Donny and Marie???
Hmmm... was my first thought when I saw it as one of the performances in our series. I really couldn't muster up any enthusiasm at all. They're just so. darn. cheesy. But, what the heck! We'll give it a try!

Guess what? The show was really good. I know, it shocked me too! It was Donny and Marie so there was a bit of cheese :-) but not so much that it was bothersome. In fact, it was kind of endearing. And overall the production value of the show was really high. I learned a couple of things that night too.

First, Marie Osmond can SING! Truthfully, she has an incredible voice. This was primarily a Christmas show but also included songs that each of them had done over the years. For Marie, this meant several songs from her many Broadway shows. I was surprised and impressed.

Second, Donny Osmond has some really intense fans. Really. They're mostly about my age or maybe a bit older. Some of them brought their adult children along. A few of them were practically panting from the excitement of the situation. A shocking number of them lunged past their seatmates for the opportunity to touch Donny's hand as he made his way up the aisles. It was hysterical!

In retrospect, I'm so happy that we do the musical subscription because we end up seeing shows we normally never would. This one goes right to the top of my list of surprises!

The Nutcracker
Its become an annual pre-Christmas tradition: me, my mom and G going to see the Nutcracker ballet! The last two years we've gone to the same performance put on by a local ballet school. Its extremely well done. This year, they did some additional performances at our even more local theater so we thought we'd give it a try. The performance itself was still extremely well done but, due to the constraints of the smaller stage, it seemed they had to downsize some of the sets. Also, because they were only doing a few performances at this location, they didn't have all the neat decorations in the lobby. Overall not a huge deal but still slightly disappointing. The upside is that the seating was fantastic and we were fortunate to have 5th row on the aisle so we had no problems with the view.

A few days before the performance I read G the Nutcracker book so she'd be re-familiarized with the story. It was adorable to listen to her explain certain aspects of the ballet as she watched. The dancing, costumes, and music were wonderful as always and we all enjoyed it tremendously. In fact, I think I like it more each time I see it!
 
The girl who danced the part of Clara was wonderful and only 12!

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!

Georgie loves the tree!
Its been up since a few days after Thanksgiving but I finally got around to snapping a couple pix of the "finished" product... in quotes because it seems that G brings home a new ornament from preschool or Chinese school or something every couple days :-)

I always love when the tree goes up. Its so pretty! By the time Christmas comes around I'm usually tired of it. If I was more motivated it would come down Christmas night but it usually sticks around a bit longer :-)
 
Oh my gosh I just love this cute little face!

The Little Mermaid
Friends of ours invited us to attend a performance of The Little Mermaid at a local high school where one of them works. A high school performance of Little Mermaid?? Sure, why not, we're usually up for whatever. As it turned out it was a community theater production at the high school and it was REALLY well done. The sets and costumes were fantastic! Georgie absolutely loved it!

As a special treat, G and her friend got to go up on the stage in the last scene! At the intermission a costumed page came out and asked her if she'd like to be a part of the show. G couldn't bob her little head up and down any faster in response. Luckily, she was able to bring a friend. It was only for a minute or so and just to stand as part of a group of wedding guests but G was so happy.

After the show, the characters were available for photos. I swear Prince Eric's hair did not look anywhere near as strange in person as it does in this shot :-)

I've always been a fan of Ursula, Flotsam, and Jetsam. How great is that makeup? I so love the baddies.

Scuttles, Flounder, and Sebastian. The little boy who played Flounder was only 8 yrs old and pretty much stole the show. I found out later that he's actually a student at Georgie's school. I'd met him only a week or two before when I went for a tour as part of the application process for kindergarten. Very smart kid!

All the princesses and their princes were part of the wedding party as well. I'm not sure why Fiona from Shrek was there... she's not Disney. LOL. The girls didn't care a bit! They thought all those princesses were AWESOME!

With Ariel's sisters: Attina, Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Adella, and Alana... probably not in order :-)

Everything about this picture of the girls --I've begun to refer to them as "Cor-giana" --makes me smile

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 Whole Fam-damly
It had been awhile (2 yrs or so) since we'd had family pix taken. It was definitely time. I was pretty happy with them. They even got a not that horrible picture of me :-)

The color is a bit off because these are scans.
 

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!