Christmas '11 California Style

Is it possible that Christmas has come and gone already?  It just seems like it was the 4th of July and now we are approaching a new year.  Where has the time gone?  I love Christmas time.  This was our 2nd Christmas spent here in California.  I promised myself last year that I would never spend another Christmas anywhere but Utah, but I guess I break promises every now and then. Bryan had to be in Utah for work the second week in December.  One of the perks of working for a Utah-based company is that he travels there quite a bit and so we usually get to tag along.  The fact that we spent a full week there 2 weeks before Christmas we felt like it was too much to try and do another trip. I was sad and sure did miss seeing our families, but it's fun to start our new little family traditions.

We didn't come back until the middle of December and so we felt it was pointless to go and get a tree before we left because it would've been dead by the time we got back.  So first thing we did was go to a tree lot and pick one out.  It seems strange to me to go to a tree lot and get a tree as I have always grown up going up into the canyon of Fillmore and cutting one down.  However, I must say that even though the lot trees are WAY overpriced, you definitely get your pick of nice symmetrical trees.

  So here it is folks....the Rosenvall Family Christmas tree!

 I would've preferred to do a graham cracker gingerbread house this year instead of a assemble-yourself gingerbread house for edible purposes, but this one was very user-friendly for a 3-year-old.

 On Christmas Eve, we invited some friends of ours from Oceanside, the Koehle's, for dinner.  Mariah's parents were here visiting form Northern California and so they joined us as well.  We had so much fun and Mia loved spending time with her buddy, Gordon.

Such good friends.

 Both Mia and Merek were exhausted and so after our guests left, it was time for bed.

 We let Mia sleep in our bed Christmas Eve because we were afraid she was going to wake up while "Santa" was delivering the goods!

 The last couple weeks all Mia has talked about wanting for Christmas is a "princess bike, princess carpet, and shoes that light up."  I think Santa did a pretty good job this year.  It's an all-princess Christmas for sure!

 The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.....

This is the face of one happy, excited girl!

 Light shoes....check!

 Merek loving his jump-a-roo!

 One advantage of having all tile floors is being able to ride your bike all through the house!

 I love when Christmas falls on a Sunday.  I can't think of a better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior than going to church and being uplifted through words and song.  Since our church meeting started at 9:00 am, we all got up at 6:30 to see what Santa brought, went to church and then came home and opened up presents.  It was perfect because it seemed to draw out the excitement of the day little bit more.

 I can't believe that I didn't get one picture of all of us.  At least I got one of each.

 I think we're all exhausted after a long, fun day!