Santa found us in California!

Those yummy cookies that Owen and Emilia decorated were gone on Christmas morning! We had a relaxing day with the immediate family. The gift opening process was pretty slow. Emilia would pull one thing out of her stocking and then get distracted by the dog.

Santa Emilia riding on Brandy:Horsing around with daddy by the tree:Taking a break from presents with Poppy:Eric with smiler Henry:
The Nash family:Bedtime story:

Cookies for Santa

Aunt Melissa brought the fixings to decorate cookies for Santa. Owen did a great job, but Emilia was definitely more interested in eating the pretty icing than decorating a cookie. Maybe next year…

The real Christmas Eve

After Church on Christmas Eve, Grammy and Poppy hosted more than 20 people for dinner. It was great to see Great Grammy and all of Eric’s aunts, uncles and cousins.

Emilia showing off one of her presents:

Eric’s immediate family:Emilia with her cousins, Henry and Owen:Great Grammy with her great grandchildren:

Cousin chaos

On Wednesday morning, after a visit with our friends Keri, Eliseo, Luke and Makena, Eric’s sister, Melissa, her husband, Bob, and their boys, Owen and Henry, arrived! This was the first time we had met little Henry, who is six months old, and the first time they had seen Emilia since she was two months old. Since Owen and Emilia are only eight months apart, we knew they were going to have a great time together. They didn’t waste any time – here they are getting re-acquainted in a bubble bath.

Santa train at Irvine Park

On Tuesday night, we went to Irvine Park to ride the Santa Train. Again, it was cold! But, we had a great time. Emilia again cried for Santa, but as soon as we took her off his lap, she started saying “Santa!” and “bye!” and waving and smiling. Emilia loved the train. She learned to say “choo choo!” and even remembered the train when we went back a few days later to see some horses. One of the highlights for Emilia was the Santa Bounce House. Our daughter is fearless! She was right in there with the big kids having a blast.

Huntington Harbor cruise

On Monday night, we braved the cold to take in some pretty Christmas lights. Not only did we get to see some beautiful light displays, but we had a great view – from a boat! We rode a school bus down to the harbor (which alone would have thrilled Emilia) and we boarded a boat to cruise around to see gorgeous harbor homes all decked out for Christmas. It was chilly, but luckily Emilia stole Poppy’s hat to keep warm:

Baby, it’s cold outside

So it was cold on our trip – and not just cold for California. After looking at the weather a few days before we went and seeing highs in the high 60s, I packed entirely wrong. I’m not sure it made it into the 60s once! We looked for a few indoor things to do to stay warm. One day we went to South Coast Plaza, which is a big mall by Grammy and Poppy’s house. Emilia rode the carousel with Grammy, but was really wary of Santa, who was sitting just a few yards away. Here she is with Grammy and Poppy in front of the train: And daddy couldn’t resist letting her play in the fountain:

California Christmas

We flew to California via Dallas on the 21st. For the most part, Emilia did OK on both of our flights out. All three of us even took a nap at one point, which was nice. Grammy and Big Poppy met us at the airport and we drove back to their house where Emilia was ecstatic to see her best buddy, their dog, Brandy. Emilia helped Grammy decorate the tree and Poppy helped decorate Emilia:
Emilia started saying “Poppy,” and, even though she can’t say “Grammy,” she was saying “Mama,” which is what she calls my mom, too.

Christmas eve eve eve eve eve (or something like that)

Since we were traveling for Christmas, Santa made a special early trip to our house. We had a few gifts for Emilia – mostly things to occupy her on the long flight to California. She’s still clueless about the whole thing, but she can definitely repeat “Santa” and destroy a wrapped present.

The "ya ya" sisters

Emilia and her BFF Clara not only have matching PJs, but they also call pronounce each other’s names “ya ya.” Here they are a few weeks ago at our small group. Aren’t they adorable!