Christmas Season Festivities...

Christmas time really is the most wonderful time of the year!  There are so many fun, festive, and free things to go do and see.  There are parties and presents.  And most especially, it is a wholesome time of Christ centered service and focus.  I love it!

To kick off our festivities this year we went to the Enderle center for the second year in a row.  They do a great Christmas celebration and everything is free (performances, balloon artist, Santa visit, caricatures, nibbles, and more)! 

Alivia hated Santa this year...a lot.  It was really sad since she really loved him last year.  See the difference a year can make?!

We got a caricature of Livy done...

 

In December we went to Mission Inn in Riverside for dinner with my family.  They do an awe-mazing job with décor and lights, as you can clearly see.  It's quite the attraction.  I kind of like downtown Riverside in general because of their old building charm, but at Christmas time, I'm in love.  This outing is a definite re-do for next year.

Gi-normous Mistletoe...

Real life reindeer...

 Dinner with a view...it was YUMMY!

 Dessert at Casey's Cupcakes (cupcake wars winner)...

 Did you see the snow (machine produced of course) in the photos above?  Magical!

We also went to see the "Snoopy Movement" at the Costa Mesa city hall for the second year in a row.  And as we anticipated from our visit to The Enderle Center, Alivia hated Santa, but was consoled by eating the candy cane he gave her after their meet and greet cry. 

 

Again, I have to show the difference from last year's Santa visit here and this year's visit.  See below.

As I look back at these pictures, I realize that we were very insensitive and careless to put Alivia so close to Santa, for a second time (!), given that he was the scariest thing for her.  Oops.  Sorry baby girl! 

The movement also had some snow (machine produced again) for us to feel on our faces.

 

The movement (as my family has always called it), aside from having a moving display of snoopy characters, also had a music/light show, with the city hall being illuminated with different colors to the beats of various Christmas songs.

 

No more pictures Mama!

We also went to Fashion Island to see their huge real Christmas tree all decorated.

To be honest, Alivia was more impressed by this fountain shown below than she was by the huge tree.  The large presents and tree made her nervous/scared.  We kept saying with this and her fear of Santa, "Alivia is scared of Christmas" or "She's got to be the only child in America that hates Christmas."  But come Christmas morning, she was loving it.

We walked around Balboa Island to see all the houses decorated with crazy lights.  I really didn't take that many pictures...I'll have to swipe some from my mother.  Here's an example of a house on the island decorated for the season.

My mom watched Alivia one day so I could do some solo shopping.  It - was - heaven!  I was so efficient and fast in those 3 hours...and I completely enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the South Coast Plaza mall.  It has some great energy this time of year.  And decorations too.

Now - next post will document our Christmas celebrations with the Bendheim and Orvin families respectively.  This post has grown entirely too long to warrant any more photos.  It really was a crazy busy, and super enjoyable Christmas season!