Beach Weekend

After taking Sue and Gord to the airport Saturday, we continued south to Manhattan Beach to watch the sunset.

Our weather has been gorgeous and warm, and even on the sand it was stunning. That little figure at the water's edge is our Cora Rose.

With our larger car, it was nice that we had our whole family together to say goodbye to Nan and Pop.

On Sunday, we drove to another beach. We went out to Ventura to meet up with Uncle Bill, Aunt Patty, and our family who were in town for Christmas.

It was a great day to go kayaking, on the water or on the sand. Stace and Cora later took the 'yak out into the harbor, getting up close and personal with pelicans, sea lions and even dolphins. It was a pretty amazing experience.

Our bathing beauty - soaked in the sea.

We hadn't planned to go to the beach, so the girls wore cotton dresses. Thankfully we had brought jammies, so later, after a bath at Patty's house, they got clean and dry.

We later had dinner with the family at Bill and Patty's house. Thanks, Dad, for this nice shot of me and my Stace.

Our group included William and Alison, my cousins; Alison's husband and William's girlfriend, and William's girlfriend's parents. They all were in town visiting from Washington.

It was great to see everyone and spend time together.

Family at Christmas

Thanks, Dad, for this great shot of all of us!

Last few days together

 Stace eagerly broke open his latest cider creation. This time, he skipped making his own apple juice, using store-bought instead.

Similar to last year, Stace was the biggest fan of his brew.

 On Boxing Day, we took Nan and Pop to Mentryville for a walk. It was peaceful and beautiful, with perfect weather for a hike.

We were happy the weather cooperated so completely, with the SoCal sun shining warmly each day of their visit. It made a welcome change from the flooding back home.

 The only fox or coyote we saw on our jaunt was the one perched on my shoulder.

 Before our walk, Cora exchanged her long-awaited Flutterbye Fairy in for a gift card at Toys R Us. This toy had been No. 1 on her list, and she was so pleased to open it Christmas evening.

But after a few flights Christmas night and a few more the next morning, it stopped working. Stace, Fixer of All Things, took it apart and found the gears were stripped.

When we returned it, the employee noted that they had already had lots and lots of the fairies returned that morning. For most of the day, that was little consolation to Cora, who was so disappointed that the toy that looked so cool flying in the commercials would break so quickly.

It's a tough lesson, and one we all have had to learn.

 Cora and Violet also made and decorated a gingerbread house-in-a-pan with Nan.
This was high on Cora's list of Christmas things-to-do with Nan and Pop here.

Also on the list was a hot chocolate-fueled trip to the lights at Wakefield Court, which sufficiently "wowed" them. We also drove them around to some more "normal" neighborhoods with nice lights, and they loved those too. 

 Speaking of hot chocolate, Violet enjoyed hers at the mall on one of our several shopping trips with Nan and Pop. Stace was a trooper, spending more time at the mall in one week than he had the prior two years.

Violet had to try on these amazing leopard pumps.

Our time with Sue and Gord was amazing. Sadly, they could only stay a week, and the time passed by quickly. But, on the positive side, their week here coincided with Stace's week off from work. It was lovely to be together all week, a real vacation in our own home.

Splendid Christmas Evening

  Later on Christmas Day, my sister, Nick, and my parents joined us for dinner, presents, drinks and dessert.

Dinner was a group effort, with turkey, Honey Baked Ham, roast potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy and Yorkshire pudding on the menu.

 What a lovely treat it was for Stace and me to look around the dining table and see these smiling faces. Having Christmas dinner in our home with all the grandparents was a special treat for our family.

Before eating, we lifted a toast to Stacey's Nan, whose presence was deeply missed. And, we also missed seeing Dean, Jenny, Euan and Olivia in person.

 After dinner came the Christmas crackers, complete with corny jokes. Cora was able to read her own jokes this year, while Violet pretended to read hers. Really, she was just making up sillier and sillier jokes, cracking up all the while.

 Then we moved on to the gifts. Here, the grandmothers open their calendars. Grandma is wearing a dollar-store sticky candy cane mustache, as you do on Christmas. "Don we now our ... striped mustaches..."

 Nan was very pleased with her handmade necklace from Cora. Cora had a lot of fun wrapping and giving gifts this year. It was great seeing her excitement about giving.

 She gave me this stunning diamond brooch - we really must monitor her spending more closely!

Actually, she bought it at her school's holiday gift shop for $5 - she kept telling people its cost, and was quite impressed with the sum. She couldn't wait for me to open it, and was so pleased when I put it on.

 The girls received so many nice presents - too many to put up all the photos! I loved this picture though, with them both together with the figurines from the film Frozen. Since they loved the movie, they also love playing with the tiny dolls. Violet especially likes taking them around with her, making them act and talk.

Lastly, here's a cute photo of Grandma and Cora. Cora and Daddy pose with her gift to us that she made at school, with her footprint and hand prints forming the reindeer.
Stace's creative placement of the mustache cost him some of his eyebrows.
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Christmas Eve, Christmas morn

We spent Monday and Tuesday shopping, for Christmas presents, Christmas dinner, Christmas accessories.

On Tuesday evening, we went to Christmas Eve service at Real Life Church, where here we are posed in front of the giant Christmas tree. It was Nan and Pop's first time at our church, and they enjoyed it.

 After the service we had hot chocolate and cookies in the coffeehouse.

 Then, since it was Tuesday, we went to ice cream night for a treat.













That night, the girls sprinkled out the "reindeer food" and set up carrots and cookies for the reindeer and Santa. They were very excited!
They went to bed sharing Cora's bed, since we're in Violet's room and Nan and Pop have the big bedroom.
















Later on Christmas Eve, I baked up some more cookies. My grandma always had many varieties of cookies available at Christmas time, so I felt that since I was hosting, I should continue the tradition.

While I baked, Sue, Gord and Stace slept on the couch watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Christmas morning dawned sweetly, with happy girls thrilled with the tiny treasures in their stocking.

They each received a battery-powered toothbrush, which caused Cora to exclaim, "This is the BEST Christmas ever!"

After the girls opened their stocking stuffers and Santa gifts, they delivered some cookies to the neighbors. The neighbors gave as well as received - we got tamales, muffins and a flan. We love our street.

Frozen in Hollywood

 We are so happy to have Nan and Pop with us for Christmas this year! This will be their first Christmas in California, and we have been happily awaiting their arrival.

Cora went with Stace to pick them up late Saturday evening, and worked on two beautiful "welcome" signs.

 On Sunday, we went into Hollywood to the venerable El Capitan theater to see Frozen, Disney's newest animated classic.

On the drive down, Cora was nervously complaining about her very loose top tooth. Once we handed in our tickets and chose are seats inside, she and I went to the restroom...












...and she emerged whistling a different tune. Or not whistling, as the case may be. Now, all she wants for Christmas is those two front teeth.

Behind Cora you can see the El Capitan organist, who entertains the crowd with classic tunes. After the organist magically disappeared under the stage, two ice sculpters carved a snowman. Then Elsa and Anna danced on stage. This is all part of the joy of seeing a film at El Capitan - the pre-film fun, and then the photo-prop sets afterward.

 Since we were in Hollywood, we also did the easy touristy things adjacent to theater.

 This beautiful Christmas tree in the Hollywood and Highland complex provided a nice Christmas backdrop, certainly more seasonal then the warm 70-degree weather.

Pop and Cora gaze at the Hollywood sign - and the Hollywood traffic.

O Christmas Tree

 The girls had a lot of fun decorating the tree a few weeks ago. This year, Stace set it up and we pretty much handed it over to Cora and Violet for the ornament-hanging.

 You could tell where Violet had been. The stool was in one spot, and she preferred climbing the stool to put up ornaments. I think there were seven ornaments in a one-foot-square area.

 The MG also wishes everyone a Merry Christmas.

 Sleeping Santa Cora

And Violet fell asleep with her legs crossed, clutching her Animal Friend Of The Day. She is very much into the phase of having one special animal friend at a time, that comes with us everywhere.

Fall Color

 Autumn comes late in SClarita, with brief breaks for warmer weather, but it comes nonetheless.We've been oohing and aahing at the beautifully colored trees over the last month.