Ho Ho Ho!

For Lily's first Christmas Eve, we dressed her up in leggings for the occasion, in case she felt the urge to breakdance. Meanwhile, Kate, Chris, and I decorated a batch of cookies to distribute to our neighbors. I was so impressed by how much Kate has matured. She stayed focused on this project for well over an hour and had a great time. Sticky fingers are a pet peeve of Kate's. She had to take a break every couple of cookies to wash them. A few of Kate and Chris' creations. Kate believes you can't have too many m&m's or too much frosting.

Time for a silliness break.

Kate busted out some dance moves in honor of the cookies.

Afterwards, we got dressed up for Christmas Eve mass. While the rest of us got ready, Kate pretended Pop-Pop's calendar was a music hymnal and sang Christmas carols.

All dressed up and ready to go. Lily will punish me for that hat one day.

Kate had been asking Chris and me for weeks to go to church, we were finally granting her wish. She was excited to see her friends from school, sing some Christmas songs, and have a chocolate donut afterwards.

I'd love to say that Xmas Eve mass was an uplifing, inspiring, and joyful experience for us all, but it was pretty miserable. The place was jam-packed with screaming kids and tense parents, the air was choked with too much incense, and the priest basically phoned in his homily. An exhausted Kate (and Lily) sat through the entire mass, and in the end, there were no donuts to be had.

Still, Kate was thrilled it was the night before Christmas, and for the first time ever, hurried into her pajamas and dashed into bed. She thought she heard Santa's sleigh bells ringing downstairs and nearly exploded. "Oh my goodness, Mom! I think I heard Santa's bells! Goodnight! Check on me in ten minutes! Oh my goodness! Goodnight!"

Huntington Gardens with Nana

Nana and Bob had never been to the gorgeous Huntington Gardens in San Marino, so we gave them a tour. It was a delightfully overcast and brisk day, and we all got a healthy dose of fresh air and exercise. Mellow Lily snoozed soundly as Appa and Kate checked out the seed exhibits in the background. Kate couldn't wait to show Nana the Children's Garden. In the Chinese garden, Appa and Kate stopped at every entrance and pretended they were scary Fu Dogs warding off evil. Two cuties. Kate striking a pose. And another.

And one more. "Oh, let me sit like this on the tree now, Momma. It's better!"

Kate feeling zen-tastic.

Namaste with Nana.

Buddha fingers.

Of course, after all that meditative reflection, Kate couldn't resist reaching under the bar and messing up the rocks in the garden (gasp!). If we were actually in Japan, we probably would've been peacefully booted out the door.

As Kate and Appa checked out the bonsai trees, Lily woke up and said, "Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?"

My sweetie pie.

Lily's face always lights up when you talk to her. Just like Kate, she's got the gift to gab.

Kate thought Lily was lonely and offered Gabriella Weyant Dolly for company.

More fu dog fun.

Next it was Mom's turn. Unfortunately, I look like I'm going to the bathroom.

We bought Kate a toy dreidel the other day, and Kate couldn't wait to play. She learned the game at school and reminded us that it was "shin, put one in." The first night, we couldn't find the chocolate Chanukkah gelt Nana had sent, so we improvised with Cheerios. Or as Chris called them, "Cheeri-oys."

Nana, with her left-handed, counter-clockwise spin cleaned up, but Kate was still over the moon. "The whole family is playing!" Forget fun outings, dumplings, or even presents. Kate is most happy when family gathers around and plays together.

Before Nana flew back to Tucson, Kate finally sat down and dictated her letter to Santa, something we had been asking her to do for weeks. When I read that she asked for nothing we had bought for her, I told her that sometimes Santa gives you things that aren't exactly what you want, but things he has in the workshop. Kate said, "That's OK! I'll like anything he gives me!" That's my girl.

Kate addressed the envelope to "Santa Claus, North Pole," put a stamp on it, and mailed it herself.

Rockstar Kate at her dental check-up (they put sunglasses on her so the bright light wouldn't bother her). Throughout the cleaning, Kate was happy as a clam watching "Beauty and the Beast" playing on the ceiling.

Kate was even brave enough to get her X-rays taken. The technican was very impressed with how Kate was able to withstand those nasty cardboard pieces in her mouth, and for her courage, gave her two prizes. Yea, Kate!

I was happy to see that Kate had no cavities, and thrilled to see pictures of her adult teeth waiting to come in!

Meanwhile, 10-week old Lily smiled away at Appa....

The Nutcracker, San Gabriel Valley Style

To spend some QKT (Quality Kate Time), Chris and I took our first born to see The Nutcracker at the beautiful San Gabriel Playhouse while Nana happily watched Miss Lily for a few hours. Kate and her Nutcracker Xmas ornament. In front of the San Gabriel Mission down the street.

Intermission is a good time to blow off some Act I steam.

The ballet dancer's impressive split...

And Kate's version.

The Pasadena Dance Company put on the performance, and it was just OK. At one point, the dancers' speed and energy were so low, it was as if they were dancing in a vat of lard. Somewhere, Tchaikovsky was turning over in his grave. Kate, of course, didn't notice, and had a wonderful time watching Clara, despite the unintentional comedy.

After the show, Kate opened her gifts from Bob (a book and a musical snow globe), and eagerly helped Nana and Bob open their gifts from us with her trusty scissors.

We went to the amazing Din Tai Fung for dinner and feasted on soup dumplings, wowing both Nana and Bob. Lily watched enviously, quietly sucking on her pacifier. That's okay, because she got a sampling through Mom's milk, later that night.

Tree Trimming...Twice

On Friday, after Kate's holiday party at preschool, we picked her up and finally got a tree. I must be getting old, because for the first time in my life, I wanted to get a hassle-and-mess-free (and environmentally-friendly) aluminum number, but Chris wouldn't hear of it. After Appa gave the tree a haircut in the garage, Kate put on the first ornaments. Our two angels. Kate insisted that her ornament be "higher" than Lily's. And so the rivalry begins... Meanwhile, angel #2 slept like a log as the rest of us trimmed the tree, sang, danced, and made a racket. Poor Lily got her first vaccinations yesterday (ouch) and was sleeping off a l0w-grade fever. Just like her sister, Lily howled for a few seconds after the shot, then forgot all about it. One of Kate's favorite ornaments -- a bike-riding snowman.

Kate carefully hung the Jolly Rancher candy canes all around the tree at grabbing and eating height.

And finally, Kate and Appa topped the tree with the angel we got last year with Pop-Pop.

Perfect.

But then, as I was crouched underneath the tree, it completely toppled over and fell on me, sending the ornaments flying and crashing to the floor, and horrifying Kate as she watched the Christmas tree nearly kill Mom.

Sigh.

After Kate finally stopped crying she said, "I keep seeing the picture in my mind, over and over!"

Luckily, Mom was unscathed, all of our special ornaments were spared, Kate eventually recovered and fell asleep, and Lily slept through the entire debacle.

Leaving an exhausted Chris and I to clean up the mess and re-trim the dumb tree all over again. Next year, it's all about the aluminum tree and a pine-scented candle!