Christmas in Cali

I'll tell you what . . . Christmas time is the right time to go to Bakersfield. We drove into groves and groves of orange trees, green grass, green trees and beautiful weather. I loved being there in December and on our way home to snow and very cold temps I had a serious talk with Scott about where we could move that is warmer. The kids got to run wild OUTSIDE in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. It was great. And we got to "swim". Always a favorite with Brie and Ava.I mostly loved being with so much of my family. The night before Jessica left we had the traditional (what we did on Christmas Eve growing up) cheese fondue. Delish.Scott taught the Skinner kids about the new and exciting world of cheese whiz though and to Laura's dismay . . . they ditched the fondue were all over cheese in a can.
We had an extended family party in Orange County so we visited the California Science Center first. It was so cool. We really loved it and will definitely go back.

Our kids went all the way to L.A. to snowmobile.
Zachy was climbing the walls ready to dive in. Thank you Jessica for saving the kid.
The weather was GORGEOUS! I think it was 75 degrees. We were loving a picnic outside on December 27.
We stopped by the Los Angeles temple on the way home to see the lights. This is the tree Scott and I took a picture in on our wedding day. Now 7 1/2 years and 3 kids later.
Eventually Bryce showed up and who did he bring with him, but a new fiance!!!! Yipeeee! We are all so excited for him. Serena is wonderful and seems to be the perfect match for Bryce. We are looking forward to their wedding day.

Dad welcomed Serena to Bakersfield right by taking us all to dinner and then ice cream at Dewars!We go all the way down the counter.
We celebrated New Year's with everyone by handing the kids measuring cups to clap together and poppers at 9 pm. They watched the ball drop in NYC, ran outside yelling "Happy New Year" banging their measuring cups. They were then all tucked right in bed. Then the real party started . . . a drive through the Jack In The Box drive thru for fries and shakes. Whoo Whoo!
And the next day we were off. . . . driving the long drive back home. We unloaded once we got home and we had this to tackle. Yikes. A lot of laundry and a lot of new things to put away.We had a great visit to California. I'm so glad we got to be there for Christmas and then some. Can't wait to go back.

Happy Birthday Brielle!

Brielle turned 5 years old on Christmas day. 5 years old seems like she is really growing up. And she is. I am so happy to be her mother, to spend each day with her, to laugh at her "sparkly" personality and marvel at what a beautiful girl she is. I love our baby Brie.

When we were all done with Christmas morning we all got ready and went to the movies. We have been waiting and waiting to see Tangled. It was the perfect thing to do for Brielle's birthday. We got there early because we heard it was going to be packed. We were the only ones in the theater for about 30 minutes. The movie started and then about 20 minutes into it the film burned up and the movie shut down. And we were done. Brielle didn't seem to mind at all, it just meant we got to come back another day and see it. We did and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it. So cute.That evening was her birthday dinner. Brielle asked for shrimp and macaroni and cheese. We started with an appetizer of shrimp cocktail and then had Macaroni and Cheese, Honey Baked Ham and salad. Oh and Mug Root Beer. For dessert she asked for Angel Food Cake (only because of the word "angel" in it. It's the same with angel hair pasta.) with berries. My dad made some heavenly cherry, chocolate ice cream to go with it. Delicious.And then some more presents. . . Brielle got her first set of Legos from us and Grandma took her to build-a-bear to make Clarice (Rudolph's reindeer girlfriend) for her birthday.Happy, Happy Birthday Brielle dear!

Christmas

Christmas morning finally came. Scott and I were up first, of course, with Zachary who didn't sleep past 5:30am the whole time we were in CA. We waited and then Brielle and Ava joined us to check out what Santa put in our stockings. Eventually everyone was awake and ready to start the two hours of present opening. It honestly is so fun to have Christmas with so much family.

Skinner kids and Buchanan kids.Allred kids. Next year we'll work on matching jammies.
And the presents . . .

all Ava asked for was a dog that walks and barks. She wanted it to actually walk her around the block. When this one didn't she just drug it around saying, "I not like this dog."all Brielle asked for was a Disney Princess Magic Rise Oven. Wish granted and she was quite happy.
I asked for a number of things, but the only one that wasn't over $500 and could easily be transported was this beautiful coat. Thank you Scott.
Piano keyboards from Grandma and Grandpa.
Mom and Dad opening the beautiful book that Jessica made for them. Love it.
We had a great time giving and getting and then when we were all done we moved into the kitchen for Mom's Christmas quiche! What a good Christmas morning. Oh and it was 70 degrees that day! Even better.

Christmas Advent: 21 - 24

Day 21: Drew Christmas Pictures. This was a lovely day. It was so very relaxed. We had no where to go and it was snowing outside. Perfect. We watched the snow out the window. I simmered some delicious potpourri on the stove so the house "smelled like Christmas". We packed for our trip to California and for our Christmas activity we got out the crayons and drew pictures.The Nativity by Brielle
The Nativity by Alicia
A Gingerbread House by Ava

Day 22: Santa Came Early!!!! Can you even believe it? Santa knew we were going to be in CA for Christmas and that it would be hard to bring our presents back home from there, so he came early to our house. The girls got a doll house and Zachary got a Little People Garage. Everyone was very happy and played all morning while I got us ready to go to California. We left to drive to Las Vegas that afternoon.P.S. I love this doll house. Maybe even more than Brie and Ava. It is gorgeous. The decor of the rooms, the furniture - all of it is so cute. And they play with it all day. Hooray!

Day 23: Arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We made it. After an AWFUL night in a hotel room in Vegas we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Bakersfield. We were all very happy to be there for Christmas. That evening Grandma took us to see the lights in Haggin Oaks. We visited the house where all the kids dress as Disney characters and put on a little show. I think Brie thought we had arrived at Disneyland. It was great.
Day 24: Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was spent doing a little more shopping with Krista's Target discount. Then the kids got to make sugar cookies with my mom to put out for Santa that night. We had our Allred family Christmas Eve dinner with our Aunt, Uncle, cousins and Grandma and then acted out the story of the nativity. I absolutely love being at home for Christmas Eve. I was so glad to be there with my family.The cast getting ready for the performance.
The famous Star.
The angels, Mary, baby Jesus, everyone singing a Christmas carol and Davin (the shepherd) either flipping me off or shooting himself in the head.
Zachary got to take over as the star.
The girls frosted their cookies for Santa and loaded them with candy. They also put out apples for the reindeer. Then they were off to bed until Christmas morning.