Magical Christmas

Grandma has played Mrs. Claus at Magic Mountain for several years now, and this year we finally got to go and see her in her element.

It was a drizzly day, which helped to keep the Friday crowds down. The Holiday in the Park event and Christmas break have brought lots of people to Magic Mountain lately, according to Mrs. Claus.

Besides the characters walking around for photos, the park was nicely decorated with "ice" sculptures, pretend snow and lots of lights.

Mrs. Claus was on a break when we first came to her area, so we went up to ride the Ninja roller coaster.

When we came back, there she was!

Violet's reaction was priceless.

Isn't she beautiful? We all loved finally seeing her in person. It's certainly a nicer look for my mom than the Fright Fest witch!

There are festive photo props in her area, which is where Santa hung out prior to Christmas. (He has now returned to the North Pole.) Elves also help the children do crafts.

A S'more-making station is nearby, so we had a tasty snack.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for arranging for our tickets and sharing these photos! It was a fun afternoon.

We left Grandpa and Mrs. Claus and hurried across the park to watch a Christmas-themed dance/acrobatics/magic show, and then did one more quick ride before going home to Stace.

An American Girl

One of our fun family activities while Stace has been off work was to "wow" Violet (and ourselves) with the wonder that is the American Girl Store near Hollywood.

We started our L.A. day by hitting a Starbucks on Melrose that was giving out free tall drinks as part of a special promotion. Can't beat free, and the threw in cookies, too.

The American Girl Store, at the Grove shopping center, was less than two miles away.

Violet walked in on Wednesday wide-eyed, taking in the sheer number of dolls and doll-related items for sale in the huge multi-story shop. Everywhere were girls just like her, clutching their special friends.

Violet eagerly perused everything, with Christmas money in her purse from Auntie Doreen and Uncle Pete.

In the end, she decided to pay to have Joy's ears pierced - this came with four additional sets of earrings. She also bought a dress for Joy.

So stylish.

Perhaps this is the year the girls will follow Joy's lead, and get their ears pierced, too.

The AG Store was really an amazing experience. It shows how much money our society has when we will pay loads to have our dolls' hair styled and ears pierced.

On the other hand, Violet's eyes lit up so brightly as she walked around the store - you could sense her excitement. And that has to be worth something, too.

Violet's new goal is to save up and purchase a "Just Like Me" American Girl doll - they have dozens of dolls with various skin tones, hair and eye color, hair styles, etc,

The doll Violet is holding is the one most similar to herself, and this is what she wants to save toward - they cost $115, so she will be saving a long time. Violet also is eager to return to have lunch at the upstairs cafe for her birthday.

Boxing Day Fun

Stace has the week after Christmas off, and this year we are home for the holidays.

Our friend Jim, working for the same company but another site, also has the week off, and neither of us had our UK family coming into town this year.

We took advantage of this to spend some nice family time together over Boxing Day, driving out to La Verne and spending the night.


We went to a big county park that combines playgrounds with natural areas and a picturesque reservoir - perfect for our age range of children.

Callie and Violet got along so well! It was great seeing them play together.

Recent cold rains had covered the local mountains in snow - it was a stunning view!

After our walk, we had a nice dinner at JT and Jim's house, and then the children went to bed and we grownups watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

On Tuesday, that snow was calling our name. We drove the short half hour to Mt. Baldy, and found a great sledding hill.

The kids had a great time, until they were wet through and cold, naturally. Then, it was a short drive back to La Verne, where we enjoyed another meal together before we headed back to SClarita.

Thank you, JT and Jim, for a great mini-break!

Christmas Festivities

Stace and I had a late night on Christmas Eve, with all the final parental preparations.

We awoke Christmas morning to the excited sounds of girls finding their Christmas stockings and Santa gifts - new Lego sets and Christmas Beanie Boos. "Santa always brings Christmas Beanie Boos," Violet had told me days before.

We celebrated Christmas with our Somerset family via Skype, and Cora opened her "big" gift, a sewing machine. Many of her gifts from Nan and Pop and Dean and Jenny related to her sewing machine.

It was tough to not see them all in person, but we are excited that Nan and Pop will be here in just over a month for a visit.

Later, we had a tasty dinner of roast beef with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Mel and Uncle Nick. Then, it was time for more presents.

Violet's "big" gift was a real American Girl doll, which was on every list she wrote out.

She was duly excited; as a parent, it's such a blessing to see your children so happy.

Cora gave Violet clothes for her new doll, which she named "Joy." And Violet gave Cora a thoughtful gift of a new journal, something Cora had mentioned earlier in the month.

Cora was especially generous this year. She made some gifts - sugar scrubs and ornaments, including this Dodger baseball ornament for Grandpa.

The most humorous gift award had to go to my mom, who gave Stace this hilarious reindeer leg hat (among other presents). I haven't seen Stace laugh that hard in ages.

We also Skyped with Uncle Bill, Aunt Patty and cousin Elizabeth in Washington. The Internet is a wonderful tool for staying connected with those you love!

We all had a beautiful Christmas, and are thankful to be so filled with love and blessings.

Christmas Eve

With our church's explosive growth over the last six years, holding Christmas Eve services only on Christmas Eve doesn't cut it. We start the Christmas service fun several days before the holiday, so there are many opportunities to take it in.

We chose Wednesday night as our time to celebrate Christ's birth with our church family.

No candles, but we did have cell phone lights as we sang Silent Night to close out the service.

On Christmas Eve afternoon, Rigo and Colleen invited us over for lunch. It was great to see them again.

Violet and Cora helped make the chocolate crinkles, the one Christmas cookie I make in honor of my grandma.






















And we finished our Christmas Eve by attending another church with Melanie and Nick.

Our friend Christine is the choir/orchestra director here, and the music was gorgeous. This time, we did have candle light for Silent Night.

 When we got home, it was time to prepare for Santa's visit. Violet put the special magic key on the door, and the girls put out reindeer food...

...and milk and cookies.
Christmas is here!

Sleepover

Melanie has been asking us to come over for weeks, so she could bribe Stace with dinner to build a cat tree for Gibby. Our opportunity came Thursday night, when we dropped Cora and Violet off at Maya and Natalia's house for a sleepover. They only live about 10 minutes apart from each other.

Stace had trouble working...

But he persevered and eventually built the tall cat tree and installed two other shelves.

Juliana and Daryl sent me these sweet photos of our girls having a grand time. This was their first time having a sleepover, and they had been very excited about it for weeks. It's so beautiful to see the friendship between these two flourish as they get older - they met as toddlers!

Violet missed Mummy a bit, but she did OK and had a good time, too.

Many thanks to Juliana and Daryl for showing our girls such a good time, and feeding them so well!

Christmas Break Fun

Grandma has been working as Mrs. Claus every day that she's not at her school job, so she has been very busy. But she had Tuesday off, so we took the opportunity to walk the Wakefield Court Christmas extravaganza together in the evening.

And look what we found! The Disneyland sign Stace made for Melanie's bridal shower, on display at a home with a lot of Disney Christmas decor. My parents had given it to a nearby resident.

Violet had a vision checkup on Wednesday. After a very thorough exam, the doctor said she doesn't need glasses. This was a bit disappointing to Violet, funny enough.

Cora has been on a cookie-baking kick lately. She really wants to make proper gingerbread cookies to decorate, but we've had trouble getting them to turn out right.

They've been yummy, but aren't staying in shape as they bake. (These ones were a shortbread recipe.)

We had Sophia over to play Thursday morning, and the girls worked on one of the cookie recipes. They had a lot of fun (and made a lot of mess).

Another batch of spread-thin cookies! Sigh. At least they were still tasty.

Besides cookies and tablet games, the girls played Top Trumps and played outside.

See Violet? They also took turns hanging out inside the cat tunnel.