New Year's Eve

 

 

 

 

 

Family Gathering at the Charter Club

 

 

 

 

Driving north

 

 

 

For our driving trip up to Ashland and then Edmonds, we stocked up on holiday goodies and the audiobook CDs for "The Hobbit". We were surprised but not unprepared for snow on I-5, and took time for a snowball or two while gassing up. Ashland was beautifully lit, and only now does it seem funny we heard our mashed potatoe dinner crash coming out of the kitchen. Nonetheless, by skipping breakfast and keeping good speed, we made it well in time to check into the hotel in Edmonds and make our 6pm dinner reservations with the family.

Christmas morning 2012

 

 

 

We weren't up any earlier than normal, just 7:15am, despite some sleepless kids the night before. We soon saw that Santa ate all our cookies and left four full stockings and extra gifts under the tree. After opening stockings in the bedroom and eating a quick breakfast, Julie asked to be first (with Nate quickly offering to be second). I expected her to grab one of her presents, but instead she handed us a box -- a home-made kit of poems and necklaces she made for each of us, the layers carefully separate by tissue paper. Nate also painted a nice colorful orca whale on wood shingle. 

It seems like everyone got what they wanted: hair dressing set, camera, parasol, new brush, books/games, etc (Julie); Epic Dragon Battle Lego, camera, games/books, etc. (Nate); and a new iPad, sweaters, books & misc. stuff for the parents. After playing a bit, we visited the Martins in Pleasanton for drinks and more gifts before returning home for ham dinner. 

Christmas Eve Bike Ride

 

 

A sunny break between storms and a great day to ride down the trail to the waterfall and candy cane tree.

Holiday pretzels

 

A two-day affair: making holiday pretzels and four types of cookies to give away to neighbors and friends. This might be our last year doing this, because as Gina said, "I want my kitchen back!"

Julie's Class - Holiday Sing

And her second song.

Nate's Class - Holiday Sing

Nate's second song.

Library flyer

Look who's on our library's donation flyer for 2012. Photo taken during the transit of Venus event earlier this year.

Julie's letter to Santa

 

Another trip to SF

 

 

We drove in early Sunday morning to Union Square to do our normal Christmas-time route: Macy's window displays, the Christmas tree & ice skaters downtown, St. Francis Hotel, a short hike uphill to Grace Cathedral and the Fairmont Hotel's walk-through gingerbread house (above). An outdoor lunch at Cheesecake Factory overlooking the shoppers kept us powered through the day.

We had to do something…

 

…to mark 12/12/12, at 12:12 pm (and only 12 days until Christmas Eve). Gina treated me to lunch (and champagne/beer) at the restaurant in the Claremont Hotel. The outside patio was closed due to rain, but we found a couple of tall barstools with the best view.

Holidays in San Francisco

 

 

 

Gina had the great idea of going to the San Francisco Youth Symphony at Davies Hall to see the Peter & the Wolf / holiday song performance. Thanks to lucky parking, we picked up our will-call tickets and had time to take family pictures in front of City Hall (where we later saw it lit up in green & red), then bee-lined it to our side-orchestra seats. Afterwards, we had dinner reservations at Zero Zero and then stopped by our friend's annual holiday party in Noe Valley. I had to keep alert for the drive home, but it was Julie who said as we were getting into the car for the final time: "I think I'll pass out now."

Taking home the Christmas tree