Clark's first Christmas

Christmas with this little Santa baby was double the fun.  Even though he had no idea what was going on and slept through most of the festivities, it was just so fun to have him BE here and be apart of everything!



We started off Christmas Eve right with our traditional brunch in Laguna Beach.  Figuring out keeping up old traditions with our new little one is a bit of a task, but definitely worth it this year.  Mostly I'm pretty proud of myself for getting myself and the babe up and presentable and out the door by 10:00 in the morning.  I'm still getting the hang of nursing on the go (ie: I have no idea how to do it), so we ended up doing a bottle feed on Main Beach and a diaper change on a beach bench. 
We are officially parents ;)



We're so lucky to live close to these awesome folks right now and this lovely beach view.  Also, how adorable is that tiny Santa hat??  I die.

Christmas morning was too much fun passing around this little bebe and feeding him between opening presents. 

Obviously he was enthralled by all the Christmas magic...or the sparkly Christmas lights.  And he loved his Christmas present from Grammy and Poppy.

All this Christmasing can be so exhausting for such a little boy.  Also with so many hands around to cuddle this babe I got to take one killer afternoon nap.  Merry Christmas to me!

 Thank you Uncle Christopher and Aunt Kristin for our night in kit!  That's definitely more of what we're doing nowadays. 

Silhouette ornaments for Grammy and Poppy of all their new grand babes.

It was a very merry Christmas!  Crazy to think that next year this little bean will be one year old at Christmastime, toddling around and keeping us on our toes.  I can't wait!

happy Christmas

Is it time to get back to real life already?  I love this time of year, if not just for the fact that it means spending a goodly portion of time with family.  This year we got a week with Nemrows at Thanksgiving and a week with Toblers at Christmas.  I'm a happy gal.

We picked up both Midwestern siblings + spouses from LAX on Friday and promptly got ourselves to Balboa the next day.
Priorities.
I've Christmased in Orange County for most of my years, but somehow I never really thought of going to the island to enjoy the festivity and Christmas lights.  My loss.  It's completely charming (of course) and meeting up with cousins and seeing darling babies was a plus as well.

PS - My New Year's resolution this year is to stow my iPhone more often and get out a real camera (after I get it fixed)...till then, bear with me. 

Of course our second order of business was to get to South Coast Repertory for our annual showing of A Christmas Carol.  We've been seeing this production for a good many years (back before I can remember) and it is definitely my favorite Christmas tradition complete with a cookie and apple juice at intermission.  There is an extra special sweetness about the play for me as I get older and especially this year.  It's a tradition I plan to keep no matter where we end up (but Hal Landon will always have my heart).

We normally spend an unconventional Christmas Eve brunching in Laguna Beach and this year was no different.  We pulled up to our annual cute cafe, and were extremely dismayed to find out its been closed...for a year!  It almost ruined Christmas, but we persevered and suffered through lunch on the beach at the Laguna Hotel.  Life is rough.

In my opinion, Christmas ought to always be a relaxed, easy day where one stays in their PJs far to long, eats good food and keeps good company.  This Christmas was precisely that, complete with sleepwear and slippers till 3PM.

The day after a big holiday is always a tad depressing, but Christmas is especially so.  Cheerful Christmas music is cut off abruptly and the walls seem oh so bare without their previous festive decor.  In an attempt to keep the merriment going we made a family trip to the temple.  It was most effective.
Also I've decided to break tradition and keep the Christmas music playing till January one.  That helps too.

A trip to Disneyland on Friday also helped to wipe away the post-Christmas blues.  The happiest place on Earth tends to have that effect.  I also took, roughly, a kajillion pictures - you've been warned.
We went on the swings entirely too many times, checked off a Disneyland bucket list (always wanted to canoe around Tom Sawyer's Island), and ate at the delicious Cathay Circle in California Adventure.  De-lightful.

 

And that was a wrap for our week with the Toblers.  It was festive, fun, and entirely too short - as time with family always is.  We're still working out the kinks of our master plan of how to all live within 1 hour of each other, but until then, this is what we get.  Happy Christmas all!

festive

It's mid December, and today it was in the 80's.  There were bees buzzing in the trees and I had to turn on the A/C it was so stinkin' hot. 

Is it just me or does something about this scenario seem oh so wrong?  I was just warming up to this brisk(er-ish) weather and now this.  Ah well, we do live in California.  David laughs at me while I show a stink eye to the heat when this is exactly the reason other people live here.  The irony.

So in an effort to feel more Christmasy I took copious pictures of my little poinsettia and blasted the Christmas tunes.  The things we do to feel festive.

christmasy

So, our back wall has finally gotten Christmas-fied (with a week and a half left to go), and I just gotta say:  I'm diggin' it.  Like, I think I should have a glittery banner up on my back wall all the time.  Who's with me?

When all this Christmas decor comes down our little living room is going to feel mighty bare...

P.S. I sprayed a clear gloss over those glittery letters in hopes that I wouldn't have glitter all over my house and...it actually worked.  Call it a Christmas miracle folks, but I haven't seen a shiny speck anywhere (knock on wood).