'Tis the season to be busy .... fa la la la la la la la la!

But it's been a very *fun* busy :)  Friday was my first official day of vacation, and I mostly ran errands (Cooper to the groomer, lunch with a friend, massage, eye doctor appt.) before Emma got home.  Saturday Emma had 4 friends from school spend the night for a holiday sleepover, and they are such great girls - they get along wonderfully, I had several activities planned, and it was just a perfect way to start their Christmas break.

J, T, A, A & Emma decorated pre-made gingerbread boy and girl cookies (thank you Target, such a wonderful price and made my life soooo much easier!); we made waterless snow globes out of mason jars (thank you Carl for coming to our rescue with the Dremel tool to make our "stuff" fit in the jars); and we drove around the neighborhood to see the light displays (parents, I didn't drive over 5mph and had my hazards on while driving... just to make sure we were extra safe :)).

We laid a sleeping back out in the bed of the truck and then the girls piled in with blankets - I was the chauffeur with the holiday music blaring out of the back window.  We had a beautiful, clear night - no wind or rain, perfect for outdoor fun.  (Oh, I forgot - Carl and the girls played a round or two of flashlight tag in the neighboring culdesac as well!)  Anyway, we have this wonderful light display just down the street from us - the family puts up thousands of lights - and it's all synchronized to the beats and crescendos of several songs that he broadcasts on one of the radio stations (not sure how he does that, but it seems to be dialed in just for his display).  SUPER cool!  The girls had me park there for at least 5 songs, as they stood in the back of the truck and danced and enjoyed the show.  I really need to send that family a little note of how much we enjoy his work each year.  Here are a few shots from the party.

Sunday was a nice low-key day, I went over to Tracy's in the afternoon and we made 10 pans of cinnamon rolls.  It's the best recipe, from www.thepioneerwoman.com - we made them last year together and decided it would be a new annual tradition.  Carl and Emma joined us later and Brian made us a great meal of french dip sandwiches with tater tots :)

Monday we drove to Gig Harbor (20 or so miles away, over the bridge) for an indoor soccer tournament.  The girls played 3 games and made it to the semi-finals, and then in the first round had to play the first place team - we lost :(  We were playing up a bracket and lost to another WPFC team, so it's all good :)

Today has Emma wrapping presents for Dad, a massage for me (not happy happy joy joy massages... these are deep tissue, and painful - but necessary for my stressed shoulder), haircut tonight for Em.  Tomorrow I'm meeting Kristy for a girl's day - very excited about that!  If I don't make it back here before Christmas Eve (we will be going to downtown Seattle for an afternoon performance of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes and dinner at the Metropolitan Grill!), then I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas!