Ready, Set - Festive!

D:  Let the Christmas Festivities begin!!!!  

First up - the Tree Lighting at Fashion Island.  We are SO fortunate to have this in our backyard.   One of the largest natural trees in the nation is right here.  So cool.  

We got bundled up and hit the town to see the lighting.

It was packed but we were ready for it.   Last year we stood with Kobe, but we didn't see him this year.   He's pretty easy to spot - so tall.   But even better than Kobe, we saw Mickey and Minnie and the whole gang from Disneyland put on a great show and then light the tree.   Fun!

Best part - this year they had SNOW!   Big bubble machines blew what looked like real snow all around us.   It was magical.

Right after Thanksgiving we got the house ready for Christmas.

Love this time of year!

Love my festive room!

Even South Coast was decked out.

Wow.  Nice tree.

D's favorite part - the Choo Choo!  They have this amazing village set-up in South Coast with two choo-choos and a whole working town.   Amazing.

And the Carousel becomes Santa's sleigh and you get to ride the Reindeer!!!

A little Stanford elf, helping to decorate.

Sweet girl and such a good helper.

Helping to hang the ornaments was a blast!

Cheese!  The tree is done!

And our first holiday party of the season was our RockHarbor LifeGroup!  So fun to see everyone!

Mommy and Daddy started with the group when it was a few couples, mostly single people, and no kids.   Now there are lots of couples and 8 kids under 4! 

Let the festivities begin!