. This is the beginning of me learning the lesson about shooting with a high ISO. I desaturated them a little bit to reduce some of the grainy look.

I love how Hannah sort of stood off to the side on her own. And below her is the sweet little girl who had stage fright. She stubbornly sat the way through the whole performance.

Hannah clearly performing for us.


Hannah starting to lose a little bit of interest here.


Now she's really getting bored.


So begins her impromptu dance.

Followed by the jumps.

And then the celebratory shake for being such a good and confident performer. please excuse her rude hand gesture.

It was a good day!!!!

Here's the video if it works ...

December Daily 15

Today we went out to Victoria Gardens for Santa pictures with our good friends Roxanne, Reagan and Riley. While there, I hit up the Pottery Barn store. Love that place, but have learned my lesson. Do NOT take children in there. It ruins the experience. PB is definitely a place I like to stroll through and there is no strolling at Christmas time with a 4 year old and a 1 1/2 year old in a stroller. The girls got to pick out their 2009 ornaments. Both got snowflakes. Hannah picked hers and I grabbed Makaela's because it was something I could hand to her in the stroller that she couldn't break.

Here's Hannahs:


Here's Makaela's (that center piece that says 2009 on it spins):

So here's the Santa pictures from earlier today. Hannah was pleased as punch to sit with him, but Makaela was clearly having none of Santa. Poor guy. He truly is the nicest, most lovable Santa ever. {sigh}



Then we tried for some group pictures in front of Victoria Gardens tree and my Christmas spirit dashed off. I even mentioned to my friend with me that this is why I hate taking my kids in public. Because I feel all I do is yell at them. They would not sit still, hold a smile, look at the camera, or stay in front of the tree. At one point I caught Hannah pulling up the netting in the grass that used when they plant sod. I am sure I looked like a wonderfully attentive parent, there in the middle of the square with my kid ripping up the grass and me not noticing until she'd gotten about 5 patches pulled up. I told her "Santa is NOT happy, and neither is mommy!"

This picture here does crack me up though ... a range of all expressions. One screaming, one forcing a smile, one not sure if she should smile, and the other purely enjoying the whole thing. Where was she when it was time to sit on Santa's lap. Maybe she was enjoying watching me almost melt down.

And then these lovelies, who wouldn't sit still, decided to run off and then shout for me to snap a picture of their cute pose. Couldn't do this in FRONT of the tree huh girls?!

On the way home I decided I need a serious attitude adjustment. I have decided that each time I find myself getting frustrated, grumpy, or overwhelmed, I am going to think about what in that situation is good. For example, pulling my hair out trying to get pictures of the girls when all they want to do is run and give goofy smiles: (1) my kids are healthy enough to be running around (2) that I have a camera to take their pictures (3) that I have the luxury of not having to work every day so I can make a spur of the moment trip to see Santa (4) that I can afford pictures with Santa (5) that my kids smile -- even if they are goofy ones. So I am going to try this. As for the woes of my family and how it affects Christmas ... at least I have multiple family to gather with at Christmas.

Here's something that makes me happy each night and each morning. We don't turn it off during the night and I just think it's so pretty and festive. I bought a prelit garland from Bed Bath and Beyond for $10 (with coupon). Then I raided my stash of Christmas items and hot glued them on. The picture doesn't do it justice but I really like it.

And then, as if the day was not crazy enough, the whole family piled into the car at 6:30 and headed to Disneyland. I figured we'd get into the park at 7:30 and leave by 9:00. It was a Tuesday night and most kids are not out of school just yet so I figured the crowds would be manageable. Once we got into Main Street, everything backed up and I thought for sure we had gotten stuck at the begininng of a parade. And I depserately tried to hold onto that fleeting Christmas spirit once again. Much to my surprise, we arrived just in time for a little "show" where they animate the lights on their huge tree, a song plays, and it SNOWS!!! It was perfect! Unfortunately, my theory on the crowds was wrong. We went on Haunted Mansion and then tried to get over to Small World only to find that they had closed it for fireworks. It was now 8:30 and I thought the fireworks show must begin at 9:00 so we decided to wait. Ummmmm ... the show didn't start until 9:30, but we didn't find this out til 9:10 and after already waiting 40 minutes, we couldn't very well walk out now. So we stayed. It was a good show. I've seen better from Disneyland though. Needless to say, we didn't get to the car til 10:30 and home til 11:00. It was a quiet ride home as Joel (1) doesn't particularly like Disneyland, but sucks it up for me and the girls and (2) had to work the next morning and thought we would have been home by 10:00.

December Daily 14

Just another normal day. I spent another couple of hours at the computer fiddling with Christmas card designs. I created two I really like in Photoshop, but am not sure how to go about getting them printed. I don't think Costco will give me the same rate for my creation. :(

Here's some pictures of Christmas artwork Hannah has been creating in preschool. I love it! Now I just need to hang it up. Yes I am one of those moms that tucks it in a drawer rather than displaying it. I just can't seem to come up with a good place for it. Bad mommy!