The 2- and 3-year-olds were kind of a hot mess, but the 4- and 5-year-olds were extremely cute to watch. Then they gave out crowns and presents to the 5 kids having birthdays over the winter break, including Valerie, so that was really sweet too. I found out her best friend at school, Caiya, is actually only 2 days younger than her - their birthdays are December 30th and January 1st. Who knew?
That was the last day of school before they closed for 2 weeks, the same 2 weeks Rich had off from Stanford, and Grandpa arrived that afternoon, much to our delight. We all walked together to pick up Valerie from school and then to Papa Murphy's to get pizza for dinner. I'm fairly obsessed with their gourmet vegetarian. It has artichokes, onions, mushrooms, tomato, spinach and zucchini... soooo delicious.
Our Christmas cards also finally arrived that day from Snapfish. They had forgotten my order and had me stressing until they discovered it, sent me an email to say they were sorry they delayed my order and were express-shipping them to me. I was surprised that I was able to address, stuff and stamp all of them in just about 2 hours and had them ready to mail on Saturday the 19th. Nothing like a little last minute xmas card stress!!
It was an all-around last-minute kind of Christmas this year. I ordered Valerie and her cousins' presents from Amazon the week of Christmas so they would arrive just in time, and I bought wrapping paper from walgreens on Christmas eve and wrapped the candy canes, fruit snacks and M&Ms from Santa that night. The presents from Santa were in gold paper and I got Sofia the First, Disney Princesses and Minnie Mouse paper for all the family gifts. Valerie's favorite part of presents is the wrapping paper. She gets the most excited for the ones wrapped in her favorite characters, so I definitely came through there.
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| enjoying a few sprinkles |
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| the tree at Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf |
We packed the last few days before Christmas with social visits and holiday fun - Saturday morning we got Happy Donuts on our way back from the gym, and then we met Rich's old friend Heather in San Francisco and they took Valerie to the Exploratorium while my dad and I walked around the Fisherman's Wharf area. Sunday was our date night for Rich's birthday, and Monday we went on the Holiday Lights train in Santa Cruz with Anjuli, James and Kalinda, and then to Saturn Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant for dinner. Oh how much I love the vegetarian restaurants here in California!!!! I will miss that scene so much. We got nachos served over sweet potato fries instead of chips (YUM!) and I got a barbecue "chicken" salad... SO much food. I just get so excited at these places, where I can order anything off the menu, that I go overboard. I'm used to having two, maybe three options on the menu at most places. Although I have to admit, that does help make the decision-making process easier.
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| Valerie and Kalinda had a blast on the train |
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| Santa even stopped by for a picture |
Tuesday we went to dinner at some new friends' house in Mountain View and met their son Rush who is about a year younger than Valerie and an adorable cherub with fine blond curls. I brought cookies and champagne, and they made a delicious dinner of sauteed artichokes, salmon, mashed potatoes and green beans. We had a great time with them so I'm sure we'll have them over for dinner soon. They are expecting another little boy in March.
Wednesday we met Angela and Tushar at the Fogarty Winery for a wine tasting, which was enjoyable if extremely chilly. It was too cold to stand outside and enjoy the gorgeous view but always fun catching up with them.
The most hilarious moment was after Rich took Valerie to the bathroom, and she emerged into the wine tasting room full of people and shouted, "I PEED ON THE POTTY, MOM!!!!" Just keeping it classy at the winery, it's what we do.
Rich's mom and stepdad arrived that night and we got to see them briefly before everyone turned in for the night. Valerie was in her element, with Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma and Noi to play with her. It poured rain on the 24th but we sneaked out for a quick walk at the Dish during a break in the rain, which we timed perfectly.
Grandma Julie cooked a fancy dinner on Christmas eve of cheesy scalloped potatoes and ratatouille and Rich made salmon, and then I (with a bit of "help" from Valerie) made the chocolate chip cookies for Santa. I used oat flour, which is my new signature flour I always bake with, and both white and dark chocolate chips. They came out sweet, chewy and super delicious. Here's the recipe I used, which I will definitely use again. I omitted the coffee, and I used only brown sugar and 2 cups of oat flour, and omitted the granulated sugar and flour it called for. Santa gave them 2 thumbs up.
Valerie dictated the note to Santa:
and we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and called it a night.
There isn't much better than Christmas morning with a 3-year-old. Valerie was SO excited to open every present and she wanted to immediately open and play with each one, so it took close to 3 hours for her to open everything. I think her favorite thing was the baby doll from Nana, which she named Caiya. She also got a baby stroller, Cinderella dress-up dress and shoes, sweater dress, train tracks, princess Barbies and ballet slippers which were big hits. It was so much fun just watching and helping her open everything. The grown-ups drank ho-ho-ho-sas (which is what I call champagne with a splash of cranberry or pomegranate juice) and opened one or two presents each. It was lovely.
We went for a walk at Foothills Park that afternoon since it was much drier. It was a bit chilly but sunny and really beautiful. Then we came back and had Grandma's vegetarian chili with bread for Christmas dinner. A successful California Christmas!
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