Christmas (just) Past

Well, after all the drama of December we ended up having a pretty good Christmas! We did our first Christmas all by ourselves up in Danville, which was fun. Then, immediately after opening presents, we packed up and drove to Grandma's house in Thousand Oaks. We loved opening presents, eating delicious food, and of course, spending time with family.


All dressed up for Christmas Sunday


Adventures in the pouring rain to see the Christmas lights at the Oakland Temple


We had lots of rain Christmas week (yay!) but this little girl was cozy & warm with sick momma


Dinner at a teppanyaki restaurant for mom's birthday. The kids loved all the flying shrimp, spinning eggs, and onions volcanoes. They called it "the silly restaurant"


Dad got an extra day off before Christmas so we went to the Oakland Zoo! We decided to skip the zoo lights this year since everyone was so sick, but the kids loved looking at the lights not lit up during the day just as much, so parenting win.

Finally got a chance to go on the sky ride! And promptly 10 seconds into the ride Ellie's shoe fell off. Thankfully, Dad was able to retrieve it afterwards by climbing in the bushes (just a few feet from the tiger's cage...)


blurry train selfie

This is called "I cried and begged to go on this ride but once I actually got on I hated it and it was terrifying"

Our Christmas Eve nativity reading. Mom really gave up on the costumes this year.

Jude as Joseph in snoopy pjs, Lucy as baby Jesus lying in a carseat, Eleanor has Mary bringing her sparkly shoes to Bethlehem.

Christmas morning was present heaven!

One of Ellie's favorite toys from Santa: "let it go car!"

Jude was so excited about presents that he hardly even noticed what he got; he just wanted to keep unwrapping

The look of happiness when she opened her princess castle!

The aftermath war zone.

So the reason we rushed down to Grandma's was to take family photos for the first time in 3 years. It was sooo dysfunctional. I know we've all had our bad family photo moments, but this was pretty high on the level of crazy circus.

peacefully feeding the ducks, while Jude screams in the background.

Jude bumped his leg earlier in the day and was so adamant about how much it hurt all day that we actually started to think it may be broken or something. He was the WORST during these photos. He literally screamed and or cried in every shot. Turns out, nothing wrong with his leg, just a good dose of drama.

At least Ellie was good.

And we clean up pretty nice.

After all that chaos we ended up taking a "safety shot" in front of the house. Of course, it turned out great. So much for fancy photo shoots.


It wouldn't be Christmas without some ridiculous pjs from Grandma


Family trip to the LA Zoo. I haven't been there in a few years, and maybe it's because it was cold and late in the afternoon, but that zoo has kind of, uh, gone downhill. Lots of walking to see very few animals in enclosures that look like they haven't been updated in a decade or so. But still a fun family time.

cousins in a nest

Ellie or Edith from Despicable Me?


Grandpa always takes the grandkids for multiple trips to feed the ducks at the park. He even has a giant bag of actual duck food.

so long story short... they opened a new Disney Store at the Oaks Mall and this little girl suckered mom into a Pocahontas dress (in my defense, it was super on sale).




LA Temple Christmas lights. It was FREEZING.



being monkeys while visiting friends


Selfie at the luxury movie theater in Westlake. I really wanted to see the movie "Joy" and it just so happened the best time was at this fancy theater... with recliners, waiters, and cheesecake.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!