Chreeeeesmusss

Here's how the holidays shook down chez nous. Tod's kids were here for a while in the week leading up to Christmas. My kids love it when they are here because it means they get to eat crap that I never buy (sugar cereal, pizza almost every night, etc) and there tends to be a lot more entertainment going on when they are here. They love to play pranks on Tod. Once they hid all his clothes and hung all my bras in his closet. Here's a prank they pulled this time. 

They were hoping it would startle us when we went into our bathroom in the middle of the night, but they overlooked the fact that we would be in our bathroom to brush our teeth before we went to bed. It was still pretty clever, though.

And there's always a lot of visits to the beach when they are here. For some strange reason, though, it's always cold when Tod's kids are here. Even in the summer. Doesn't stop them, though. On this day they brought hot chocolate with them to sip on between waves. 

All the kids left a few days before Christmas to spend it with their other parents. Ana & Lily went with Thomas to Canada to spend Christmas on his parent's farm. They had a great time and enjoyed seeing snow. They came home on Christmas night. This left Tod & I alone for Christmas Eve & most of Christmas day. 

On Christmas Eve we went to Manhattan Beach. 

We walked out on the pier and got a little Christmas miracle....there was a big pod of dolphins and a whale was with them. We saw it breach a couple times and blow water from it's spout. Tod is mesmerized by whales. We've gone on whale watching cruises and tried several times to see them. This was our first success. 

The girls arrived about 11 pm so we had our Christmas on Dec 26. Tod presented me with 6 flower bouquets before we opened gifts. What a guy! I had to quickly stick them in these vases because the kids were anxious to get unwrapping. I later arranged them and spread them all over the house. 

Waiting....

Note the 12 Toblerone bars. Those were for Tod. He has a problem...

All the kids got an iPod touch and an iTunes gift card. I knew Ana would guess what it was within half a second if I just wrapped the iPod box, so I put each one in a box of sugar cereal. It threw them all off. They were somewhat disappointed at receiving cereal, though they all tried to seem grateful. We had to point out them that the top had been taped together. I have to say that the iPod is a great gift...it's a video game console, a tv, vcr, stereo, camera, video camera, communication device and internet browser all in one. Oh, and don't forget the calculator, calendar, weather predictor & stock market app. Quite a lot of magic in that tiny device.

We also had to disguise their iTunes cards. Lily's was in a box of markers she's been dying for. Ana's was in a nail polish kit. Ethan & Kylie's were in candy (they opened their gifts on their last day here, btw, after Ana & Lily had left).

Lily got me this adorable hat. Ana got me a gift card to Forever 21.

Of course Grandma Z got the girls their yearly American Girl selection. I keep thinking my girls are going to phase out of them, but they still want one every year. They were so excited.

I guess I forgot to get pictures of Tod. He got an orange juice maker. He's always squeezing oranges by hand and it takes forever. It's now super fast & easy and we are going through boxes of oranges like crazy. Valencias are the best. So delightful.

I love Christmas and the magic in it. Colorful Christmas lights are one of my favorite things ever. Okay, that's a wrap.