Dear Santa:

So I forgot to include in my last post for Christmas about the letter Savannah wrote to Santa to send to the North Pole this year. Here are some of the main highlights I recall from the letter:

1. A pony named Sparkle with a white tail and pink skin.
2. Hair to my elbows.
3. Long finger nails, but not too long.
4. All the spiders and snakes of the world to be dead.
5. A Barbie car (and when asked if the Barbie car she got from Santa was the one that she wanted she replied, "No, the one I asked for was the kind you can drive.")
6. A pink mermaid tail (Savannah is obsessed with mermaids and wants to be one)

I plan to frame this letter - I couldn't bear to put it in the mail after knowing some of the words that she asked me to help her spell - I just knew I had to sneak a peek at this one and it is a keeper! She is just getting to be such a little girl!

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was quite simple. It started out with a few inches of fresh snow - in fact the first snow of the season. Jacob came over and stayed the weekend and unfortunately he had brought bad news with him though. He found out a few days prior to Christmas that his employer will be shutting down the plant he works at. We are hoping he can transfer here in the Bay area to keep his seniority and his job. (Not to mention my being excited to have him home again!)

Charlie and I decided we were not giving each other gifts this year - but we did get some nice gifts from Jacob -picture frames, wall hangings, and some movies. My mom sent us a nostalgic movie that I used to watch as a kid and a couple of classic books for Savannah. My sister sent us some great photo collections in a scrap book, she is so creative! Our favorite gift was watching the kids and dogs play with their gifts. Savannah's reactions were hysterical and I got all but one on video. I think this year was the first year she was as excited as she was. She set her alarm at midnight to make sure she could sneak up on Santa but wouldn't you know it that she was zonked out for a good half hour before I noticed too and had to turn off that dang buzzer? Needless to say 4:40 am is still pretty early to get up and wait anxiously for everyone.

We tried our hand at roasted duck and the meat was delicious, very tasty in fact, however not a lot of it on the bird and it is quite expensive. I think it was fun for a change and would also like to try a goose next.

Here are some photos of the fun we had!

Winter Program at Savannah's school. They really sang some cute songs.

Baking cookies!

Pugs1ey's new sweater, stuffy, and bone that Santa brought her.

Mermaids - Savannah just LOVES them! Anything mermaid she is just crazy for!

Who knew Jake could get so excited for socks? I think he was laughing at how smart Santa is for knowing he really needs socks.

Barbie deram house - hours of fun!

And since we all had Monday off we went out for breakfast and to see the movies. Savannah and I saw Chipwrecked and Charlie and Jake saw Darkest Hour. It was nice to be together as a family again. We don't have any big plans for New Year's which is fine with me.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

No snow yet...

We still haven't seen any snow...but it will come all too soon I am sure. The weather here has definitely moved to winter - right now it is a bone chilling 19 degrees, however it is in the middle of the night mind you.

Yesterday was Ryan's first birthday, I sent him a gift and I can only hope he received it with the love intended. I am sure he has already grown so much.

On another note it has been two weeks since Thanksgiving and I am still smiling from all the wonderful memories I was able to share with my family in. I can't listen to the Nutcracker music without re-experiencing Savannah's reactions and the time I got to spend with my mom. I just love the music and it will always be connected with this memory now.

I hope you all are having a lovely Christmas time as well. I am sure that soon I will be able to post pictures of the first snowfall.