There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I love being home for Christmas (California home). I'm sure a lot of it is because it's the house I grew up in, with the people, foods, scents, traditions that I've always loved. It makes me happy that my husband and kids love being there so much as well.

On Christmas Eve, my mom and I thought it would be nice to reflect on the "reason for the season" by having everyone dress a part from the Christmas story as we read it from the bible. Stephenie and my little brother Brett thought we were joking at first. When they realized we were dead serious, they reluctantly complied, then became severely paranoid when cameras were pulled out, assuming that those pictures would indefinately show up on Facebook and/or my blog. As you can see, I upheld my promise to not post any pictures of them, but I'm not too embarassed to show you this picture of a 37 year old virgin Mary and her Angel, Alex.

Santa did good with this basketball hoop. As soon as Alex saw it, he made a bee-line for the ball, immediately started shooting, and continued to play with it almost non-stop. We practically had to force him to look at his other gifts.

Hope you all had a great Christmas! As I'm writing this, I just realized it's 11:45 p.m. on December 31st. I guess I'd better go upstairs, rouse Steve who I'm sure has fallen asleep on the couch by now, and quietly ring in the New Year so as to not wake up Alex. I wonder if this uneventful New Years Eve is any indication of what to expect in 2009. Hopefully we'll have a good balance between exciting times and peace. I hope the same for all of you in the new year!

"I Left My Heart in San Francisco"

We decided to go home to California for Christmas this year. Every time we go back home, we like to go to San Francisco for the day. Pier 39 is fun to visit during the holidays with decorations, lights, etc.

I thought Steve was silly for thinking this huge tree was actually real. Then I was the one feeling silly when I read the sign next to the tree that proclaimed that indeed it was real. Amazing!

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

That's right, my boy has a mullet. Not intentionally, mind you. As you can see here, Alex's hair was getting pretty long. He'd never had a haircut in all his 17 months!

Steve was doing his best to trim him up, but his scissors were dull so he made the mistake of using his electric clippers. Alex FREAKED, and I had to use all my strength to restrain him so Steve could try and finish. Steve got the front done and by that time we said, "Forget it!" and just left the back alone for now. Both father and son were completely traumatized by this point, and when Alex wouldn't let Steve hold him immediately afterwards, Steve felt horrible.

Thus, the mullet. You can't tell from this picture, but it is pretty long in the back still. I'm not too crazy about the hair cut, mainly because it makes him look too grown up!

Discovering Snow

This was Alex's first experience with playing in the snow. He seemed to think it was pretty cool.

In typical toddler fashion, of course he had to put some in his mouth to taste.

It looks like he's thinking, "I'm not too sure about this!"

He literally started to gag on it...I guess it just took him by surprise.

Lady Cougar

We're so glad Steph decided to play basketball again this year. It's such a great program that is rich in tradition and promotes a lot of camaraderie among the girls.

She continues to improve, and that shy little girl who used to try and stay off to the sides in her Jr. Jazz games now actually commits a foul or two each game!

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is that the head JV coach is none other than...her dad. It can be tricky trying to keep separation between dad/daughter and coach/player, but so far they've done really well and are having a positive experience.

I love this expression on her face, this is during Varsity warmups and she's probably staring down a girl from the other team that ticked her off during the JV game. Steve was excited because he said last night was the most aggressive he's seen her play. I guess a little anger will do ya good now and then!

We're so proud of her and are relishing these moments because we know they'll be over so quickly! (Ok, now I will end this post before I get completely sappy...)