Christmas Day was a lovely slow pace of opening presents and enjoying them throughout the day.
We took a Christmas afternoon walk along the beach and soaked up the views of the ocean, the surfers, and the Channel Islands.
Decorating cookies on Christmas Day
Preparing a simple Christmas feast
Completing Christmas gifts
We had the most gorgeous days after Christmas. Unfortunately I was hit with pretty significant vertigo. So Patrick took the kids on various outings. One afternoon we took Austin's bow & arrows to the park so the kids could play with it. Patrick set me up a chair so I could sit and watch.
He grabbed a geocache as we were leaving.
Patrick's big Christmas surprise for the kids was tickets to go see Kooza at the Santa Monica Pier. We drove in a bit early and took the scenic route on Highway 1. We stopped by the NPS Santa Monica Mountains sign for a geocache & a photo.
On our drive along the coast, we spotted a helicopter practicing rescues with a boat offshore.
View of the big top!
The pier was crazy crowded, but we walked to the end and back prior to the show.
It was an excellent show, and we all had smiles pasted on our faces afterward. Then we walked across the street for dinner and saw these hysterical dinosaur topiary fountains under the Christmas lights.
Creating an obstacle course for her hatchimals from toilet paper tubes. She's been collecting them for weeks.
Vacation time means cooking time. And the kids had a lot more time since Mom was still struggling with vertigo.
Some friends invited us over to celebrate Chanukah. Colleen started a random fever about an hour before the party. So Patrick stayed home with her while I took Austin & Amelia. They enjoyed eating delicious food, singing songs in Hebrew, playing with the dreidel, and watching a show on Chanukah.
Austin entertained everyone by making shadow puppets while the adults were getting set up.
On New Years Eve, Patrick and Amelia made a fancy chocolate cake with ganache. He brought it into the living room to show me (since I didn't leave the chaise often).
