Christmas Floral Party

 

Liz decided to throw a holiday bash, and asked us all to bring a vase and flowers to share Saturday evening, so that we could all take home a beautiful bouquet. 

Such a fun idea, and it was fun and went so well!

Their Christmas tree is absolutely incredible - they always get a real tree, and this one is nearly 14 feet tall. Last year, they went to NYC around Christmas time, and Liz wanted to recreate the famed Rockefeller tree in their living room.

The little candle in front was my hostess gift for Liz, made by a teen entrepreneur at a Christmas craft fair. 

Tiffany was going around getting photos with everyone individually. 

We ate like queens! Liz had the evening catered by one of the best Italian restaurants in town.

My lovely bouquet...maybe Melanie has rubbed off on me a bit.

Holiday Happenings

Magic Mountain hosted their employee family Christmas party on Thursday, and Stace and I took advantage. The employee we knew was actually working the party, so we visited with her for a minute as she walked out of the photo-taking cabin to take her break.

The lights are so pretty at the park, and we party guests get tamales, chips and salsa, s'mores kits, cookies, churros and hot cocoa, if you want. Several rides were open, with very short lines. 

We had a very nice mini-date night together.

 

On Saturday, Vi and I joined Colleen and Liana at the Placerita Nature Center annual holiday craft day. 

Beautiful work, ladies!

Vi and I took a nice hour hike/walk down the canyon trail.

On Saturday evening, we got the decorations up in the house, and our Christmas tree.

And on Sunday, Stace, Vi and I took a nice walk down our nearby canyon to see the decorations the neighbors there put on the trees. I love this walk year-round, but especially in December!

Can you hear the crunching??

On Sunday evening, Stace and I went to see the SClarita Symphony present their Christmas concert, with the Nutcracker songs filling the first half. It was a nice night!

Cora was busy much of the weekend shooting a short film with Jarod, who played her father. It's set in the Old West, and directed by a college film student for a class project. Can't wait to see it - it has quite a dramatic premise.

Thanksgiving Weekend

It's beginning to look a lot like...Thanksgiving! 

We were very late to decorating this year - no autumn or Halloween decor - but we got this done a week prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.

We hosted, and I combined a couple of recipes in producing this tasty bird. Forgot to get an "after" pic but it turned out great.

Another success - Stace's Yorkshire puds! Look at that rise! And Melanie's side dishes were delicious, too. 
 

Cora, skulking around...

Grandma had to work Thursday, so we celebrated the holiday on Friday with the family. It was a lovely afternoon/evening together.

On Sunday, we saw A Christmas Carol at the Canyon Theatre Guild with my parents, and got a drink together after. It was a great show.

Tidbits

Cora and Violet were doing some baking, and Cora knocked much of the flour onto the floor. There was Winston, to check it out! Cora gave Winston a white handprint, like the Uruk-hai in Lord of the Rings.

Our young cats have been anxious to be outside, especially when we let Seb have his brief bits of yard time. So, we finally bought a harness and have been taking them out here and there. It is very exciting.

Seb is very good at relaxing and soaking up the sun.

He looks so big here. Sigh! It's hard keeping his weight down with other cats around, eating other food. Here, he's seemingly waiting for us to feed Evie and Winston. (I wouldn't mind, except that I don't want him to blow out his other back knee.)

I love this bread recipe I've been using. It's so close to what I was doing before, but the slight differences seem to be key to me finally making good bread again.

The leaves are changing color and I'm in love. 

I got a new pair of shoes, and Winston adores the box when it's set up like so. Can YOU spot him??

He likes to jump out and scare Sebastian.

Stace and I went to Old Navy to get him some jeans, and we discovered that Ewok-wear is back in fashion.

Nature Walks

 We've been doing a lot of PE when we can - raking leaves (lots of leaves), archery, and nature walks. 

We went to Quigley while the girls were off school for Thanksgiving break, and saw three deer! Violet and I always look for deer, but hadn't spotted any for a long time, at least a year. So it was cool to see these guys.

Just before seeing them, we came across what we must presume to be a relative - this is a sight we'd never come across!

Kind of shocking, really. Could have been a predator like a bobcat or pack of coyotes, or even a cougar, or it could have been chronic wasting disease, which we understand to be going around the deer populations.

Clearly, whatever the initial cause, the scavengers had picked it pretty clean.

Violet wanted to take Stace and me up past Castaic Lake for a walk. It was a stunning evening, at the famed "golden hour."

And on Thanksgiving Day, we went for a hike at the Golden Valley Ranch Open Space. It was so dry, it looked very different than other times we've been.

Our Town: Friends and Family Edition

As always, we appreciate all who took time out to come support Cora and her theatre program!

We couldn't get photos of all of her fans, but here are the pics we did get.

Grandma and Grandpa
 

Auntie Kelly and Mrs. Hawthorne!

Rigo, Colleen and Liana

Coach Greg and Auntie Mel

Jarod ordered this backdrop and red carpet, so I made sure to get a photo with Cora.

The cast photo board I made, with the photos my dad took. The photos were also used in the program, with each actor getting to write their own short bio. I made these pages, which looked really good.

Our Town

Cora's theater department presented the classic American play "Our Town" last weekend, and Cora played the Stage Manager of this play-within-a-play. Technically, she and Mackenzie shared the role, splitting the lines and talking to each other and the audience on stage. It was a great pairing, reminding us of how she and Ben would finish each other's thoughts during Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Here, Cora and Mackenzie jumped into the role of the milkman's horse, one of several times Cora's stage manager slid into other roles as the story progressed. 

Here, you can see some of the set that Stace, Cora and Jarod worked so hard on. It was designed to be a very simple set, giving the impression of the homes of the Gibbs and Webb families in Grover's Corners, N.H., around the turn of the 20th Century.

Here, Cora takes her place during church choir practice.

Here, she's animatedly describing how the majority of people get married, and suddenly find themselves 50 years down the line, on the other side of youth. This was in the context of the play's main characters Emily and George falling in love and getting married.

Here, Cora's playing the drug store and soda shop proprietor, Mr. Morgan, and getting George and Emily ice cream sodas. 

The closing scene in this nostalgic, thoughtful play. Many were wiping away tears as Emily dies and is allowed to relive part of a day, and remarks on how people don't appreciate life while they are living it.

It was sweet to have Cora almost bookend her high school straight-play career with a role so reminiscent of Rosencrantz.