Relaxing Winter SundayHappy Sunday to you!! Are you relaxing? Just kicking back and taking it easy today? Or are you in a frenzy with lots of do before Christmas this week?  Today is a wrapping and decorating day. I have to tell you, I've NEVER waited this long to decorate my tree! I'm usually one of those people who has it up and fully trimmed by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. This year I'm really behind. I guess with he kids all being sick, the house didn't feel very festive this season. But, today, we are all rearin' to go. I'm going to put on some Christmas music and decorate away with the girls. Ohh - so I forgot to mention that yesterday was my wedding anniversary - 17 years of pure bliss! LOL - well, we all know that is not possible with anything in life, but it was certainly a lovely day all around. Took the girls over to a Ceramic decorating "Kids' Night" along with Denise's daughter and a few of the other moms from school. While the kids were having fun, we ladies snuck off for a light bite to eat, enjoying some laughs and good conversation. With a quick detour back home to drop off all the kids at our respective houses, where we were met by our babysitters, Denise and I hurried over to the Westbury Manor to meet Tedd and Marcelo for a fun, Anniversary dinner. I know what you are thinking - this is not romantic. But, honestly, Tedd and I were more in the mood for hardy laughter with friends to celebrate and boy, did we have fun! Great food and a fantastic bottle of Portuguese red wine!  Anniversary Dinner at The Westbury Manor last night And what's more, we met the manager of the restaurant, who, shared with us, that he had a good friend who ran the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Why is that good? Well, I just booked a Girls' weekend to Las Vegas for me, my sister Danielle and friend Cheryl - at the Venetian! - for early March 2015! I will be sharing more about this trip this Travelin' Tuesday! Lastly, I have to send a shout out to my dear, cousin TANYA!! Haven't talked to you much this week with both of our busy schedules. But, I've been thinking of you - LOVE YOU CUZ!!!xoxo  Travelin' through New Mexico this past October with my favorite cousin! Whatever you have planned today - delight in it! -E The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters. | Tis the Season!Hello Hello! It's another AWESOME Sunday, and we have lots more fun in store to keep us in the Holiday mood!  Although we woke up kinda groggy today, the result of a "hangover" from yesterday being another super L O N G day!! We are ready and rearing for all of today's festivities!!! First on the list is... Going to Mika's 6th Birthday party at Irvine Regional Park; where I know she and all of the other kids are going to have an absolute BLAST! Liz has been working hard to put together a spectacular birthday event for our dear sweet little Mika! Ahhh how I remember those days of putting together birthday parties for the kids!! It takes a heck of a lot of planning and work to throw these parties together, but our babies are worth every second of it! However... I must say, that I couldn't wait for the day that I could offer to take my kiddos on a birthday trip and that they'd accept it instead of wanting me to throw these big parties! Woohoo...more travel!!! Before leaving Irvine Park we will be taking the kids and Chapin over to visit Santa's Village and take a ride the Christmas Train! We'll have a few hours between this portion of the day, and the evening plans of going to the Mission Inn Festival of Lights (which happens to be the event that Chaplin has been looking MOST forward too!!!) Those few hours will be filled with running to the store with Dave B to pick up one of the last items on his list, and then more wrapping! Dinner will be a late one tonight, but of course I'll be cooking a big pasta dinner for my big hungry family!  Now, to fill you in on yesterday... It started off in the morning hours and with two IPC performances and then it just kept going...not getting back until 1:30AM, and even then certainly not without a checklist of more to do's! This Elf was still busy working in Santa's workshop and won't be getting much rest until Christmas Eve...Maybe (hopefully and with my fingers crossed)!! The kids performances were both for the Christian Outreach Action, and an audience of almost 2,000! This is a wonderful organization that truly shows the meaning of the season and for the past 28 years has been providing the hope and joy of Christmas to homeless and underprivileged children of Long Beach. This year over 1,800 of these kids and parents walked away with bags full of toys and blankets from Santa! These were the only gifts that most of these kids will receive, and we were so honored to have our Peace Ambassadors perform in song and dance for these families and to see their faces lit with delight! And once the performances had ended... These kids even went caroling to the families that were outside and still in the never ending line that was moving yet still wrapping around the block...almost 4 hours later! 
  The remainder of the day was busy, and filled with more Christmas chores (which I won't bore you with), and then last night we met up with Jet, Andrew, and Chaplin to stroll the very busy festive neighborhood of Eagle Hills.   And now that I've shared, I must get my butt in the truck and on the road! On with my day...I'm already running a bit behind! Catch ya later, -T |
