November-December

DISNEYLAND

 Last year, when my family was visiting from Idaho, we went to Disneyland while it was all decked out with Halloween trimmings and trappings. This year I really wanted to see the Christmas decorations, and also take Antonia now that she'd be old enough to appreciate the experience a little more. Amidst the craziness of the holidays, we found a day to make a short trip to Anaheim (one benefit of living so close to So. California, you can get there and back in a day.)  I told the kids as soon as I knew for sure we could make it happen, because I wanted to milk that excitement as much as I could. One of the best things about having kids is experiencing excitement for THEIR excitement. Charlie was super excited. Antonia eyed me skeptically when I said we were going to Mickey Mouse's House. That girl was born a skeptic; some members of my immediate family might say she inherited that trait from me, but I think I would question that assessment...  

I highly recommend the 2nd or 3rd week of November for a visit to Disneyland, it wasn't crowded at all, the Christmas decorations were up, and the weather was breezy and cool, without being cold. Other than the things Charlie wanted to do (see Mickey Mouse's house, ride a couple of the more "unexciting" rides and NOT, under any circumstances, see Jafar at the Disney Villains Meet-and-Greet) we tried to do things we had never done before. We discovered a couple of gems, and one complete dud.

Previously undiscovered gems:

Storybook Land Canal Boats. Somehow, the seemingly real possibility that your 2-year-old will manage to fall over the VERY low sides of the boat makes the whole experience a little "edgier." But really, what's not to love about miniature reproductions of the villages and castles in all your favorite Disney movies? Antonia still talks about when we went inside the "big whale's mouf."

Do you see what I mean about the boat's low sides?

The Pirate's Lair at Tom Sawyer's Island. This is by far the coolest thing at Disneyland. I don't even know how to explain how cool it is, except to say that if I could have imagined a place to have the best pretend adventures EVER, it would have been something like this. Only probably not as cool. There are caves, a pirate's lair, some interactive activities--did I say caves? --and this thing:

Who WOULDN'T want to put their kids in this for a little while?

 The big dud was "Innoventions," despite its oh-so clever combination of the words "innovation" and "invention." No one in this family appreciated the being forced to listen to a product demo for some high-end home builder, especially not the 2-year-old with a poopy diaper. If you could finagle a way into the interactive play area without listening to product placement for 20 minutes first, you might want to give it a go.

As I mentioned, my kids are not very adventurous when it comes to rides, so the most exciting ride we did was the Astro Orbiter, which actually goes up in the air a little bit. Antonia's high-pitched squealing and giggling were a sure sign that she enjoyed it, and Charlie also had a huge grin on his face. 

"It's a small world" had spectacular Christmas lights

Charlie loves him a carousel ride. I'm so glad someone invented carousels.

Antonia was not sure she loved anything by that time of night.

 THANKSGIVING
My side of the family congregated in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving this year, and I was giving thanks for not having to drive to Idaho. My brother even came from Virginia with his wife, despite the distinct possibility that she might get in trouble with her doctor for boarding a plane so late in her pregnancy.

In spite of my best intentions to do a Christmas card this year, or at least take a Christmas-card-worthy picture of the family, this was the best we could muster. A background of ornaments as big as ya head are not exactly the stuff Christmas card dreams are made of...

Charlie and his cousin/ best buddy, Cameron

Riding the trolley

CHRISTMAS
 Now that Charlie is in the Pre-K class at Preschool, he had the special privelage of performing a little holiday program at a local retirement home. My favorite numbers were "Must be Santa" and "The Dreidel Song" (is that what it's called?)  Charlie got to stand between two of his favorite people, his hammy friend Harley, and his little crush, Roxy. An unofficial survey concluded that Roxy looks exactly like a pre-school version of Hermione, so I guess it's not hard to see the attraction.

This is Charlie's "I'm-tired-of-people-looking-at-me" expressions

The star of the show and his groupies

 At Christmas we again managed to avoid any traveling and Will's side of the family came to Vegas. I guess I'm grateful that I live somewhere that people can be enticed to visit, because I don't know if we could ever induce anyone to visit us on our own merits. Ha! Who am I kidding. My cuties could bring visitors to the black hole of Calcutta. And on a side note, what IS the black hole of Calcutta?

It has become a Las Vegas Christmas tradition to go to the Bellagio and see the decorations (animatronic polar bears, anyone?) and this year we got to see the water fountain version of the "Hallelujah Chorus," which I've never seen before. And it was wonderful. Totally worth the crush of strange tourists swarming the Strip on Christmas Eve. Per the suggestion of my altruistic sister, some of us also did a little musical performance at a senior care center, something that I would very much like to make part of the Christmas Eve routine.  Obviously, the Christmas Eve routine that Charlie and Antonia most enjoy is opening a present, which is always Christmas jammies.
  

Christmas jammies!

 
Here's a tangential story re: Christmas jammies. Yesterday (in April) it was 90 degrees. At some point around lunchtime, Antonia decided that she absolutely needed to change into her fleece Christmas jammies. Whereupon Charlie realized that he also needed to put on HIS Christmas jammies. It was 80 degrees in the house, and they wore those fleece pajamas all day.

So Christmas day was, as usual, a blur of presents, food and family. 

Charlie plays with his remote control car, a favorite toy until it went kaput around mid-February.

Charlie gets a different one of these Hess trucks from his Grandma Geri every year, and they are VERY cool.

Will's "Is Christmas over yet?" face

Dorothea points to what I can only assume is her favorite present ever: the ear warmer Aunt Adri made

Best. Face. Ever.   (And will someone please tell me when it's not cool to Do. This. Anymore.)

After church with Grandpa Gordon (Antonia has "nursery" hair. If you know what the nursery is like, you know what I'm talking about)

with Grandma Geri

with Aunt Clara

December is a very, very busy month for us, what with Will's concerts and a recital for our private students, Christmas gifts, parties etc. I have not yet figured out a way to fit it all in, and still have time to spend as much time as I would like showing my kids what Christmas should really be about. I'm looking for some good traditions, not too time-consuming, that we can help our family establish a more meaningful holiday season. Anyone who has any good suggestions, let me know!

In the meantime, enjoy a sampling of the "action" shots we've been doing since I got my new camera. I absolutely love having a camera that takes the picture WHEN I push the button, and not 2.8 seconds later!

Antonia, bless her heart, thinks she's jumping sooo high.