Christmas Celebrations Part 1

We are officially on Christmas Vacation. This break was soooo needed. I over committed us in December and it was taking a toll on us. Friday evening was spent at Petco Park (Padre's Stadium) with our best friends (Kristen, Wayne, Julia & Emily). The winter fest was something we did last year but this year we had special treatment since Wayne is the guy in charge. It was nice to have close parking and to be able to walk through the "tunnel" instead of waiting in the giant line around the corner. The first thing we did was see Buddy the elf. Alexa was really excited since we just watched the movie. Then we rode the Ferris wheel. The kids decided it would be the Dad's and kids in one cart. The Momma's were OK with this decision. The next activity was tubing down the hill. I was pleasantly surprised at how excited the girls were. Julia & Alexa rode together both times. Addison rode on my lap and kept saying "again." So Daddy took her back up for another ride. I think the Cox family would have stayed at the hill all evening if we were alone.  Next we did the carousel and then the bounce house. The girls rolled down (and up) the grass hills and saw all the festive decorations. There were princesses, men on stilts, candy people and just about every other Christmas character you could think of there. It was a wonderful evening. The last thing we did was say hello to the reindeer and Santa. Alexa and Julia were the brave girls. Emily and Addison wanted nothing to do with him.

The next morning we had our church Christmas party. The girls made ornaments and played with all their friends. This is a great group for us. They are all Sunday school teachers and parents of youngerish kids. We just all seem to understand each other. Alexa participated in her first white elephant gift exchange. She was very excited about the fake snow balls that she brought. The kids next to us ended up picked them and loved them. Unfortunately they were stolen away and the original family as well as Alexa were upset. In the end, Alexa ended up unwrapping the last gift. She didn't end up with a toy or really anything useful for her, but she learned a good lesson. We were proud of her for not showing her disappointment. After the girls at lunch we were on the road to head to Williams.