Holiday Greetings from Jack!

Christmas at Disneyland 2007

Christmas is fast approaching so that means it's time for the traditional Sheehan Family trip to Disneyland to visit Santa and enjoy the decorations and general joie de vivre, and also avoid being trampled by a zillion other people who spend their holiday at the park. We actually only go to the park at holiday time for the Santa visit, the cookie decorating, the parade and a trip to the Holiday Haunted Mansion. It's too crazy to do much else.

What a difference a few years makes! Here's our picture from our first family trip to see Santa!


Comparing the two . . . I can only reflect that Santa better bring me a copy of 101 Ways to Eat Salad.

Jack really wanted to ride the choo-choo and see the fire engine, so we stopped by the Main Street Fire Dept. first . . .

Then it was a quick Disneyland Railroad ride to Toontown station and off to Santa's Reindeer Roundup, which has become a fun holiday treat for us since we moved out here.

Santa's actual reindeer come to stay at Disneyland at Christmas time! Isn't that amazing? And you can see them up close.

Jack was a little leery of them . . .

Especially when these two boys seemed ready to mix it up over a handful of hay or kibble or something . . .

So we headed over to the cookie section, complete with entertainment from a fiddler helped out by Pluto in his reindeer costume.

Jack and Mommy got busy decorating cookies . . .

While Daddy got into some serious cookie decorating of his own!

I was justifiably proud of my madd cookie-decorating skillz, as the kids today might say.

Then it was time for the big moment: visiting the man himself in his rustic cabin right there on the grounds of Disneyland! We'd been prepping Jack for this moment for weeks, and he was very excited to see Santa.

Finally it was our turn and Jack got right up there and told Santa what he wanted: a bicycle and a truck! Santa was so nice to Jack we're sure he will come through for him on Christmas morning.

The reason Jack's on the floor is that halfway through his session with Santa he said "Uh-oh!" and grabbed his butt! Santa deftly slid Jack off his lap -- Santa's done this before, of course -- and the session proceeded from there without incident.

As it turned out, Santa had no cause to fear -- as Jack informed us immediately on our departure, "I cut the cheese."

Night was falling on Disneyland and I managed to get this very nice picture of the Mark Twain sailing the Rivers of America in deep twilight:

Then it was parade time!

Alas the holiday fireworks were cancelled due to wind conditions at high altitudes. Too bad, 'cuz Jack had the best seat in the house.

But they still make it snow at Disneyland at Christmas time. Jack tried his best to catch some of the "flakes."

A quick photo op at the beautiful Main Street Christmas tree, and it was time to head home.

Santa comes to Monrovia

Every year Santa Claus takes some time out of his busy schedule and tours every street in Monrovia, perched on top of a fire truck with a sleigh full of Monrovia's children in tow. Jack was very excited for Santa's drive down our street. You could hear the truck going down other surrounding streets, sounding its horn. Jack would go, "Oh! I hear fire engine!" and I would say "Oh boy! We'd better go look!" and we would dart out onto the front porch together and look.

Our friend Ryan brought his little boy Ulysses over to have dinner . . . note our fine video "Yule Log" (the actual NYC one from TV!) in the background.

I didn't get any good pics of the two boys, I was busy cooking) and finally, about mid-way through supper, we could see the caravan coming down the street!

Jack was a little overhwhelmed . . . Santa AND a fire engine, two of the most amazing things ever to Jack, all at once?

He was a little leery at first!

But then the caravan came on down the street and Jack was glad of it!

Changes

No doubt you have noticed the blog has changed a little. Blogger introduced some new layout tools I want to take advantage of in the next couple of weeks, so bear with us!

Christmas is coming . . .

Last week was the family party at Disneyland for cast members. jack and I went early and met Mommy after she got of work. A splendid time was had by all. Jack is quite the ladies' man. Genevieve went home a little early because she had to get in to work extra early the next day (as opposed to her usual 5 am arrival) but Jack wanted to "find Nemo" again on the submarines so we got in the 30 minute line for the second time that day (that may seem like a long wait but it's actually pretty quick for this very popular attraction). Anyway, there were two young women ahead of us and Jack flirted with them relentlessly, doing his little booty-shaking dance (more of this dance later this week), holding hands, making funny faces, and generally carrying on, to their delight.

  

Sometimes Jack becomes very strident about not having his picture taken. "No Pictooors!" He cries.

Last Sunday, it was finally tree-decorating time at our house. We always make hot chocolate and here in the San Gabriel Mountains it was actually chilly enough to warrant it!

Jack helped me stir in the Ghirardelli cocoa mix . . .

Taste test!

Jack got dibs on first ornament placement:

A favorite from Jack's first Christmas:

The finished product (well, almost, we need a couple more pieces of garland):

Complete with Disneyland choo-choo, much beloved by Jack of course.

Ran out of batteries before I could get a properly lit phot, but that will come in a day or so.

Ready for the Holidays

It was a beautiful day in Monrovia as we set off to prepare for Christmas. It's the first time we've lived in a house since either of us lived with our Moms and Dads so we were extra excited about decorating this year. Photos never do justice to the breathtaking awesomeness of the San Gabriel Mountains which loom majestically over our town. They look so much bigger in person.

Home Depot with a view . . .

After picking up some wreaths and some requisite decorating supplies like extension cords and hooks and such at the Depot, it was time for our little Christmas tradition. Every year we stop at Starbucks on our way to pick out a tree and have hot chocolate. Even now that we live in a climate which allows me to wear shorts on tree-picking day, we still do it!

Genevieve opted for a new beverage, a caramel apple thingy which tastes, not unpleasantly, like apple pie a la mode put in a blender and whipped up hot. Jack on the other hand was old enough this year to have some hot chocolate (albeit cooled down with some milk). Jack settles in to sample it . . .

. . . at a Starbucks with a view . . .

Jack's first Starbucks experience!

Do you think he liked it?

Then it was off the the tree places to look for a tree. The first spot we went had slim pickin's but Jack was hot on the trail at the second place . . .

He spotted this one . . .

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winnah!

A few hours later and the Sheehan facility was well-trimmed for the holidays!