Post-Christmas

We rounded out our fantastic Christmas trip with a visit to Montecito to check out the gallery that's selling my dad's work. It's the Portico Gallery. The picture below is great, but oh my, the shirt is not doing me any favors and you can all guess what my New Year's Resolution is. Anyway. . . we then ate at a great Mexican restaurant and walked out on the Santa Barbara pier. The next couple days we hung around the house and enjoyed family and friends, playing rock band, "Ticket to Ride" and Rook. We made the discovery that having Anna on your team is actually the secret weapon to winning Rook (luckily she was on my team).

So, now we're back, and happy to be back. It was so much fun to be around all the family. But, as Dorothy is literally saying right now on our TV "there's no place like home!" (Wizard of Oz is a favorite around here).

Christmas Day!

We've had a difficult time figuring out how to handle the Santa Claus thing with Avery. I definitely love the idea of waking up to presents that "Santa" left, at the same time, I'm not very invested in my kid believing in something that's not true (I know, kill joy). Our compromise was to talk about "pretend Santa Claus" ! So "pretend Santa Claus" came to California for Elliot and Avery and left primarily flat toys that fit easily into checked baggage :) Thanks Santa. One of Avery's favorite presents was a makeup set from Aunt Anna. She proceeded to gussy up all the menfolk the rest of the day. Good sports all.

Christmas Eve

Arguably the most exciting part of Christmas for me. . .Christmas Eve. Our family always has a program. This year, Avery was Mary and Elliot Baby Jesus (when trying to explain the nativity to Avery she got a little confused and asked "Is Baby Jesus my friend at nursery?" Hm, sort of). Leah and Bethany signed some Christmas songs, and, as you can see in the picture below, Avery joined as well. The dinner, which is a different theme every year, was a vegetarian medley of really yummy stuff. Mom made eggplant parmesan that was so good, my 17 year old cousin ate ten or so of them. Now that's a compliment.

Pre-Christmas

We had a 6am flight coming into CA, and so one of the first orders of business once we got into TO was a nap. After we had perked up a little, mom and dad took us to the Ventura Harbor to see the boat lights parade. By amazing chance and luck, we were finally seated at the pizza restaurant just in time for the parade with a great view of the harbor. The next day we went to see Grandpa Kerr, and he was charmed, as we all are, with Elliot's good humor and smiling. Mom put us to good work the following week by having us paint my Grandpa's kitchen and entryway, but then rewarded us all with a game of bowling. I didn't post it here, but I do have a picture of my WIN over Mike in the first game. (he won the second. . .by quite a lot). As always, the most fun was just hanging out with family.

Yeah, I wish.

Contrast

On the 19th we left what was one of the worst Washington storms in recent memory and flew to the Golden State. Even though the snow is beautiful, I was glad we were able to enjoy it for two days rather than 10. When we flew back, it was nearly all melted.

I guess my children will be having nostalgic memories of a white Christmas (that is, before we fly to CA for some SUN! Woo hoo!)

Move over michaelandannacosta photography :)

So, as you can see, one of Avery's favorite things to do is take pictures. As a result, whenever I go to download my pictures I get a bunch of "surprises" and often a full memory card. Here's just a sampling.

Despite our best efforts . . .

So, we tried to establish a no thumb sucking rule in our house, but you can see how much our proclamations are respected :) Cute bean.

The Downtown Scene.

On Monday the girls and I went into downtown Seattle with my girlfriend and her two kids to check out the holiday festivities, the main attraction being the carousel set up just for Christmas. First stop, Johnny Rockets and then it was on to the horses. And, it was really fun for me because, although I've been to pike place market and the Seattle Center more times than I care to remember, I'd never been to this part of downtown. It was in the heart of the shopping district (in between Macys and Nordstroms), and all the holiday decorations (including the Nordstroms Santa house, where pictures with Santa are a mere $22 for one 5x7!) made it a really fun excursion.

Christmas Magic!

Last week Mike went to a work holiday party, a wine and cheese thing, where kids were politely uninvited - so I uninvited myself as well and took the girls to this magical, magical place called warm beach. It's a camp that turns itself into a christmas lights wonderland every year, complete with Santa, and pony rides, a "Polar Express" train ride, wagon rides, a talking tree, carolers and unbelievable strung light displays. The pictures below capture most of the activities. Mom, you would have liked it this night especially because they had a high school band playing holiday songs and piped the music throughout the camp. It would have brought a tear to your eye :)

Three's a crowd.

The other day Avery wanted me to stay with her in her bed for a few minutes while she fell asleep for her nap. Being a mother of two now I had to take my second child with me, and after a few minutes of us all snuggling in the bed, Avery decided three was a crowd and built Elliot her own little bed on the floor. Elliot took in all in stride with her customary attitude "I don't know what the heck these people are doing, but I'm chill."

Leavenworth

On the way home from Idaho, we stopped at the little Bavarian town, Leavenworth, which is known for its Christmas lights and shops. Of course, Avery fell asleep literally 10 minutes before we drove into town, but I'm not one to miss an opportunity to create warm family memories, even if it means waking up a sleeping child and dragging her half awake through 40 degree weather to look at (not touch!) Christmas ornaments. :)

Thanksgiving/Darren and Cari's Open House

We spent Thanksgiving in Moscow, and this time was particularly special because Darren and Cari had their open house/wedding reception on Saturday evening. The picture below is from the reception, which was beautiful and well-attended despite fears that everyone would be out of town over Thanksgiving weekend.

The following picture is of Avery posing with the framed portrait my dad drew of her that we gave to Monte and Sandy for Christmas. Too cute, right? On Saturday morning, all the grandkids got to open their Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa Walker and we threw in our presents to them as well.

The next couple pictures are of Elliot Dee: one with her great-Grandma Starkey at the mall on Black Friday, and the other taken in the car. And check out the video posted below of Elliot talking :)