December

Ah, December! 

Holiday celebrations at Disneyland, decorating fairy gardens, Clara in her festive Christmas outfit worn by Kate and Gwen--it's one of my favorites. Kate and her buddies did a service project tying blankets for needy kids. And Clara practiced being a homeless person by loading her baby carriage up with as much stuff as possible! Screaming every time something fell out and repeatedly asking "Can you help me?" to lift her stroller and all it's contents up and down the stairs of our home.

December was filled with so many sweet things. Like cookie decorating! And visits from family! And gingerbread houses! And Christmas music and movies! And Christmas lights! Unfortunately it was not all sweet, as we experienced another pregnancy loss at 4 months, a surgery to deal with that, and frustrated and broken hearts. All that sickness and sacrifice of a first trimester ended in one trip to the doctor. Ugh. Thankfully we have all of these sweet moments in December to cloud out the bad one. Our hearts were and are still heavy, but happy to be able to move on and enjoy Christmas with our girls.

Christmas Eve! We visited the mall in the morning to see all the fancy decorations, ride a reindeer carousel, sample See's candy and eat Wahoo's for lunch.

Mimi and Papa always throw a fun Christmas Eve party that everyone looks forward to. We ate delicious food, played games, had a nativity play and a talent show. Kate practiced hard to perfect deck the halls on the piano and Clara and Gwen entertained everyone with their performance of "Let it Go". The whole family joined in on the sing a long! 

We had a gift exchange, made a big mess and ate dessert. We drove home with excitement for Santa's appearance. The girls quickly got to work leaving Santa last minute notes and treats for him and the reindeer.

Christmas morning did not disappoint! We watched a video of the nativity upstairs and had family prayer. The girls were so excited to see what Santa had brought--legos! Kate was excited about her new bike, Gwen loved her Lil' Woodzeez and Clara was happy about her new baby doll bunk bed from Mom and Dad. It was a happy morning. We had honey ham, french toast and egg strata for Christmas brunch. We rested and played and then went to visit Mimi and Papa that evening. It was a very Merry Christmas!

A few days before New Year's we went to Pasadena to see the Rose Parade floats being put together. So many flowers!

Speaking of flowers, we love the rose bushes in our front yard. They bloom about 4 times a year and I love looking at them from my kitchen window. We took Mumsi to the fairy garden nursery on her visit and she spoiled the girls with a new tent, table and chairs for the fairies. Hours of imaginative play are spent in the fairy garden.

New Year's Eve! We loved spending it with the Lloyd's! What a treat. We explored our favorite tide pools in Corona del Mar and enjoyed the sunshine. Ate pizza for dinner and came home for some games. Bean boozled was hilarious and disgusting. Is it caramel flavored or barf? We had a lot of nasty flavors! We had a dance party and rang in the New Year with the New Yorkers on eastern time. Then promptly fell asleep by 10pm Pacific time. The best kind of evening!