After Thanksgiving weekend, I headed to my mom's & we got into the Christmas spirit...
While I was in Bakersfield, I got lucky & got to see my niece, Amber, & her little family while they were visiting from Tennessee...I actually got to see Carrie's family & Kristi's, too - they all came over to say goodbye to Amber. I got a couple of phone pix, but that's about it...
Mom sent me home with my Christmas present. Every year she sends me some Dewar's Chews to fill my candy jar that she got me for Christmas a few years back...
Winter is here...
California winters are relatively mild, but we got a good storm that lasted about a week. With those rains came some high water in the River...
It covered up the first two layers of rock steps down by the water...& came up to the steps across the River to the camp ground...
I tried to zoom this pic in so you could see how high the water came up - fuzzy, but you get the idea.
Decking the Halls...
I put my favorite Christmas decor up. Even though no one is around to see it...I still enjoy it very much!
This is my most favorite...hand carved olive wood from Jerusalem.
Ugly Christmas Sweater Party...
One of our mid-week activities with the Young Women was an Ugly Christmas Sweater/White Elephant Gift Exchange Party...so much fun! We played a couple of games - 1st everyone was given a Christmas song & you had "hum" the song & go around to try & find the other person who had your same song. It is hard to hum Christmas songs...many of them sound the same!
2nd - we split up into 2 teams & each team was given oven mitts. Each person had to put on the mitts, unwrap a Hershey's Kiss & put it in your mouth, then pass the mitts to the next person. I couldn't even feel the Kiss through the mitts!
Everyone brought an obnoxious gift...The Justin Beiber wrapping paper was hysterical & of course, it was the first gift chosen...
The winners of the Ugly Sweater contest...I gave them some good competition...
Every year Coloma holds a little Christmas celebration. Paul & I walked over to check things out. They truck in snow from Tahoe for the kids to play in...
There are tons of "old school" Pioneer games for the kids to try out...
Of course, there are tons of vendors for the Christmas shoppers looking for unique handcrafted gifts, food vendors, & musicians...
They offer wagon/buggy rides & Santa makes an appearance...it was a beautiful day for the celebration.
Christmas in San Francisco...
We took Mom & Dad to San Francisco for dinner, dessert, & to look at the Christmas lights. Paul remembers doing this with his family when he was little & we thought Mom & Dad would enjoy it. We started off at Boudin's on Fisherman's Warf...love me some clam chowder!
Can't go to SF without a trip to Ghiradelli's...
On the way home we drove through Saratoga to see a few more lights...
Sometimes I forget to get in the pictures, so I had to document that I really was there, too. Thanks for going with us, Mom & Dad. It was fun for me to hear Paul's Christmas memories...
Christmas Caroling...
This week, the Youth at our Church went Christmas Caroling to some of our home-bound members, hoping to share a little Christmas spirit...it was chilly! We split up into three groups - Cami brought her ukelele, so we had music.
I hope you are finding ways to feel the spirit of Christmas in your lives this year, too.
5 comments:
Good work! You've been busy!
Your trees look beautiful! I also love the house on the with all the lights, nice job for making Paul let you out for the pic. Macy's looks beautiful too, I love all the wreaths. Merry Christmas friend.
I love all the fun Christmas activities! It makes me feel all warm and squishy :)
I LOVE Christmas at the Riverhouse. WIsh we could be there. I'm glad you are In YW to keep you busy since I'm sure dad has been gone more than usual being the new Bishop. PLUS, the YW are so great!
You are really celebrating with lots of lights, family and friends. Keep on celebrating.
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