Happy Birthday, Gordon, John, and Me! Also, Christmas 2019!

So, it's been a little while.

December - February is a very eventful time for our family!

So, Gordon turned 34 in December, and we did some fun things. :)

We had a good time at home, ate some yummy food, and watch Gordon show off his new birthday duds. Of special interest were his first real California Hawaiian Shirt and the new Amazon Show! Happy 34th, stud! <3

Also, here are some fried randoms from December:

John did a pretty decent job with his QUITE lengthy role as Shepherd #3 in the Foothill Christian Preschool Christmas Program. (Seriously, he had like 12 lines, and they were not all short.) He was pretty solid on stage, which was a happy surprise after he bailed on the church primary program only a couple of months before.  Way to go, buddy!

 Shout out to the crowd after he remembered all his lines! Also, here's a picture of John with his teacher, Ms. Ann, who does her best to keep him and the 9 other crazy boys in his class in line without killing each other. We are grateful (and constantly sorry) for her!

 Grandma Debby came through town briefly and helped us spruce up the house in Christmasy fashion. It was lots of fun! We also finally "decorated" our tree. It consited of much silliness and a lot of Tommy restraining.

 Brother's Hug!

Gordon and I were also put "on point" for the Ward Christmas Party's food committee (because apparently the committee chairs who were asked were not going to be in town the night of the party). Anywho, our friends the Thornhills actually did a pretty great job of purchasing/ organizing items for a dinner to please the whole ward, and we just had to execute the final product. It was a team of a bunch of young couples/ families, and we had a good time with it. Most importantly, the pot roast, potato bar, and spinach salad were all a big hit, and we didn't run out of food!  Hooray!

John also ended up being a shepherd in the ward Christmas Party Nativity Program (courtesy of being friends with the McCleaves and Pews who largely populated the show this year). 

No speaking parts this time - phew!

Also, John loves when Santa comes to visit at the Christmas Party. Tommy, not so much. 

 After all the grand adventuring in California, if was Off to Grandma Debby's for a HOUSTON FAMILY CHRISTMAS!

Ok, so it was really just us and her for Christmas in Texas this year, but as always, it was magical, AND we did end up having just a "small" version of the Christmas Eve Party, earlier than usual, that made for a pretty perfect Christmas Eve and a super laid back Christmas Day.  Thanks for a great holiday, mom! We love you!

Special Bonus - Hilary and Ian's crew rolled in a couple of days after Christmas, and we got to overlap by about a week. It was really a fun trip, though we did miss our CA Gibbs fam. #nextsummerinbanff

Holidaying

We returned from San Antonio with the murderers' row of year-end holidays facing us.

Every day you try to hold Tommy...

We had purchased a pretty nice firefighter's costume from Costco at John's behest. Naturally, when the holiday was facing us, John reversed his decision and wanted to reprise his Boba Fett costume from last year. We got Tommy a Paw Patrol firefighter outfit to complement John's, so that's why we had no theme.

Tommy's babysitter had a little Halloween party for all the kids under 2. John, as the oldest, took it upon himself to hand out candy to the babysitter's trick-or-treaters. We found that the neighborhood was pretty happening, so we hit a couple of streets there before returning home for the night.

My college roommates convened in Anaheim for Blizzcon. I wasn't even expecting to attend (tickets are notoriously difficult to get), but somehow they were bound and determined to make it happen. This time, we had a fairly large entourage (8) compared to the 2016 outing, where it was just Jordan and me.

Overwatch is a bigger deal now, and there was a whole arena set up to watch the world cup matches. The non-Asian teams got eliminated early, and the showdown came down to South Korea vs China. I wonder who won?

Although, Starcraft II was a different story--there, somehow, a Finnish boy ended up edging out the entire competition of South Koreans, winning the world championship in commanding fashion. Meanwhile, I can't barely reliably beat the AI. So, this kills my dreams at being pro.

The midterm election finally happened. I took John along with me, thinking he might find it at least mildly interesting. Instead, he spent the entire time flirting with the young lady working the ballot counting machine.

John's friends started having birthday parties. This one was pretty...involved. They had a very nice house filled with food and entertainers. Balloon toys were constantly made, popped on the St. Augustine grass, and replaced.

Tommy never stopped eating.

PJ Masks showed up and John, along with all the other kids, were besides themselves.

The Glendora Village Christmas celebration started pretty early this year. Usually I refuse to allow any kind of Christmasing until after Thanksgiving, but this town event is pretty much the best thing they put on, so I made an exception.

Pretty good anniversary gift

Alison really wanted to see her high school's production of Guys and Dolls, so I obliged. It was our anniversary, after all. The students did a pretty good job. The auditorium is pretty pro; I was impressed. You can see my impressed face below.

Then it was off to San Antonio again, as per our original plan.

The strangest moment was arriving at Grandma James' old house with no one home. I never had experienced that before in all the times I've been there. Kevin and Tammy had kept it up pretty well, so we were able to get everything set up that we needed, except for a pack and play. We had to improvise, adapt, and overcome.

No visit to Windcrest is complete without a visit to the duck ponds.

Dad wanted to make a trip to the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels in his brand new toy. The thinking, I think, was to do some off-roading river crossings. Of course, there were bridges and Dad was disappointed. Still, after much wandering, we found a playground.

Then for the main Thanksgiving event. Kevin and all his kids and their families were there, as well as Tammy's. With our family added to the mix, there were 20+ people there, so it was the biggest crowd I had seen in a while. The red stuff made a mandatory return.

Eric and Krystal were at her family's for Thanksgiving, but since they're all in town, we got to see them a few times. As we left, Mom and her siblings were dividing up the stuff in Grandma's house. I think all of the unique artwork and heirlooms found a family home. A lot of furniture and such will probably end up being sold in an estate sale. This was probably our last time to visit Grandma's house.

The trip home was a bit nicer because we had an extra seat. Sometimes you get some nice perks on a 6:30 AM flight...I wonder how many people overslept.

Finally, we decided to make Christmas happen when we got home. Since Alison volunteered, she clambered up into the attic to locate the tree, which had been moved after pest guys and AC guys had been up there.

So, we've come up to the end of the year. A lot of stuff happened...not all of it bad. We've got a lot of big things to look forward to, like John starting school, and a rumored trip to Canada in the future. We'll see what happens!