Santa again??
Is it me or is Santa every freaking where this year? G's preschool did their Santa visit fundraiser again this year giving G yet another opportunity to interview the big, red man. This time G asked what kind of cookies he liked, "Oreos", who was his favorite reindeer, "Rudolph, of course" and finally how many elves are there, "lots".

With all our visits I've been given significant opportunity to compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of each Santa. I've become quite the "Santa connoisseur" so to say. This one looked great but had zero personality. Some others have been personable but not necessarily visually convincing :-) The funny thing is, G doesn't seem to notice that all the Santas look different or are different people. She just sees Santa... adorable!

There has been no diversion from her wish list: violin, "Spring" doll from the Pottery Barn catalog, and a globe. I have absolutely no idea where the violin thing came from. We don't have one in the house and I don't think she even knows anyone who plays or owns one. I asked her about it but she wasn't able to verbalize the root of this desire. The globe I get. We talk a lot about other countries and other states but in her mind she hasn't sorted out what those terms mean (not shocking I know, she's only 4!). I keep telling her I'll show her on a map or a globe but I never do... slacker mama.

I keep expecting that G will catch on to the Santa thing. She knows that all characters at Disney, etc are fake. You'd think she'd be suspect of anyone in a costume but, no, nothing yet. Four is a beautiful age for fantasy, magic and wonder.

Georgie Day!!!
I can't believe its been 4 years already. Over the last 48 months not a single day has gone by that I have not thought to myself how lucky we are to have been given the gift of having Georgiana as our daughter. To say I love and adore her is putting it mildly. She has a beautiful soul; a kind, gentle spirit, and brings joy to all who meet her. Words are inadequate to describe the love I feel for her. My sweet girl. I cherish each moment I'm given to spend with her.

What we did:
Bobby was off work that day and I played hookie so we could hang out together. We started out with a 9:35am showing of the new movie Rise of the Guardians. We were the only ones in the theater! The movie itself was actually quite cute but I could have done without a tattooed Santa. After that we went to our traditional not-at-all authentic Chinese food lunch at PF Changs. After chowing down on my favs honey shrimp and mongolian beef we splurged and shared an order of the very decadent "Great Wall of Chocolate". Yum!

That evening we decided to head out to Irvine Park to do the Santa Train. When we arrived we learned that the train rides were sold out for three hours! Oh shoot. It turned out fine. We did all the other activities, left the park for a quick bite, then returned to ride the train. This involved yet another visit with Santa ;-) It was a big day and a late night for little G who is normally completely toast by 8pm.
 
I always give G a small gift purchased from China on our adoption trip.

Mrs Claus read The Grinch

Getting ready to ride the train to Santa Town!

Georgie asks Santa questions. With all the visits we've had this year she's started to develop quite a bit of Santa knowledge. This time she wanted to know if the elves use machines to make the toys or if they make them by hand. According to Santa, they use a combination depending on the type of toy being made. Very logical.

Loved the day with my girl!

Huntington Library: Santa Days
We hadn't been able to use our Huntington Library membership for awhile. When I saw they were having a special Santa thing just for members I thought, heck yeah! I almost backed out the morning of because it was pouring down rain. But, I'd already told G we were going to play hookie so I figured we'd give it a go. Plus it gave G a chance to wear her much beloved rain boots.

First stop: tea! I love to go to tea. I don't go as often as I'd like. G likes it too. Its wonderful that G is getting to an age where we can do these types of things, just the two of us, and enjoy a nice conversation. She's quite the little talker. We discussed her friends at school, her current fav movie Sofia The First, and other things she enjoys. And of course we had tea (which for G is actually pink lemonade) and lunch. The tea house at Huntington in that it is a full on lunch buffet. They have these delicious little salmon, cream cheese and cucumber creations that are to. die. for! G went for egg salad and did a bit of damage on the sweets. Yum.

After that we were off to the Santa activities. I truly love G's pairing of the holiday skirt with her purple boots... adorable!

Bob Baker's Marionettes were there doing a show. The operation of the puppets was quite complex. They were at the same time fascinating and creepy :-)


G loved them!

Even after a big lunch G still had room for a Christmas cookie.

G decided that she had a question for Santa... which reindeer is his favorite? G and Santa had quite a serious conversation about it. I haven't the slightest idea what was being said but G seemed to be listening very carefully.

He then leaned over and whispered something in her ear. Unfortunately, I have no idea what he said because when I asked G about it later she said she didn't remember.

I'm not really going for a record or anything but I'm pretty sure this represented G's 6th visit with Santa this year :-)

By that point the rain had finally stopped and G immediately switched out her shoes for something she found more fashionable.

A perfect 10 Mommy-Daughter day :-)

The holiday season is upon us
for real. Every year we say we're going to get the tree and outside lights up on Thanksgiving weekend. It never happens. Best laid plans and all that... it doesn't usually happen until a week or two before Christmas day. But, this year, we did it! Only two days after Thanksgiving and the tree is up, the house is pretty much decorated and we were off to our first Christmas activity at the Candlelight Pavilion.

We went last year and really enjoyed the show. Sadly, although we had a good time overall, it was not nearly as good as before. The food was only so-so, the service was AWFUL, and the show was ok. I was so surprised because I've been many, many times and never had bad service or food. Even with all these drawbacks, Georgie still enjoyed it. The highlight for her was the portion of the show where Santa and Mrs Claus invite all the kids up on the stage for the reading of the Christmas wishes. G's wish, oddly enough, was for a violin :-)  I have no idea what brought on the desire for a violin but she's been alternating between that and a flute. Hmm.

Anywho, after the show, G got another opportunity to visit with Santa. Mrs Claus was there too! This makes five visits with Santa so far this year... and its not even December yet.

G was so excited about going up on the stage. She remembered from last year. She nearly sprang from her seat when they announced it was time.

Another visit with the big red guy. This time they had a cookie instead of a candy cane. G was stoked!

Merry Christmas!
HUH? Well, as of November 12th, it is Christmas at Disneyland ;-)  Crazy I know but, at least by me, not unwelcome. DL is so pretty at Christmas time. Especially if there's a bit of a chill in the air. A person can almost convince themselves that California has a winter.
 
We were headed back to Haunted Mansion and ran into Jack Skellington! G still hasn't seen the movie but she loves him.

Ever since I picked this dress up for G on a sample sale like 6 mos ago I couldn't wait to take her to see Santa at DL! I know, my life is so exciting. Haha! They have the big man set up in the ranch area at something they're calling Jingle Jangle Jamboree. Since we were there on a friday the week before Thanksgiving it wasn't too surprising to me that there weren't many people there. I think at one point we may have been the only family at the Jamboree which included a few Santa/reindeer themed games, activities and characters. It was nice because it gave G plenty of time with Santa. He admired her dress, talked to her a bit about what she wanted for Christmas, etc. So cute!

Our official Santa pic

Doing the princess twirl.

The characters were really cute in their holiday wear.

They had coloring so needless to say we spent a considerable time doing that.

Mickey was looking very dapper in his holiday finery

I have no idea why Liver Lips was there. He's kind of creepy looking, don't you think?

Then Wendell... super creepy!

Decorating the $6 cookie


Georgie the pink-nosed reindeer!

Our traditional photo in front of the Partners statue. Even though the DL castle pales in comparison to its WDW counterpart it does look pretty with the rooftop "snow"

G held her skirt out for just about every single photo. She's such a goof. All the characters had a good time finding themselves on the pattern of the skirt.

Later in the day we saw Mickey again. He must have decided to slip into something more comfortable than the top hat

Character hunting G was happy to encounter White Rabbit. I think this was the first time we'd ever gotten him.

By this point, although we'd only been there about 4.5 hrs, we'd ridden many of G's favorite rides twice, seen tons of characters and heard more Christmas music than you can imagine. This was one of the big perks of going during the week on a day that forecasted rain. G wasn't ready to leave but I assured her we'd be back the following week for more fun!