The kids are really caught up in the holidays this year. Annabel passionately believes in holiday magic (and magic in general), and she’s bringing James along for the ride. It really is great to have little kids at this time of year. It’s impossible to not have fun while they shriek and giggle about every little thing.
On Friday night, I took Annabel to the LA Zoo’s special light exhibit. Annabel loved the different light displays, but I loved having special one-on-one time with my girl.
The Zoo is decorated with hundreds of thousands of lights, and has a bunch of different display trails for guests to walk through. Annabel especially loved the “light tunnels.” She ran through one, yelling, “THIS IS SO MAGICAL!”
On Saturday, Annabel asked us if we could go see Santa. Sure, why not? Just like in past years, Santa’s “North Pole” has two photos stations: one with Santa, and one by a “fireplace.” *cough*money grab*cough* The fireplace picture turned out super-cute:
Between that, and James waving to Santa while we waited in line, I was feeling pretty confident that we were going to have another adorable Santa picture. Annabel is long-past her Santa fear, and James has never cried with Santa. Well…I shouldn’t have been so cocky.
Oh well.
On Sunday, Mike and I decided it was time to start Grizwolding our house. We put out our outdoor decorations, then took the kids to Home Depot to get an inflatable. In the end, we went with Santa and his reindeer, because that was one of the few inflatables the store had left. In fact, we ended up with the store’s display:
The heart wants what the heart wants.
Not sure who loves the inflatable more, the kids or me and Mike.
The house isn’t a total Grizwold, but we’ll get there.
We also went looking for our annual “kid tree,” the small, real tree we buy that the kids decorate themselves. Apparently, this was the big tree-buying weekend, and the lot was sold out of small trees. That didn’t keep the kids from running around the lot, certain they were going to find an overlooked tree.
We might not have found a tree, but they were laughing and having a great time. There are certainly worse ways to spend an evening (which I will remind myself tonight, when we go to look for a tree again).
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Rebecca says:
The picture by the fireplace is amazing, but as I scrolled down and saw his face in the Santa picture I just couldn’t help laughing. Oh, kids… It’s really adorable.
Becky says:
Love your decorations!
Kim from Minnesota says:
Your decorations are awesome and that light show looked amazing!
Marjorie Steele says:
The purple music notes had me smiling from ear to ear! Seems like it was a special night with both your girls!
Cheryl says:
Heather, just an FYI, we have found if you want to buy outdoor decorations, you have to go before Thanksgiving. We have learned the hard way if you wait, they sell out! One year my husband had to go to 4 different stores to get some replacement icicles since everyone was sold out (and this was Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend!)
Tammy M says:
That Santa picture would absolutely be my Christmas card this year. I love it!
a says:
Great inflatable! And LOVED the zoo light display!
malis says:
I love the Santa pic too. I think I have at least one “crying on Santa” pic for each of our 5 kiddos.
Lauren says:
Love the photos!