Christmas Part 1 (Pre-Christmas)

So much happened over the holidays that Christmas is going to have to be a 3-part post!  The weeks preceding Christmas were filled with FUN and ANTICIPATION (of course) and I think ages 4 and 6 year are probably the BEST possible ages for maximum Christmas excitement.  They really couldn't wait for it to come and every day we had a big ol' countdown.

IHM puts on an annual Christmas show.  This year was a Christmas carol concert.  It's hard to see Jacob in the video but he really enjoyed all the singing.  Each grade had to wear a certain solid color and 1st grade was green. Thank goodness we already had a solid green polo thanks to cousin Colin.

Of course we took our annual trip down to Eucalyptus Street with the Robins to see the lights!

(Maddie refused to get in this picture above)

Then, as if we hadn't gotten enough of holiday lights, we drove down to Los Gatos on another night and waited OVER AN HOUR to drive through the the "fantasy of lights" at Vasona Park.  I hadn't heard about this until this year.  They decorate an entire park with lights and you can drive through in your car at night.  The wait was LONG.  But it was totally worth it!  The kids LOVED it.  We brought the Cadillac so they could hang out the sun roof to see the lights (don't worry, it was totally acceptable!)

Maddie watching from the sun roof.  Yes, in superhero pajamas and a cape!

This is not the best quality of video but I love the excitement in Maddie's voice as she notices the lights!




This one is better!


It really was a neat thing to see -- I just wish that darn wait wasn't so long.  I can see this becoming a future tradition leading up to Christmas.

And of course there was lots of cookie making and decorating going on in our house.

On Christmas Eve, we tried a new restaurant for dinner called Paul Martin's American Grill.  Nice atmosphere and great food!  And of course, amazing company.