It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Except for the snow, of course.  But with temps dipping ever so slightly into the low 70's :) we stopped a the coffee shop for a treat!

Picked out the perfect Christmas tree...

Is that straight enough??

So, everyone seems to have an Elf on the Shelf these days.  This little guy came to us on Vinny's first Christmas when he was just 9 months old.  He spent last Christmas season just hanging out, but it wasn't until this year that he finally got his "magic" now that Vinny understood the elf's story.  Vinny named him "Chippy" and poof, he had his magical power to fly back and forth to the North Pole to report Vinny's behavior to Santa.  Vinny understood you can't touch Chippy or else he will lose his magical power to fly.  So after Boomer got a hold of him one night, Chippy got smart and spent the next day under the shelter of the cake stand.  Our elf is no dummy.

Off to the Apple Store at the Americana across from Anthony's office.  The Christmas lights were beautiful, and miracle of miracles, Vinny was up for a visit to Santa's Workshop to tell Santa he really wanted a Claw and a Materhawk for Christmas.

Not only did he TALK to Santa, he agreed to sit on his lap!!!

The rest of the month flew, with a visit from boppo and a trip to wine country (life is rough in California, I know) and making final preparations for our preschool pageant and Christmas in Connecticut, before you knew it, I was knee deep in sorting through pictures and thank you notes!!!