One of my former coworkers is an incredible photographer. The moon was big and bright and looking like a warm orb in what was actually a freezing cold sky so I texted him. He sent me this photo he took and I loved bonding with him in that moment over the majesty of it all.
Hardly anyone requires cash anymore and every year I have forgotten to bring money to get into the Cheer and Dance Team Showcase but this year I was prepared with my cash. And not just to get in! But for snacks as well! Turns out they have moved to digital wallet- wah waaaaah. In any case, I was able to snag a good seat even though I arrived after it started.
Gita has already expressed interest in doing dance team at the high school level and I think she's really going to thrive. She's definitely had fun doing dance team at the middle school.
It's so interesting how a warm sunrise can make a bitterly cold day feel a bit less harsh.
On my lunch hour I walk the mall to do a bit of window shopping and get away from my desk. I made the mistake of stopping in to Box Lunch and discovered these mystery pin packs of Disney princess macarons. A few boxes in and I was obsessed with getting them all- to the point I bought every last box they had. Turns out those last 3 were exactly the pins I was missing and I ended up with the full set! Sounds silly but it was a bit of fun I really needed.
The office is cold but with the holidays I had the perfect excuse to wear a festive scarf and hat!
The people at work can be raccoons with the free food. One morning there was a huge bowl of avocados and someone took all the avocados including the bowl! Eventually the bowl returned, but I decided to form an alliance with the woman who orders and lays out the food. Eventually I got my avocado and enjoyed it with cream cheese on toast with some salt and pepper. It was fabulous!
Brent and I had a great time at his work holiday party. We were only there for about an hour and half which is my sweet spot. We chatted with a few people, ate the delicious food and headed back to our hotel for a quiet night (what we really needed in the middle of the hectic holiday season).
Love getting a night to ourselves to just slow down and connect.
The food really was SO good!
With school out for the year I encouraged the girls to clean out their closets and drawers and donate items they didn't feel had a place in the New Year. I found Liesel in her room, sitting inside a drawer she had pulled out of her dresser... ahhh I love my ADD girl!
High on her priority list was to get her haircut and Brent helped make that happen. I will always miss her long, blonde locks but this definitely looks better than her grown out 'do!
The older two girls were busy with a Madrigal's performance at another church so they missed the ward Christmas party but we had fun anyway. There was also a service project putting together meal kits which was a lovely addition.
My gosh I loved this year's Christmas card! I've never put so much work into a card and I probably never will again. There aren't really any Christmas cards with an art deco style to them, so I edited a wedding announcement and yes, paid extra for the gold foil so it would really stand out!
I chuckled over the update- throwing every gangster reference I could think of. Brent heartily approved and it felt sooo good to finally click "approve" because man I'd spent hours and hours perfecting it. Yes I know these eventually end up in the trash and a lot of people don't even bother but it is my way of sending a little love out into the world during the holidays.
The girls patiently (or maybe impatiently) waiting as Brent finished up a breakfast which was a tater tot casserole with a choice of orange juice or eggnog with coconut whipped cream. Gita and I discovered that at Trader Joes and with 1/2 eggnog and 1/2 regular milk it is now our favorite holiday drink!
You know the kids are growing up when they walk right past the Christmas tree and presents- ha!
I loved this year's pajamas although I'm confident Liesel's somehow were switched with Gita's. I have no idea why Sydney has only one sock on but hey- they all look fabulous in this shade of blue.
"Sorority girl squat!" This year I put Liesel in charge of taping up the Christmas cards we received and she did it with such meticulous perfection I think she will need to do it every year!
The girls mentioned they would actually enjoy the Christmas pajama tradition a bit more if Brent and I joined in. Since I'd bought these right after Christmas last year when they went on sale, I am making notes for next year!
I have to laugh at myself because sometimes I forget little details and sometimes I go overboard. The girls have plenty of ornaments but I some Mickey ear photo frame ornaments and thought they would be perfect since we had just taken a trip to Disneyland. But when we actually set up the tree, everyone commented on the glut of ornaments we have. So I think I'm going to back off on those for a while!
I didn't do individual advent calendars like I did last year, still not sure how I feel about those. Somehow come Christmas Eve I don't feel like I've done enough for Brent which always escapes my notice until we are stuffing the stockings. It always feels like I've done a ton because I help each of the girls with their gifts for him and of course I've taken care of a gift for him, but I still forget the little things like his stocking stuffers! I managed to have a few, but I felt like I could have done better.
When I landed my new job, I wanted to get a new tree, a really BIG tree, a pre-lit tree! I measured the ceiling height which was 10' so I insisted we get a 10' tree. The fat one. Because we had space, right? Oh man, that thing is HUGE! It came in 2 heavy boxes and fluffing it took me hours and when I secured the final section in place, it scraped the ceiling. Brent gave me a wry look. Oooohkay so we would not be putting a tree topper on this one! I felt like a proper idiot for not taking that into consideration. I have to say, it looked incredibly festive from the street! Once it was all set up up, that tree was on 24-7! We enjoyed it all season long, for sure.
On to gifts!
Typically I'm happy to just sit back and enjoy watching everyone else but this year there were several gifts that really got me. Brent and the girls gave me a bottle of Chloe which I've always wanted. I've mentioned to my sisters how I'm motivated by "little Danika" and how I want to make her proud. Whitney gave me this:
In case you can't tell, that's now me hugging little me. The card said Danika I know that "little Danika" is proud of you and it caught me so off guard I started crying.
The gift that elicited the biggest reaction was this ugly Christmas sweater Whitney gifted Brent!
Ha ha- can you see our old tree behind him positively dripping in ornaments?
Traditional Pringle pics!
Another lovely addition this year was having a bit more furniture meant fewer people sitting on the floor! Slowly but surely we are transitioning into a more grown-up house and I have to say, that is nice.
I worked overtime in the days leading up to Christmas so I could get off work early and join everyone downtown. Sure I would have preferred to just have the day with the family, but it warmed the cockles of my heart when he sent this photo of them all dressed up and ready to go.
Initially I was just planning to meet them at Rockefeller Chapel but I ended up working through my lunch so I just left for the day (rather than take lunch, log in for 20 minutes and then leave for the day).
It was just enough time to get a full family photo and check out some of my favorite Christmas trees.
Of course I have to get a good shot with just the girls!
We only had time for a couple of exhibits and so we stopped by Extreme Ice where the girls were shocked and dismayed to find the ice wall was gone! Turns out it's being moved to another part of the museum so it will be back... eventually.
We headed to Rockefeller Chapel to get a good seat (and good parking!) before Lessons and Carols.
Turns out we were very early and found amazing seats right up front! In years past, I would have been concerned about little kids squirming and complaining but they were all fine to hang out and wait for the program to start. They even explored the amazing chapel a bit and we considered the possibility of sitting in the balcony next time (see Ireland up there?)
Sydney accidentally sat on her candle so she swapped hers with Brent and I have to say he managed it without dripping wax on himself quite skillfully! As the girls have grown and developed their own love for music, this tradition has only become a richer part of our Christmas.
After all of the hustle and bustle of December, the Silent Night part of the program always brings me the peace I'm looking for. Something about raising that candle on the last verse and seeing the chapel in the warm glow makes it feel like everything is going to be okay.
We've done Christmas crackers for years but it was when I watched With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration that I found out people usually cross their arms and crack them together. I mentioned it to a friend from South Africa who said, "Ooooh yes! It's bad luck to open one on your own- they're meant to be opened together!" Well that explains several years of bad luck! I was determined to break the streak so we all crossed our arms and pulled at the same time. Gita must have tugged a bit harder because she ended up with two, uncracked crackers in her hands.
We tried again and finally got those suckers to crack! A little Notorious B.I.G. homage with those colorful crowns.
With the girls in their Christmas pjs, they began laying their presents under the tree and one by one went off to bed. After a looong work week and a late night, I was fading fast but I managed to help Brent stuff stockings before falling asleep watching Christmas movies.
I'd had most of the presents bough and wrapped before October- a record for me. Between a new job and Disneyland I knew it would be a stretch to throw in more expenses. Even so, there's always last-minute preparations that demand some time and attention (usually the girls gifts to each other and to Brent) and now it was done. Christmas was ready at last! And that feels so very satisfying!!!
I love watching my daughters dance. I do. That said, the dance showcase always seems to fall within two weeks were: 1- Brent is out of town, 2- I am horribly sick or 3- We have a million other things going on. This year Brent was not out of town and miraculously I was not sick BUT Gita's classes were doing their showcase the same night as Liesel and Ireland's winter concert. Brent and I knew we'd have to divide and conquer on that specific night to make it work. He took Sydney to the concert and I watched Gita at dance.
Brent was able to make it to Sydney's Intermediate class which was the previous week and it was great. She has some fun friends in this class and as always, I'm amazed by her progress. For the tap portion, her teacher tapped out a Christmas song and then asked students and parents to guess which song it was. It came down to the very last one and none of the students could figure it out so she threw it to us parents. I leaned over to Brent and said, "Somethin' Around the Christmas Tree???" ROCKIN AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE! Brent called it out and we won. We even got stickers!
I remember when we scheduled dance classes for the year and realized Brigitta could knock all but one of her classes out in one night. How convenient! Just two trips to the studio! Oi vey- that was a bit myopic. As I sat in a hard, metal, folding chair I realized what she was putting her body through in the course of the evening. By the end of the night I was exhausted, and I was only watching! However, I have a renewed appreciation for how very dedicated Brigitta is to dance.
Lyrical
This tap warmup was pretty darn cute!
They finished learning this combination that night and then the teacher drilled them with it.
I've always loved hip hop because it's so fun! It's also pretty high energy and yeah, this is a lot of dance to cram into one night.
While I was taking all this in, Brent was enjoying a lot of Christmas music at the high school. Liesel's favorite song to perform was Veni Veni Immanuel.
Liesel's balled class was also a different night than the concert so I got to watch her for the last time. I teared up when I realized that and just soaked in watching her move so beautifully and gracefully.
