Miscellaneous Christmas Happenings

Mac got a stunning outfit for Christmas Sunday:

 We read Night Before Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, El Expreso Polar, and the story of Christ's birth in the book of Luke.

We watched Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Elf, and the Nativity Story. (Best representation of Christ's birth I've ever seen.  Definitely get it next year if you haven't seen it.  Makes me cry every time.)

We listened to Christmas music every single day.  Mac especially liked it when Alvin and the Chipmunk sang.  Also, the Muppets. 

 And we whirled around like mad trying to finish our Christmas shopping.  We hit yard sales, the internet, Kohls, Ross, and Target.  We went to the post office and the bank far more often than I'd like to remember.  We wrote letters ... but not as many as I'd have liked.  This little wonder seemed to take up all our time; there were several other things on my list that did not get done.  But Mark colored the roads and I did the rest, and somehow we finished it in time to wrap it and take it to Panguitch with us.

Christmas in Downtown LA

We decided we did not get wet enough the night before, so we went for more on Saturday. 

This time, we went to LA.

This is a big deal.  LA traffic is the worst thing on this entire planet, and we avoid it at all costs.  But add a whole lot of rain and people who aren't used to driving in it ... I'm not going to lie, I was seriously doubting the wisdom of this trip.

But we had to do it.  I just didn't know if I could go through another Christmas without seeing temple lights.  What Utahn didn't grow up seeing the Temple Square lights at some point during the month of December? 

We started off at the LA Temple Visitor's Center, where we watched Tony Mandino and the Messangers give a small, free Christmas Concert.  It was only awkward a couple of times, over all it was quite nice.  It also made me think that my sister could most definitely pursue a career in vocal performance if she wanted to.



This kid was quite loud.  And we happened to sit right behind the performers' cameraman.  Oops.  They are going to have a whole lot of grunts, laughing, clapping, "no no no", and squealing on their recording.  Sorry.



Greatest statue ever.  Gives me the chills every time.





Mac finally figured out, after 28 times of putting his hood back on, that having something on your head actually helps keep you warm.  Whew.  Glad we got that figured out.





We are wet.

 We then went and got dinner, which was really just a side note compared to dessert.  Have you ever heard of Diddy Reese?  My word ... if you're ever in LA you must go there.  I promise I am not just being dramatic.  They bake cookies in front of you, you pick between ten different flavors (or mix and match), choose between twelve different kinds of ice cream, and they whip you out an ice cream sandwich right before your eyes.  And it costs a dollar fifty.  Best place ever.

We then decided to top off our soaked evening with a walk around Santa Monica pier.  Mark and I had never been.  We had the place to ourselves, which was nice, but it was pouring buckets of rain on us at that point, and I was too scared  to take out my camera.

So we pulled into an arcade and snapped a couple there.

After deciding it was impossible to dry off/warm up, we squeezed past a man who apparently lives in the arcade (very bearded, grungy, carrying a sack and blanket, and fiercely conquoring every game he came to), we made it back to the car where we stripped Mac down, were temped to strip off our own soaked layers -- but didn't -- and somehow, Taylor got us safely home.

It was a wonderful weekend.

Another Neat Thing About California Christmases

In California, people with lots of money who live by the oceans not only decorate their homes (like we saw last year at Long Beach), they also decorate their boats.

The Hollands told us about this, and we decided we needed to witness this unique Christmas tradition.

But California tried to stop us; it blasted everything with the worst weather it could muster.  Luckily that is only rain and a bit of wind, so I puffed out my chest and showed off my "country girl" roots and said we could handle anything.

After hearing the show was cancelled, then on, then off, then finally definitely on, we trudged through the rain to see the million-dollar light job on the multi-million dollar boats.

 Before the show started we took shelter in a Mariner's Museum ... and look who we found!  This was a fantstic Santa; the second one Mac had seen, and the only one whose lap he would sit on.  Yay! 
 We flew back outside at the sound of the siren, and Janae saved us some spots under a little canopy.

 The wind turned out to be quite fierce, and not as many boats showed up.  But the ones that did were amazing!  But I kept thinking, "I could've gone to Fiji with the money they put into those lights." 

 Seth loved the boats and kept yelling, "Boats, boats!"  Lindy told him all about them.

 After we guessed it was over, we went and explored the Mariner's Museum some more.  They had free ornaments out that you could glue and paint and whatnot.  I was quite excited; I've been wanting to start the tradition of buying a new ornament every year that sums up what you did that year, but every decoration I liked was a bit more money than I was willing to spend.  But you can't top free.  A Christmas miracle!

 We explored the museum for quite some time.

Mac loved these little portholes.  He kept running back and forth between them.

Mark and Mac's first fishing trip ...

After warming up a bit we shuffled back to our cars and drove home, soaked with rain but happy as could be.

Writing Letters

Mac loves writing letters to Elder Jacob B. Thomas.

 He also loves writing on himself.

SCUHS Christmas Gifts

Mark finishes finals!  Six semesters down, four more to go.  Three actually; the last one won't be in a classroom and it won't require any tests.  Anyway, he did well, of course.  I'm sure party of that was due to his moustache.  Yuck.

I must say though, I love how involved his class is.  Sometimes I want to just go and hang out in the back of their classroom so I can be part of the crowd.  They are such good people, and they are always livening up that old school.  I mean really, lucky finals facial hair?  How cool is that?

They just exchanged gifts too, and Mark came home all but laughing out loud.  One of them dressed up as Santa and gathered all the secret classmate presents and redistributed them.  Mark's outgoing, incredibly friendly Canadian friend Comeau got something valid and a framed picture of him and Mark that said "Best Friends!"  Very cute.  Mark got some solid ties -- which he desperately needs -- and a shark. 

Mark explained:  nearly every day Mark wears his same favorite gray sweat pants to school.  They are stained, holey, and frayed.  I have bought him others just like them, but he doesn't wear them.  Anyway, he always gets teased at school about them.  Apparently everyone likes to make up stories about how they got to be so frazzled.  The latest and most popular story is that Mark was painting a boat when he got attacked by a shark.

Clever clever.

Thank you Janae

You know how some things take you right back to your childhood?  You remember all the excitement and frustrations that come along with being a tiny person, and it is fun to reminisce.

Jelly shoes do that for me.  They remind me of being six years old and chasing a shoe down the gutter, and ending up sitting by the drain, sobbing.  Not only had I lost my favorite shoe, but I was lost myself.  (You'd think I would just walk back up the sidewalk, but that didn't occur to me.)  Thankfully Mom got me more, and I wore them all the time.

And Janae found me some more.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
 

A Ben and Katie Visit

Ben and Katie came to visit!  It is always a pleasure to hang out with this lovely little family.  Mac was thrilled.

 He and Gracie were wrestling quite adorably, and he was happy as a clown the whole time they were here.  Katie kept saying he was sweet as sugar, but really, he was just so relieved to hang out with someone besides Mom and Dad.  Especially when they're as cool as Gracie and Eva.

We celebrated Ben's 30th birthday with an enormous park, Sushi, and a netflix.  We manhandled Disneyland, even with all its crazy business.

First ever teacup ride for everyone!  Don't blame them.  I hate the teacups.

Hippopotamus!  Gracie kept singing about how that's all she wants for Christmas.

This picture was kind of an accident, but I had to throw it in.  Mark is up to no good.

Okay okay okay ... have you seen this movie?  It is so painfully annoying, but one of my favorites as a kid.

 And then for our last day we hit some amazing yard sales (we are going to be holiday heroes), and then headed out to Huntington to walk around in the sunshine.  Ben and Katie have been missing sunshine.

 Our last meal together was at Durango's, and it did not disappoint.  Especially for these two.

Eva pounded those beans and rice.  Nobody does beans and rice like Durango's.

And then they were gone.  Only one full day together ... wish they could've stayed longer!  But I suppose we will have lots of together time during Christmas at Panguitch.  We are very excited.

The Most Important Meal of the Day

The other morning we ran out of eggs.  It was a terrible morning.

I suppose if you are used to eating three eggs, half a bagel, a banana/orange/etc., and yogurt with oatmeal every morning, that it would be quite difficult to change up your favorite part of the day.

I will try my hardest to not make that mistake ever again.  So sorry little booger.

Christmas Couch

I saw this couch at a yard sale and fell in love with it.  And when the owners told me they'd give it to me for $10, I couldn't refuse.  Luckily Janae had brought along her van, so this couch made it in to my house.

But ... it didn't fit anywhere.  Mark thought it was hideous.  It was definitely not very comfortable.  And we did not want to have to move it in a year.
So, I posted it on Craig's List ... for what I thought it was worth.  And these adorable little college gals called me, absolutely in love.  They had been searching for a "goldish-yellow" couch for months, and this was it.  I felt this might be the only goldish-yellow couch in existence, but I am quite glad that they liked it so much.  Mark told me they would be calling back to return it as soon as they got it home and sat on it ... but I think that to most girls, comfort is not near as important as looks.  And I don't think there is much that can beat this couch's looks.

So for a grand total of $80, we sold the couch.  Mac sobbed to see his favorite trampoline leave, but it will be worth it.

Just in time to finish off a little Christmas shopping. 

Benefits of a 65 Degree Christmas

Coming back from a -10 degree Thanksgiving in Logan, I actually felt really excited to be back in California.  One of the biggest reasons?  This little guy can play outside.

He has really been discovering the joy of parks lately; it is quite fun to watch him.  I feel lucky to live in a place where we can go any time we like.