Merry Christmas!

Christmas came early again this year. Santa made a special trip to Rokko Island last night - lucky for us! - and the boys woke up this morning to some happy surprises. I'll post more later, after we return from Bali. I'm off to pack my bags!

Christmas in the CA Library

Isn't this a great tree? We got the idea from the FDR library in Peru, and had to make one of our own! As for the photo of Nubble Light in the background, one of the library assistants just happened to choose that for a slideshow of winter/festive scenes. Ahhhh!

Christmas Parties

I don't know about you, but we have been busy with holiday parties around here. We (co-)hosted two Christmas parties last weekend, and both were heaps of fun.

Cookies & Cocktails: First up was my annual cookies and cocktails party. To be honest, each year I wonder why I do this when everyone is so busy with other parties, holiday plans, and trying to keep up with the demands of work and school. But then, once the mulled wine is simmering away and everyone arrives and adds to the gorgeous spread of cookies (from which to swap later in the evening), I'm always happy I do it. Is there a better way to spend a Friday evening in December?

The Morning After: While not technically a party, it may as well have been! Denis and Dima couldn't believe it when I set out this platter for breakfast the morning after. Cookies for breakfast? Woo hoo! There were limits, of course, but still. Cookies for breakfast! Besides, we needed something to dunk in our hot cocoa.

Kids' Christmas: Then on Saturday afternoon, the Backyard Moms & Dads threw a Christmas party for the Backyard Kids (is it copyright infringement to re-name them the Backyardigans?). We celebrated with...

cookies (more cookies?!)...

stories...

crafts...

and carols.

The caroling was the highlight of the party, in my opinion. Four high school girls came to lead the younger kids in a few traditional Christmas carols, and everyone sang along. The kids held candles (fake ones for the little guys), and felt very grown-up to be able to do so! The quiet mood and atmosphere was just what everyone needed after a party-filled weekend. If you feel so inclined, below is a video clip (4:39) of the kids singing. 

Speaking of quiet, there were a few moments on the weekend when we weren't partying, but enjoying some quality pajama time. D & D both spent many a quiet moment looking through the different Christmas books from the trunk. Here's Denis with Richard Scarry's Best Christmas Book Ever (he recognized all the characters from the Busytown game - thanks again for that great game, Monica!) and Dima with his favorite, Dream Snow by Eric Carle. Can you tell that he loves to push the button in the back that makes music?

Christmas Baking

Some of our favorite calendar activities are centered around food. We love to get our hands messy (and, apparently, into the candy before it's time!) and our house smelling like Christmas. Over a series of a few days, the boys and I made gingerbread dough, baked the gingerbread cookies, and made our favorite edible Christmas wreaths. Yum!

Maybe it's me who's loco for LEGO... They've got such great designs that make perfect Christmas calendar clues!

Christmas Countdown - Day 1

The Christmas calendar is up and we've started the countdown. For the last week or so, the boys and I have been busy with all sorts of merry-making activities - decorating, baking, eating, drinking. Denis loves showing Dima how we 'do' Christmas at our house (we're counting this as Dima's first real Christmas since last year was a blur - albeit a happy blur!), and Dima has been walking around the house - and school and Rokko Island - exclaiming, "kiss-mas!" whenever he sees something festive. Fa la la la la...!

Day 1 had the following clues hidden inside: a tree puzzle, some marshmallows, and pictures of some of our favorite holiday books. 

Dima got to pull out the goodies, and Denis was in charge of finding the books.

The books for Day 1:

I couldn't resist LEGO's Advent calendar, so I threw one of those into the mix this year for a certain LEGO-crazy 5-yr-old that I know and love.  I'm not sure it's worth the money, but can you really put a price tag on imagination? Look at that face!

D & D then joined forces on the puzzle...

...which in itself was a clue for the real thing (well, an artificial version of the real thing, but no matter!).

By this point we had to recharge with some hot cocoa. Big D loved showing Little D what you do with those little pill cases full of marshmallows!

Day 1 ended with a trip up to the attic (much like the one in the book above!) to retrieve our own Christmas ornaments.