Happy Christmas time

Sitting at home today, trying to prepare for work, with memories of a great Christmas still so close. Right before leaving Iowa yesterday, my d-i-l took some family photos with her new camera.  I particularly like the one of the 3 generations of Iannone guys together.

We arrived a week ago to a gray and brown landscape, that was replaced on Saturday night by 6 inches of new, fluffy snow.  Rowan wasn't able to go outside to play in it until Christmas day, due to the sub zero temps.  He had hoped to build a snowman but it wasn't a packing kind of
snow.  Instead he and his daddy threw handfuls of snow at each other (and mommy). The rest of us watched from the warm of the house! 

We had hoped to go to the mall to see Santa and see some lights but the ice, snow and generally miserable weather kept us pretty housebound. We didn't do a lot of baking, but I made a couple batches of cookies to make sure we had some left for Santa.  Rowan left instructions for Santa regarding the carrots.  One for Rudolph and one for Dasher.

         We had a delightful time and are already counting the days until we can head back to hug those adorable little guys.  Hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday!

The Holiday Spirit

What a wonderful time we had in California with the family for Thanksgiving.  Our son and daughter both came with their families, as did my sister-in-law from Florida and Guitar Guy's aunt and uncle.  Each year, Guitar Guy's brother and wife host a Thanksgiving feast ala Martha Stewart for both sides of their family and long time friends.  This year we numbered 31 people for dinner! 

It is a busy, noisy day with so many people in the house but always ends with the last few of us basking in the light of the fire and kicking our shoes off.  The next day a few of us went to the Getty Villa to see the antiquities and then most went to the beach in Malibu.

Living in Iowa, my grandsons have little experience with the ocean.  They loved the tide pools, rocks and beach creatures and got totally sandy and wet.  It was a beautiful fall afternoon complete with a rainbow from the morning's drizzle.  The 4 year old even got a shell in which he can hear the ocean.  That will be a wonderful momento for his 
treasure box.

Back home again, the preparations for Christmas begin. Gifts and cards have been ordered and the baking planned. Two weeks from today we'll be headed to the cold country so not much time remains.  Only one gift knitting project still to do, so that should be done in time.  Instead of waiting for Christmas, I've been knitting through the fall and sending gifts as they were completed.  Feels much less stressful that way.

Today is cold and windy for the desert and we might have our first fire of the season tonight.  Might be a good time to put up the tree.  Guess I'd better go dig out the tree and ornaments.  Lots to get done before Santa arrives!