Christmas 2015

I am getting a jump start on my New Year's resolution to keep better track of all these moments, memories, and thoughts on this blog.  I never regret making the time to document our lives, so it's time to refocus on doing just that!

We have rounded the corner on the Christmas season.  Another December filled to the brims with holiday activities - so much so that we couldn't even get to them all.  There was the candy advent calendar that was never filled, the Disney Christmas cookbook that was never used, etc. and yet every day was another holiday adventure!

Oliver the Elf came back to visit on December 1st and his antics delighted the family once again.  Joey, Logan and Emmie all had adorable Christmas music performances at school where I teared up again as per usual.  Of course for Joey's performance some of those tears were tears of laughter as I was surrounded by giggling dads who could not hold it together during the 4th grade rendition of "Mom's dreaming of a brown Christmas" - it has been confirmed that all men are a mental age of 13 sometimes!

Christmas crafts were made, holiday cards sent, cookies baked, tons of Christmas movies watched and tons of popcorn consumed.  We even shared our tradition of watching "It's a Wonderful Life" with Joey and Logan - and Joey actually stayed awake to watch the wonder that was his first black and white movie. 

Presents were purchased for those we love, and the siblings even did a secret Santa exchange.  Three trees were up and decorated, and I am seriously considering adding a fourth next year.  We traveled by limo to view Christmas lights around town, took the kids to the Theater of Lights show in Old Sacramento, and went caroling through the streets of Clarksburg with the Scouts.  Jeff's birthday was filled with all things Star Wars including a 3-D viewing of the new movie.  Christmas Eve we gave the kids their new pajamas and super soft robes, and left cookies and carrots out for Santa. Christmas morning Papa woke everyone up to open presents and the new toys were all a hit.  Later that day we were joined by more family and friends for ciopinno dinner, a couple rounds of Pie Face, and three rounds of Left Right Center which were all won by Logan (who proudly proclaimed he has the luck of the Irish - he is his father's son!). 

The following day we hosted brunch for the Sahotas and continued our annual tradition with them - this year included the addition of coconut stuffed French toast, of which Patrick is a big fan.  
 

All in all this was a fantastic holiday season!

Joey after the Clarksburg Lights Parade

Hot cocoa for Logan after the Lights parade

Enjoying the Lights parade

Milo snuggles

Christmas morning

"Snow" bubbles in Old Sac

One of many popcorn feasts and movie nights

Pie Face!

Theater of Lights in Old Sac

Fancy baby with his apple cider in a champagne glass in the limo for the lights tour

Date Night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Milo loves Christmas lights

Milo's first Santa visit

 

Lots of snuggle time this season

Lake Tahoe Winter 2014

We kicked off 2014 with a focus on "family time" and a low-key trip to Lake Tahoe.  We stayed at the same house we have stayed at several times before, and planned to spend three days doing nothing but playing games, playing in the snow, and relaxing.  Unfortunately Mother Nature is not cooperating this year and there was pretty much zero snow in Tahoe despite it being January.  

At the park just outside of the house there was some ice though.  It looks like snow but it was ice, hard packed ice that was slippery enough to sled down but so hard you couldn't even make a snowball out of it.  The kids were bummed that our plans of building a snowman were dashed, but they were happy to sled.  

Clearly the hill they were sledding down was pretty small, so we weren't too worried about injury... famous last words!

 

After about a half hour of sledding on the first day, Emmie decided to head down the hill despite Logan being at the bottom.  She took him out at the knees and he fell face first into the ice.  This was definitely our worst injury to date - bloody nose, swollen lips, loose teeth, skinned chin and nose, bleeding gums, and lots of tears.  This is a pic of him about an hour after the incident when we finally got the bleeding to stop... 

And here he is the next day, feeling pretty pathetic still... 

I felt so bad for my little man!  He had trouble eating with his sore and loose teeth and it was hard to see him like that.  I will say though that he wanted to go back out sledding that same day, which we were surprised by.  He was VERY cautious on that little sledding hill for the rest of the trip, ordering everyone to be totally and completely out of the way before every sled run.

When we got back to town we took him to the dentist to make sure no major damage was done to his teeth.  Thankfully everything looked fine on the x-rays and he did great at his appointment (which was a first!). 

Christmas Merriment

The holiday season is jam packed with activities and it is definitely hard to keep up let alone blog about it all.  So this is my catch-all blog post about the past 4 weeks!  There aren't even pictures for everything we did this past month - trust me, it was non-stop.  So busy in fact that several times I had to stop and think am I enjoying this at all or am I just checking this off my self-imposed Christmas To Do List?!  Next year I hope to tone it down a little bit and remember to enjoy the season more and endure the season less!

Despite how exhausting the past month has been, I am blessed to have a full calendar, lucky to have all these memories, and thankful for every minute I get to spend surrounded by Christmas magic! I want to hold on to these moments as long as possible and I am fully aware that I will miss all of this terribly when it is gone.

2013 Christmas Season Recap - 

•  Meg and I braved Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving night to kick off the holiday season! Scored some good deals and were home by 11 p.m.

• Celebrated Jeff's birthday with a seafood cioppino dinner and mud pie dessert. 

 

• We hosted the Sahotas for our annual Freeland/Sahota Christmas brunch and Emmie helped me bake and make homemade marshmallows.  We made cherry turnovers, pumpkin bread, lemon strawberry bundt cake, cowboy quiche, cinnamon roll casserole, and a Belgian waffle bar.  It was delicious!

• We played Holiday Lights Bingo in the car as we drove around in our pajamas (with Gidgit) to look at Christmas lights.  Logan won Bingo and Blackout.  It was great fun! 

• We went to Silveyville Christmas Tree Farm to cut down a real tree and enjoy all that place has to offer.

 

• Brought in our 9 tubs of Christmas decorations and set up our 3 Christmas Trees!

•  Got all dressed up and watched Joey and Logan sing in the DECS Winter Art & Music Program.  Also got to see some of their artwork on display.

•  Enjoyed Elf on the Shelf antics all month long (separate post on Oliver's activities). 

•  Joey got to ride on the Cub Scout parade float at the Clarksburg Lights Parade.  This year we were prepared with glow sticks and pizza.  Of course no amount of being prepared stopped us from encountering a few hiccups like rain and Emmie peeing her pants... oh well! Unfortunately Jeff had to bartend and missed the parade. 

• Jeff and I volunteered at the school Pancake Breakfast.  I served sausage all morning (ironic for the non-meat eater I know) and Jeff made pancakes. 

•  We went Christmas caroling through the streets of Clarksburg with the Cub Scouts.

• We went to Victorian Christmas in Nevada City (there is a separate blog post about this).

• We baked Christmas cookies and made ornament crafts with the neighbors (separate post about this too). 

• We participated in the annual preschool Santa visit.  Santa was very Scottish this year... Emmie was scared at first but eventually got on his lap.  
  
    
  
  
  • We attending Jeff's school's Pancake Breakfast and Holiday Craft Fair and Sing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  • We performed random acts of kindness including collecting and donating books to the library, making cards for sick children, and donating blankets to the local animal shelter. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Well that pretty much takes us up to Christmas Eve!  Throw in the usual Christmas movies, lights on the house, school parties, work potlucks, shopping, wrapping, getting Christmas cards out, etc. and you have our crazy month.  Wouldn't want it any other way though - okay, maybe a little more time between activities would have been nice - but otherwise wouldn't want it any other way! :o)