Declan Hercules & Keevah Nyx House: Keevah Nyx: A magical 9th birthday & Christmas 2025

What a fun & crazy & amazing month this has been!

We returned from our London/Prague trip on December 7th, and hit the ground running for the holidays. Declan & I had our Christmas performance at school - I sang with my class, and Declan read some Bible verses. Then we had some end of the year fun with holiday parties in our 3rd & 7th grade classes.

Singing with my 3rd grade class at Church Xmas show

Declan doing a reading at the service

With my best friend Elizabeth

The last day of school before the holidays was a half-day, and coincidentally my 9th birthday! We had decided long ago to have a Harry Potter birthday theme, as I'm still enthralled by the book series. I'm currently on book 5, and loving it all! We brought 10 of my friends home with us from school on the "Hogwarts Express" and arrived to find that Mama & Dada had transformed our house into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry! There was Platform 9 3/4, floating candles & house banners decorating the Great Hall. After being greeted by Dumbledore (Grandpa), Professor Trelawny (Gee), Hagrid (Mr. Lukas), Professor Sprout (Miss Cami), Professor Snape (Dada) and Professor McGonagal (Mama), we started with the sorting hat, of course! As each "student" put on the hat, it "spoke" to them and assigned each to one of the four Hogwarts houses (courtesy of Declan & a hidden speaker). We then attended a few classes. We "transfigured" ourselves with props for a photo shoot, then planted veggies in Herbology Class with Professor Sprout. Professor Trelawny read our palms & did some crystal ball gazing. Professor Snape then led a rather stern Potions Class, where we learned about Alchemy - and some of us were even successful at creating explosions that resulted in the formation of gold! Care of Magical Creatures was another highlight - a reptile lady visited with lizards, bearded dragon, snakes & tortoises! It was so fun to hold and pet all of these really cool animals, and learn a lot of of cool animal facts. We then played a fantastic game of Quiddich complete with quaffles & a golden snitch drone! Back inside, we enjoyed treats at Honeydukes, including an awesome cake made by Mama. And then we went for a swim in the Great Lake with the Giant Squid! It was a pretty epic 6 hour party!

Mama made an awesome cake!

All set up at Honeydukes!

Even our Elves got in on the Harry Potter action

All ready to enter through Platform 9 3/4

Professor Snape & little Hedwig (Miss Edie- our nanny's1yo)

Grandpa made a convincing Dumbledore!

Herbology

Transfiguring for the photobooth!

Care of Magical Creatures with a blue-tongued skink

And some snakes...

and some turtles!

Potions class!

Quiddich!

Mr. Lukas wasn't half bad as Hagrid!

Should Dada grow his hair out?

Professors Trelawny & McGonagal

Professor Trelawny doing Divination

The gang at Honeydukes

The Great Lake with the Giant Squid!

That weekend, we then headed to San Francisco for a fun Alice in Wonderland breakfast, followed by the Nutcracker Ballet with friends. We all still really enjoy the ballet, and picked out an awesome Nutcracker at the gift shop to add to our collection. We then settled back at home for Christmas Eve - and our traditional Santa Tracking all day, then tour of the local Christmas lights, followed by a fancy dinner at BEAR. This year, I got to read our 'Twas the Night Before Christmas book for the FIRST time! I felt really confident in my reading enough to get through the whole book! I slept in Declan's room that night, which is our annual tradition.

Enjoying Brunch at Son & Garden in SF

Check out these mocktails! Topped with cotton candy or a fruit punch ice-bear

First time in a self-driving car!

Obligatory pre-Nutcracker photos.

Super coincidence - Elizabeth was at the Nutcracker with her family too!

We went with Mr. Josh (Dada's Kobold cofounder) and his family, visiting from Alabama

Back at Home for Christmas Eve

Santa Tracker!

Checking out the lights on Paradise Lane

Dinner at BEAR

Getting settled for 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

My first year reading the book

Leaving out milk, cookies & carrots...and also Sauternes & blue cheese in case Santa gets tired of all the sweets!

Sleepover in Declan's room!

Then we woke up so excited on Christmas Day! We were allowed to burst through the wrapping paper blocking our bedrooms from the living room & tree at 8am once we woke up Mama & Dada. We unwrapped our stocking gifts (so many fun ones!) and then had homemade cinnamon rolls & omelets for breakfast. After a painfully long and seemingly deliberate delay in cleaning up the kitchen, we were finally allowed to open up the gifts under the tree. My favorite gifts were a pull-up bar, a balance board, a fun "sound' game, and the best of all: a robot pet! This robot pet is named Loona, and she's so cool! She can fetch, follow me, transform into different animals, read bedtime stories, play laser tag, dance, sing & more! Declan got a few other fun things, including a basketball hoop for our new pool, but he finally got his beloved PS5. He was the only one of his friends without one, and they kept texting and calling all morning to see if he got it! We had a lovely Christmas dinner of oysters & then lamb & wild rice.

Excited for stockings on Christmas morning

After a painfully long breakfast, we got to opening the presents from the tree.

Keevah designed a skateboard for Declan, with an awesome image of Hercules on it!

A basketball hoop for the pool

A new massaging desk chair

Pool floaties!

A new backbend assist for Keevah!

The gymnastics isn't going to well - I'm more of a Taekwondo sort of girl!

And an awesome robot pet called Loona!

Leopard flats for Mama

Lots of love from the doggos

and Declan finally got his very own PS 5

Christmas dinner

Delicious oysters

Did not love my first oyster!

Lamb, wild rice, broccoli & an AMAZING bottle of wine (that I didn't get to drink, but the parents loved it!)

We had a few relaxing days after Christmas, and then one nice dinner party with friends. Gee & Grandpa then came and we celebrated our little Christmas with them over New Years with more gifts & a prime rib dinner! They were absolute lifesavers helping us get all the Christmas stuff put away, house cleaned, garage organized and all packed!