With New Years Eve upon us, so is the end of the Holiday season. I love Christmas and all the family time that comes with it. This year we did lots of fun things.
This year we met lots of our cousins in San Francisco for the holiday version of Beach Blanket Babylon. BBB is a San Francisco tradition, and a bit difficult to describe if you aren't familiar with it. A good time was had by all!
A Long time tradition for us is decorating our gingerwood house. This year the boys actually worked together to plan out and execute the design.
Unfortunately I must have screwed up the icing. 15 minutes after the boys were done I went to look at the house. Epic fail. The roof completely slid off. I was way more upset than the boys.
 |
| As usual, Zach has headphones on. It makes him so enjoyable to be around! |
I always love picking out the tree. The boys? Not so much. They subscribe to the "grab the first tree you see" school of thought and have no patience for my pickiness.
 |
| Vinnie, decorating the tree |
I always enjoy baking and love trying new recipes. This year I made peppermint shortbread, Christmas buttons (addicting!!) and rocky road.
Vinnie sang in the children's choir for Christmas Eve Mass. He even had a solo, Away in a Manger and rocked it!
After Mass we went to my sister-in-laws house for her annual Christmas Eve party. This was a first for us, as we usually stay home and do our own thing. It was a blast, except the little ones came home talking about their cousin who told them he didn't think Santa was real (thanks Petey!) I promised to try and stay up and catch the fat man in the act.
And lo and behold, I caught him!! Really, he isn't very graceful and made quite a bit of noise so it wasn't that hard. I took a quick picture as proof and quickly went back to bed before he caught me. The kids were thrilled to see the picture, and Vinnie is still talking about it!
It was a very "apple" Christmas in our house. Santa brought 3 ipod touches and 1 Macbook for the boys. Santa was pretty generous with Pete and I as well.
Unfortunately, the above is Vinnie's ipod touch after 2 days. Shattered after being dropped. Our fault as we hadn't got around to getting a case for it. It still works, but looks pretty bad. They are now all put away until the otterbox cases we ordered arrive. Does anyone know how to replace the faceplate? I am just sick about it.
A couple days after Christmas we went back in to San Francisco for a showing of Grinch the musical. A great production that we all really enjoyed. I highly recommend it!
The holiday ended with a brief visit from Grandma Liz.
And tonight? We are having 4 of our nieces and nephews (ages 8 - 9) over for a New Years Eve party and sleepover! (Zach got a better offer and will be at another party)
Have a safe and happy New Years!!
.jpg)
