Wow! December is always a crazy busy month, but it was even busier this year with the trip to New Orleans at the beginning of the month. When we came back, there was just a week of school left, and we had some really fun parties before it ended. We also had a wedding for one of Mama's nephews. We enjoyed some ice skating in Napa twice this year!
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| Haines, Declan & Keevah at the rink |
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| Christmas Belle |
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| At Cousin Thomas' wedding with Gee & Grandpa |
The weekend before Christmas, I had my birthday party. I'm SEVEN! We had a really great time, and enjoyed my "Bunny Science" theme. Mama made a really cool cake with science stuff AND bunnies. And Dada and I spent a lot of time making a catapult so that we could launch stuffed bunnies. Each friend got a stuffed bunny as a party favor, and we took turns seeing how far we could make them fly on the catapult. We even added weights to them to see if they would go as far or less far than without the weights; Dada helped us test our hypotheses! There was also a pinata and presents and lots of chocolate cake.
Our tradition of going to the SF nutcracker continued on Dec 23rd. We got all dressed up and enjoyed the show before a lovely dinner in Marin.
The night before Christmas, we also got dressed up and went out to see the neighborhood Christmas lights as we do every year. We then went out to a fancy dinner at a newish restaurant in Napa, called Bear. Afterwards, we came home to change into jammies, read Twas the Night Before Christmas, set out cookies for Santa and hop into bed. I am absolutely sure that I heard Santa and the reindeer on the roof!
The lights on Paradise lane
Dinner at Bear
Twas the Night Before Christmas
We got up at 8 on Christmas (Mama and Dada make us stay in our rooms until then!) and woke up Mama and Dada. And wouldn't you know it? T'he hallway was all blocked off with wrapping paper! Once we busted through, we saw that Santa HAD COME! We tore into our stockings, and my very first one was the facepaint that I had been asking for! Declan's favorite stocking stuffer were a bunch of Werther's Originals candies. After stockings, we had our yummy breakfast with homemade cinnamon rolls, bacon and eggs benedict. And then we got to open our presents from under the tree. Dada's big gift was an electric mountain bike, and Mama got a new embroidered white coat for work and a smart oven. Declan's big gifts were a virtual reality headset and a hoverboard, though he got lots of stuff to feed his popcorn addiction. I got a custom stuffie that looks like Spirit, roller skate shoes, and we both got a cool marble track & bows & arrows. We spent the rest of the day playing with our new toys!
facepaint!
hoverboard
who's going to get hurt first?
We had a wonderful prime rib dinner for Christmas and then spent the next week HOME as a family of four...The staycation was so lovely!
Stay tuned for the next post about January in Tahoe!
