Goodbye Christmas

It's the day after Christmas. Good bye Christmas! We'll miss you so very, very, very much!

I'm going to miss this tree and this view

I'm already halfway done with my Christmas break. The month of December came and went way too fast! It'll be so sad when all the Christmas decorations are put away. During the first week of break, we didn't really do much. The kids did a lot of movie watching because I was so tired or so focused on cleaning/organizing. Nesting is in 50% effect right now!

Celebrating the first day of Christmas break with some fraps

Prime rib dinner made by yours truly

Making snow angels right AFTER I had just made the bed!

My little sous chef

Mommy on break = play date with friends

More play dates

 My cute little poop heads

 Right before Christmas, the mister and I ditched the kids to celebrate my 30th birthday (yes, I will forever be 30... till I turn 40). 

 Happy birthday to me!

Rare fancy schmancy meal

Back to Christmas stuff... on Christmas Eve, we went up to San Bruno to celebrate with Dan's side of the family. It's crazy to think that next Christmas, there's going to be a baby added to the mix! 

Why, Char, why? Why are you so strange?!

The calm before the presents

Presents galore for Lucas

Presents galore for Charlotte

Posing with the grandparents

Last year, I decided to start a tradition with the kids. The furniture is moved around a bit so the kids can sleep in their sleeping bag in front of the Christmas tree. We came back pretty late so the kids fell asleep quite quickly. That was a great thing since "Santa" was getting pretty tired and wanted to "eat" the biscotti and lay out the presents before "Santa" went to bed too. 

Sound asleep within ten minutes

 All is calm

 The morning after... presents opened, watching the W's game

 Christmas dinner with my side of the family

Shopping the morning after Christmas

 The elfie family

... and that was Christmas in a nutshell! Next up, cleaning the house a bit, organizing the closets, and working on baby and school stuff! Hope you (whoever you are) had a great Christmas as well! 

Christmas All Around

Week two of December is definitely looking more and more like Christmas. We've done quite a bit this week. What was supposed to be a relaxing weekend was anything but relaxing. I was pretty beat the entire weekend with all the festivities. It doesn't help that I'm officially in my third trimester right now and I've learned that I can't just bend over to pick things up anymore, instead I have to squat. Anyway, the kids had a great weekend. So I guess it's a win.

How our Saturday began...

It still boggles my mind. When it's a school day, it takes them way longer to get out of bed. However, on the weekend, they can go to sleep much later and still wake up earlier than school. Why, children, why?!

Cousins get together

Apple Holiday Party

 ... at the Tech Museum (with Rogue One in the background)

On the way to the Apple party, a friend texted and asked if we would be interested in taking their Polar Express tickets tomorrow. I couldn't say no to that. This was something that's always been on my bucket list, but not on the high priority list. The kids had never seen the movie, so I had them watch it before going to church so that the ride would make sense to them. I'm so glad I did that! 

It was COLD in Santa Cruz

How we killed time before going to the "North Pole"

All aboard the Polar Express

 Lucas's golden ticket

 Charlotte's golden ticket

 I'm not so sure about the conductor...

We normally stay home on Monday nights. However, this past Monday was the last day of Bethlehem (in Santa Clara). We've been going there since we've been dating. I am positive I was in my early 20s during that time. Lucas also asked to go, how can we say no to the boy and seeing the real meaning of Christmas? Of course, his favorite part was the FREE hot chocolate (yes, he emphasized the free part for so odd reason). I always thought everything was free for him, he's one spoiled kid! 

You can't really tell, but there's Bethlehem!

And finally, I ordered family elf sweaters sometime last week and was glad it came before Christmas. I would be pretty mad if it came after Christmas! We're going to rock these next week since the kids will definitely grow out of them next year.

Elfie selfie

And it's already Wednesday tomorrow! Three more days till Christmas break! I can't hardly wait!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Did I mention that Christmas is my favorite time of the year? There's presents, the joy of moving our elves (Chippy and Snowflake) every night, a nicely decorated Christmas tree, etc. As the kids are growing older, it's nice to hear their conversations about the real meaning of Christmas too. Lucas remembers Bethlehem from last year and is excited to go there again this year. 

 Lucas was adamant about putting the star on the tree this year

 Two Advent calendars: Tsum Tsum and Star Wars

 So proud of their tree

 Waiting for Char to perform (Christmas performance)

 Char and her teacher

 Kids taking a break in my room while waiting for the 4's performance to end

 Lucas and his Kinder teacher

 Went out for a special treat (and games) after their Christmas performance

Bass Pro Shops is a great place for young kids to be during Christmas time

One of our traditions (I think this started a decade ago when we first started dating) is Christmas in the Park (A San Jose Tradition). Back story: Dan and I went to Il Fornaio for lunch one day before watching The Sound of Music. It was around 1 or so, we sat down, and no one came for nearly 15 minutes. We decided to walk out and go elsewhere for a late lunch. I quit yelping a few years back, so Dan took over. He wrote a review about our experience and the manager at Il Fornaio actually responded back to him and told him to bring his family back for a do over. So, that's what we did Saturday night! We had spectacular service and everything was grand spankin' free! The manager didn't even ask Dan to get rid of his review. That's class right there. (Don't worry - I told him to delete his original review and write a new one, without mentioning the mulligan.)

 Nice view by the window during prime dinner hour on a Saturday night

 Kids were happy

 Every Christmas tree = photo op

 Shinn tradition going strong...

Tonight was pretty low key. Most Sundays are. It involved laundry, tiding up the house a bit, and meal prepping for the week. I also like to experiment and create fancier than normal meals on Sunday nights. I couldn't get a prime rib today, so I decided to go back to our Chinese roots and have a nice (but simple enough) Chinese dinner.

 My view this afternoon

 Yup, she voluntarily passed out

 "Reading" a Star Wars book while waiting for their gingerbread house to dry

Their first time putting a gingerbread house together

The kids are super independent nowadays. It's hard to imagine what life will be like come March when we reset on life. We're dining at fancy restaurants, vacationing freely, and just enjoying life. March will be an interesting transition...

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy life with two "big" kids and celebrate our December traditions.