Getting into the Christmas season

We are a family of mixed accomplishments...we've had the lights up on our house since Veteran's Day, but we only got our tree a few days ago.  The Christmas cards went out last week, but the tree is less than half decorated.  I've made a batch of lime curd (from our lime trees) to give away, but there are no gifts wrapped--wait...have I even purchased any gifts?  I guess the tree should be completely decorated first, right?  But Lukas and I did make some gingersnap Christmas cookies this week.  He does really well at cutting the cookies, but needs more practice with decorating!

And today on Tom's Friday off, we went to Disneyland and California Adventure for the last time before blackout dates through January.  It was supposed to rain cats and dogs again today, but this morning when we woke up, it was dry, so we rushed to get out the door and were actually inside Disneyland by 8:15 a.m.  For over an hour, there were more cast members there than visitors...it was great!  That's definitely an incentive to arrive by 8 a.m. in the future, but we think the possibility of rain also kept a lot of people away.

Of course we visited Pooh's Adventure, but we also went to Tom Sawyer's island (we can't call it the Pirate's Lair or Lukas won't go)...the kids all had a blast running around exploring.  Then we went to California Adventure when it opened at 10.  Tom and Lukas rode the Grizzly River Run, and all the kids had fun running around the Bear obstacle course.  And I've found what can keep us from leaving without spending any money...Tom gave in to the smell of baking sourdough bread, so we spent $5 on a loaf.  Still pretty inexpensive by Disney standards!

We left just after 11 a.m., to drop Natalie off at school.  I wonder how exhausted she's going to feel when she comes home!  A morning at Disneyland and then 2.5 hours of school!

And we're all a little exhausted...which is why our tree still might not get completely decorated until tomorrow.  But wait, I have more commitments tomorrow!