How I spent my Christmas vacation...

Summary (because this could get long and let's face it, you're here for the Mabes pictures): My family is awesome. We had a great Christmas in California with my whole family under one (newer and bigger!) roof. I was telling Mabes this morning that Grandma was sad now that almost everyone has gone home and her house is too quiet. Mabes said "Don't worry! We will hop on the plane and see her and make her house loud again!" Unfortunately, I think Louie is still tired from all the chasing, so we'll have to wait a while until we make Grandma's house loud again.

It started with a direct cross-country flight with a strong headwind, so that was a loooong 6 hours. Mabes did well, though, and as we got off the plane, one of the flight attendants said to her "I never even saw you! You must have slept the whole time!" Heh, not exactly. I think that's more commentary on the other kids on the flight--but as long as it's not my kid, I'm happy. Her only freak out was as we were landing. She looked out the window and was suddenly panic stricken. I told her we were just landing, we'd be down in a minute. She starts yelling "No! Don't land! Up! UUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP!" while raising her eyebrows, head, and hands, as if they somehow controlled the plane. "We're going to land on water! We can't land on water!!!" Now, I agree--one of the worst things about landing at SFO is that you fly in over the Bay and can't see the runway until right before touching down. This can be a little disconcerting, and I had no idea that Mabes would notice this, especially in the dark. She cheered when she saw the runway, though, and practically ran through the airport until we saw Becca and my parents waiting at baggage claim. She was very excited to see them.

We were there for 10 days and spent most of the time eating, talking, playing games, eating, hot tubbing, eating, laughing, and eating popcorn (Pappy's popcorn deserves special mention--it's not "just" eating). The highlights, as a photo essay:

Christmas Eve, with Becca, Krissy, and Laura. Mabes was wearing an adorable, festive Christmas dress but insisted on covering it up with a mumu. She loved the crown from the Christmas crackers, though. I'm sure when she gets around to it, Laura will post the food pics. The prime rib was fabulous and surprisingly easy (easy in that I just watched my mom do it, but it seemed pretty fool-proof and simple, especially compared with my stupid potatoes that refused to cook).


Mabes opening the traditional Christmas Eve pajamas. She asked for a hippopatamus for Christmas, and since we don't exactly have the space for one, hippo pajamas and these princess pj's were an acceptable substitute.

Christmas morning: Mabes is quite pleased with her new tutu.

Mabes opens ballet slippers, while Jeff makes no attempt to disguise his boredom.

A Cinderella dress!

And she quickly figures out how to wear both the Cinderella dress and tutu. My dad is betting that she's the only 3-year-old who got a Cinderella dress, tutu, and Lincoln Logs for Christmas. He very well may be right.

Mabes kicks up her heels in her new tutu and ballet slippers.

Making cookies with the cousins and Grandma. Em had a hard time learning to gently roll the cookies in the cinnamon sugar--those poor cookie dough balls were the rabbits to Mabes' Lenny. We managed to save them, though.

One of the highlights of the trip was Aunt Nancy's birthday celebration: we went to the Castro Theater in San Francisco for the Sing Along Sound Of Music. Not only was everyone encouraged to sing along (they had the words on screen for those who may not have all the songs memorized), but we were also encouraged to hiss for the Baronness, cheer for Maria and Captain Von Trapp, awwww for Gretel, and just yell out whatever you wanted. It was like watching a live version of MST3K--it was hilarious. If they did a Sing Along Slipper and the Rose, I would probably have to fly out for it.























While we were doing that, my mom and Sarah babysat the kids and kept them entertained with Wii Fit. Em needed some assistance with hula hooping, and she and Dono really didn't get the idea of running in place. Sarah helped them out, though. (Yes, Em's wearing a nightgown over her dress. Why wear just one dress when you can wear an even longer one over it?)


My parents' new backyard has a brick sidewalk going around the yard. My dad figured this would be the perfect Big Wheel track for the grandkids, and sure enough, Santa brought one for them to share. It's also big and long enough for Jeff to rollerblade around. One minute, Jeff was rollerblading around the backyard, Dono chasing him on the Big Wheel, Mabes was chasing him, and we were inside talking (and eating and laughing) and then I look out and see this:

Jeff later admitted that when I came running out, he thought I was going to yell at him, not take pictures. That was actually my first thought, but then I figured taking pictures would be more fun. And Em loved flying around the yard.

And a bunch more pictures:

A couple of times throughout the week, I had a flashback to sitting in Primary singing "Families Can Be Together Forever," and thinking, "That's great and all, but f-o-r-e-v-e-r?!?! That'll get old, right?" But now I'm thinking I really couldn't find a better group to spend the eternities with. Lots of laughter, some tears, good talks, and plenty of hugs--perfect.