This year’s Christmas spectacular at Filoli was themed around owls and woodland creatures. Our favorites! Here are some pics from the magical event.

We went to the San Francisco Nutcracker this year, and had a wonderful time!

This was our little one’s first time at the SF Ballet, she saw the San Jose version of the Nutcracker last year, after her first ballet last summer.

Here are some pics from our adventure.

After the performance, madame felt like dancing…as did other kids we saw twirling out of the Opera House.

We weren’t allowed to take pics during the performance of course, but you can watch it online or on dvd.

Back in October madame wrote a letter to Father Christmas.  She drew her wishes in her letter, and asked me to add subtitles just to make it crystal clear.

She very carefully wrote the name on the envelope, but got a bit tired after writing so small and running out of space, so I helped a bit and added the north pole.

Here is the response she got…

Lovely drawing of Father Christmas and the reindeer…

Here is the postmark from Santa’s post office, and the stamp…

The letter was sealed with sealing wax…we have been thinking about getting our own sealing wax ever since we saw it.

She paid careful attention to his recommendation about an early bedtime on Xmas eve, she was in bed and asleep by 6:30 p.m.!

Did she get what she wanted? She did get a toy cat in her stocking, and was very pleased. Thank you Father Christmas!

“I wish Wube was here, then he could claw Daddy’s ear.”
— the kid thinks of ways to wake someone up

Here’s a video of our Christmas morning. The first half focuses on a kid and her stocking, the second half on waking up a lazy daddy before presents are opened.

Music Used:

• “Jingle Bell Rock”, “Jingle Bells”, and “Winter Wonderland” from Christmas with Chet Atkins by Chet Atkins

“And that is Wubie dressed as an angel.”
— the kid explains a Christmas drawing

It’s that time of the year, so I’m cranking out some home movies. Here’s a video of yesterday’s our Christmas get-together at my mom’s place. Every year we say “Wow, look how grown up the kids are!” For some reason it seemed especially apparent this year.

Sorry you couldn’t make it!: Sam & Mirjana & family (OR), Tisa & Jim (HI), Nina & Larry (TX), Michelle & Michael (CT!)

Music Used:

• “Deck the Halls”, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, “Silent Night”, “Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)”, from Christmas Album by Charlie Byrd

“Whooah! They fall down on the floor, tiny ice cream.”
— the kid narrates as mom drops something on the floor

It’s 3:22 AM Christmas morning, so I better be getting to bed pretty soon. I stayed up a bit later than I thought I would, wanting to finish off this video Jill shot last night of the kid leaving out various foodstuffs for Santa and his trusty reindeer.

This is our fourth “Christmas Eve with the Kid” video. I really treasure these things and am already a bit fearful of the eventual day when the kid isn’t bouncing off the walls excited about Christmas morning.

Luckily, Gpa Peter, Uncle John, and Auntie Laura visited with us last night, so we got a bit of them in our little video. These are the good times. Merry Christmas.

“You can’t go to the airport, Wubert! There’s a plane squash you…and take you away. That’s not fun, Wubert.”
— the kid explains to Wubie why he can’t go on a plane trip in September, 2009

Here’s a quick video from this year’s Dicken’s fair. The kid’s Gpa Tom and Gma Karen are featured, along with some footage of the kid playing one of her favorite fair games, “Boot the Cat.”

Music used:

• “Christmas is Coming” by the Vince Guaraldi Trio from A Charlie Brown Christmas

…and baked gingerbread.

At the Dickens Fair she tried every craft they had, including candle-dipping and fairy house making. She also enjoyed the games like ‘boot the cat.’

This year at Filoli’s Holiday open house the decorating theme was owls…one of her favorite animals. (She calls all owls “Bill” after the one in “Owl Babies.”)

And December has just begun!

“It’s slightly dark, but there’s a cheerful light coming from the pumpkin lights.”
— the kid’s answer on Halloween night when asked if it was dark outside.

Here’s a Hi8 video dub of a Christmas Eve spent with Jill’s family back in 1998. Note: A young Wubie makes a brief cameo at the very beginning.

giggling in her sleep (heard from the other room)

‘Tis the season again for letters to Father Christmas. Last year our little girl got a letter in the mail in response to her letter:

This year’s letter to F. C. has been written, wonder if we will get a reply.