Favorite Places

Stace was off work from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day, which was fantastic. He kept busy, but we also got to spend some nice time together as a family. 

On Boxing Day, we took Violet to Vasquez Rocks, one of her happy places. We also go to talk to all of our family in England, gathered at Karen and Martin's home.

 

And on Saturday, after Stace helped at the tiny house, the three of us headed to Santa Barbara, just for the heck of it. First stop was coffee in Summerland, a new favorite after our mini vacation there in April.

We got tacos and then went to the marina for Japanese at another place we like. We ate, watched the water, and enjoyed the views of the lit boats.

We had ideas of playing fun, silly games together on Christmas, but it's always too full of eating and gifts. 

So, Mom and Dad came back over a couple of days later, and we had a snacky dinner and played games. One game involved a blindfold, a bag of gift bows, a bowl, a pair of tongs and a timer. The other involved putting all the bows on the coffee table, and working in teams to blow the bows across the table, into the bowls placed on the floor. It was fun and silly.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning!

We had to get the girls up, especially Cora, so we could enjoy them opening their stockings and gifts.

Don't mind my face - I think I'm chewing here.

We gave Cora a lovely illustrated map of the world of Lord of the Rings. (She also had a laptop, pretty darn needed to replace the one she received five years ago.) 

Violet had a beautiful adult bike, the look she likes but with seven gears.

Later, the family all came over, and while Mel and I cooked, the girls spent time with Sebastian in my room. Ellie is playing a game on Violet's iPad.

The prime rib came out well.

The girls had scattered before I thought to take a photo, but here we are. We're blessed to have two leaves to our dining room table, so we can easily seat all of us.

Gift time!

Stace is excited to build this V-22 Osprey Cobi kit, like Legos.

It was a good Christmas.

(And, clearly, we need one more cat so Stace isn't left out!)

Christmas Prep

With Cora graduating this year, I wanted to bring back a tradition we started when she was in kindergarten: walking the neighborhood to look at the Christmas lights, and tally which streets had the most houses participate.

The girls walked with us, but Cora really didn't want to and it didn't go as well as my nostalgia had hoped. Such is parenting. Here's a post I did about this tradition in 2014.

Nothing better than lazy mornings during Christmas break, with Winston cuddles and kisses.

Liana and Colleen stopped by with gifts and treats, including something for Evie, Seb and Winston.

We attended Christmas Eve service at church, with Mel, Nick, Ellie and my parents. 

That night, we watched a Goes Wrong Christmas show, with all the cats.
 

Day Out with Eloise

Melanie and Nick were both working Saturday afternoon, so Stace and I went to Glendale to hang out with Eloise. Stace was excited to make a trip to the Lego store in the Glendale Galleria, and Ellie thought this was a great idea, too.

(Getting to one of the best malls in L.A. on the Saturday before Christmas? Not a great idea. A 2-mile drive took over an hour because of the traffic!) 

We went to Ellie's favorite sushi restaurant, the place Melanie and Ellie took me a year ago for my birthday. Stace enjoyed his first experience at a sushi place with the revolving belt with the small plates of food going by.

We braved the crowds in the evening to walk across to the Americana at Brand, the fancy lovely outdoor mall with the huge fountain.

Enjoying the lights and decorations with a little one - the best!

It was a great Christmas-y day with our niece!
 

Vi's big haircut

Violet made a big decision and chopped off 10 inches of her hair on Friday! She had enough to be able to donate to Locks of Love, a charity that creates wigs for children with cancer. And our hair stylist, Colleen, gives you a free cut when you donate your hair.

The big snip!

Now to finish the haircut...

So cute!

Violet had admired many images of girls with short, "fluffy" hair. She's also hopeful of her waves being more accentuated with the cut.

 

I was due for a cut, as well, so Colleen squeezed me in.

Week in Review

While I was busy over the weekend, Stace took Violet out to look at new bikes, and also to the Antique Fair Mall. They saw this old cider jug from Devon! It would have been a fun piece to take home but the sale price of $59 was still a bit much.

 

Winston likes to join Seb where he is. Seb never joins Winston. Winston also likes to join Evie, though we don't often see her joining him. But they do love him; at least Evie loves him, and we do, too.

Violet was commissioned by a Facebook friend of mine to paint these images of their family cabin in Montana, as part of a Christmas gift.

The girls finished their fall semesters of high school this week. When Violet had her last final, we went to celebrate with drinks at Trophy Coffee, on the campus of The Master's University. Great drinks and atmosphere.

For Cora, she has just one semester left! Crazy.

Stace and I were doing some Christmas shopping and saw this at World Market - yep, $37 for a tin of Quality Street! Yikes.

Evie has decided that the rules about being on the table don't apply to her.

She's even worse when we have the tablecloth on, for holiday meals. She then thinks we've put out a blanket for her to roll around on.

OK, not the greatest photo, but our liquidambar is in its autumnal glory! All different colors - burgandy, orange/red, yellow and green. 

Christmas Party No. 2!

I had a weekend of parties! I'm not normally this social but it's the way the calendar worked out. 

Sue had us ladies over Sunday, and we had fabulous food and made an ornament craft. Talked and talked nearly until the next morning!

Pauly grilled the tri tip, I contributed potatoes and Nicole brought the fancy salad. 

We exchanged gifts and I came home with some lovely things. I gave these candles that I'd bought at a craft fair, made by a teen entrepreneur. Two friends have texted me photos and compliments to say how amazing they smell!