Christmas 2010

Since the kids went to bed super late, they woke up late, which was awesome. I must remember this tip for next year. 

When asked who was on the naughty list, they were quick to name each other. 

Mr. Man must have been pretty good, because Santa brought him Star Wars Chapstick. 

I made AK a book all about her princess visits to Disneyland.  She loved it most of all. 

Well, she did until she got some Star Wars Action Figures of her very own. 

Even Baby Roller Hand got a gift from Santa.

Mr. Boy got Mr. Man this sweet hat.  Mr. Boy ran out the room screaming, "Wait!! Daddy! Wait!" before Mr. Man could open it. Mr. Boy came back into the room wearing his favorite Fedora.  "Okay Dad, now you can open your gift."

We sent Mr. Boy on a hunt for his final gift.

The look of sheer joy when he opened it was contagious.

And I loved his spontaneous gratitude.  He's a good kid. 

Later on Nana & Grandpa came by.  Nana had been too tired to come the day before. She slept a good part of the day, but the kids loved the time they got to spend with her.

AK shows off her spoils.

Mr. Boy does the same.

I love Lazy Christmas Days, hanging around in PJ's, playing with toys. 

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Eve, I started out with a morning hike.  Several weeks ago I sprained both my ankles in a graceful act of decending down some steps.  The rain finally subsided and the spring had returned to my step.  Look how far things have come at the Chalet.  I just want to slap a big red bow on that pool. 

 Sandy had a spring in her step too, and had the best time roaming the hills with me.  Everyone was in a good mood. 

Except for Rupert.  Between my sore ankles, and the constant rain I had neglected to feed him and his herd.  One rainy afternoon I watched as they approached the still empty food bowl and one of them kicked the bowl into the pool.   These deer are such divas. 

 We made sugar cookies for Santa. 

We are pretty sure that Santa is a Star Wars fan and appreciated the Yoda and Darth Vader cookies we left for him.

 Pretty soon the house began to fill up with people.  Aunts, Uncles, faux relatives... 

mini cousins...

 and even cousins in their most festive sweaters. 

Somehow the night took a terrible turn and Mr. Man ended up showing my High School Prom video and videos from my High School Mass Media Class.  With one great swoop, Mrs.Santa put Mr. Man on the naughty list.   Mrs. Santa totally has my back, she knows high school videos are horrifying.

 And after too many creme brulees and lots of laughter, everyone shrieked when they looked at the time. It was nearly 11pm by the time we got these two off to bed.

Before we could finish reciting The Night Before Christmas, Sugarplums were dancing in their heads.

Dec 20th -23rd

We had epic rainfall for days on end, so we spent most of our time doing this:

On the 20th, I'd had enough so I caved and we joined the masses at the local indoor play place to get the wiggles out.   

 With Mr. Man off for the day on the 21st, we hit the fabulous Noah's Ark exhibit at the Skirball Center. 

 The animals are unreal, all made out of discarded items.

 Mr. Man and I found this sweet swing inside the ark and snuggled for a bit while the kids played.  Since the rains still fell outside, we took notes about the ark and ark life, just in case we needed to build one of our own.

On the 22nd, we met up with some friends so we could puddle jump. 

 Later, we braved a last minute shopping trip to get some last minute gifts.  This is taken at 1pm in the afternoon. 

 Then we wrapped gifts together.

 I love gifts that kid's wrap themselves. 

 The 23rd was my company Christmas Party.  I love that my office does a family Christmas Party, and the kids love that they get gifts. 

That evening, we passed out our neighbor gifts.  The kids were getting a little nervous about Santa's arrival and so when we asked them to sing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", they did it! We were shocked, and it was loved by our neighbors. We gave our neighbors, my secret homemade BBQ sauce.  Also, am I genius?  I used Cupcake Liners to cover the lids.  I swear I saw my grandma do that once, but my "canning posse" says I'm the first to do this. 

What? You don't have a "canning posse"?  That's crazy, ask Santa for one. 

Dec 18th and 19th

 December 19th I got dressed up for Mr. Man's company bash.  AK made me a beautiful bracelet to add a festive touch and Mr. Man wore his Dad's Christmas Sweater vest.  

Mr. Man's company doesn't mess around.  They had a full casino set up and a photo booth. I spent most of the night in the photo booth and at the black jack table.  I love hanging out with "Mr. Business Man", he is so animated and funny. 

Dear Santa, I've been real good, ignore the picture above, it can't be real.  I would never attack Mr. Man in a photo booth, I'm too much of a lady.   Please bring me one photo booth for Christmas. I have the perfect spot for it in my living room. Thank you!

On the 20th, we watched A Christmas Story, the world's greatest Christmas movie.  The kids had seen it before, but this year they really "got it".  They laughed so hard, except for when Flick got his tongue stuck on the flagpole.  AK ran screaming out of the room.

Dec 15th, 16th, 17th,

On the 15th, I donned an apron and put on my mom hat to help Mr. Boy's class make gingerbread houses. It is fun to watch Mr. Boy in his element.

Afterwards, Mr. Boy and I did some Christmas shopping while re-enacting our favorite scenes from Elf. 

On the 16th, we braved the long line at the post office to send off gifts.  Mr. Boy learned a valuable lesson that it pays to be chivalrous and honest.  He went up to a lady and handed her at dollar that he saw her drop.  She thanked him and left the Post Office, and then came back to tell Mr. Boy how it made her day to see an honest young man.  She gave him the dollar to keep.

On the 17th, AK borrowed a trick box that Mr. Man got as a gift.  When you open it a rat jumps out at you, and it is hilarious if you fall for it.  

AK will hand it over to one of the Juan's and say, "Oh, hello Juan, I got you a present for you, will you open it?"

She has gone to each one of the Juan's individually and most of them have fallen for it.  We've had lots of laughs over it.  AK has a prosperous future being a conartist.

Dec 12th, 13th, and the 14th

On December 12th, we watched the worlds second greatest Christmas Movie, Elf.

 Have you noticed AK is always wearing Christmas PJ's, that's because we have a whole basketful, in every size, enough for everyday of the week.

 On the 13th, we decorated our mutantly small Gingerbread Houses.  I decided to economize and bought a Gingerbread Village with 5 houses, they looked MUCH bigger on the box.

 On the 14th, we celebrated Skoopi's birthday, by scaring the crap out of her...

 When I took this baby out for a spin, much to Mr. Man & Mr. Contractor's dismay. 

 Then I threw some Christmas Lights on it, and deemed it to be a "festive" holiday activity, even though it's really not that festive.