surviving the holiday hustle and bustle

oof, it's been a busy week.  we've had so much going on and every morning i'd think "ooh, i really need to blog!" and then i'd get distracted with something shiny and it just wouldn't happen.

surprisingly enough, unlike previous years i actually had several requests for cookies.  i find that most people like to make their own at holiday time, so it's usually quiet on the cookie front.  luckily, the majority of the cookies i was asked for were pretty simple designs, ones i've done plenty of times before:

although these were new - done for a friend whose two daughters performed in their dance studio's production of "the nutcracker."

and i finally made good on a promise i'd made to the bean a long time ago...chocolate crinkle cookies.

i adore these "my first christmas" jammies i found at petsmart and made cocoa and teddy wear for the last couple of weeks.  despite the look on teddy's face, i think he secretly loved them.

for the bean's last day of school before a two-week break, i made her this fun pullover that matched one i'd made for myself a couple of weeks ago:

that last day was just a half day, and so of course we squeezed in one last trip to disneyland before our passes are blocked out for two weeks.  i was hoping that it might not be too busy since a lot of schools were still in session, but of course as we got to the security checkpoint the lines were pretty long.

no biggie, though, because we weren't really counting on much besides grabbing some lunch, enjoying some seasonal treats, soaking in a little disney magic and doing a little last-minute christmas shopping for the old lady.

the next day, i busted out some pajamas for her to wear to her cheer team's christmas party.

for their white elephant gift exchange i'd picked this up, which she was happy to report was stolen to the game's limit.  isn't it always fun to see that people actually like the gift you bring?

we braved the mall the next morning, hoping to knock out the very last bit of shopping we needed to finish off our lists.  it's not her favorite place to be anyway, but bribing her with some sushi at her favorite spot did the trick nicely.

we got to spend the weekend with stevie while his mom and dad went out to palm springs to celebrate an early christmas with the old lady's special friend's dad.  he and teddy are BFFs.

teddy got one more pair of christmas pajamas, although he really only got to rock 'em for a day.

do you know what a VSCO girl is?  i was asked to make these keychains for a friend's daughter by christmas, and totally took it down to the wire as i finally sat down to stitch them out two days before.  thank goodness she loved them, because i don't know if i would've had time to redo them.

and my friends and i managed to find an evening to meet at the crack shack in pasadena for our annual GTG with the getalong gang.  it was surprisingly uncrowded in there, although we figured people were probably finishing up their shopping or home wrapping gifts - and it was cold and rainy, which probably didn't help.  this meant we were able to have them take seats at the bar for their annual group photo:

and it was fun to watch them hang out together like no time had passed, even though this group really only sees each other once a year, at these outings.

while we took our same spot in front of the giant chicken, like last time.

although this one is a way better shot, with a couple of photobombers.

gotta love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, amirite??

keeping up the christmastime traditions

we spent last weekend sharing more of that wonderful holiday cheer with lots of friends.  the bean's girl scout handmade gift exchange kicked it off, and i love how these three are literally BFFs.

on saturday morning, they continued the fun as they walked the glendora christmas parade together.  as we usually do, we dropped the bean off with the group and then headed on down to the end of the route to watch the parade and meet up with her again for pickup.

since we always have time to kill before we have to get there, we hung out at the local coffee bean & tea leaf with her friends' dads while the moms ended up walking the parade with their little sisters.  by the time we made it to the end of the route, the parade was about halfway finished.  we still got to see a few fun things, like this group of dogs and their owners who'd just graduated from the very pricey local obedience training center.

and then it wasn't too long before we spied our girls, carrying their troop banner and looking really excited about it.  heh.

the next day i got up early to get the house ready for one of our favorite traditions - one that we'd had to miss last year due to a serious inability to coordinate schedules.  luckily we were able to pull it together (thanks to a cancelled cheer competition), and so our annual dancey-dance girls' cookie party was on for 2019.

i was a little nervous about how it would go this time around - the girls are a lot older now, with most of them in junior high, and it had been two years since we'd gotten together.  while their moms said that everyone was super excited to be able to do it again, i had concerns about how it would go.  only one of the girls is still dancing, and the rest are into soccer and volleyball (and cheer, in the bean's case).

and because i've done aprons for them several times in the past, i figured i'd make them something that hopefully they'll like enough to use year-round - hand sanitizer and lip balm cases, with a matching zipper bag.

i made a few of those infinity scarves with a hidden pocket for their moms, but i somehow managed to forget to snap a picture of them.  just imagine plaid flannel scarves in neutral colors...it wouldn't have made for a great photo anyway.

after i set the table i realized that i probably should have made something for the bean as well, because her place looked pretty sad and empty.  she didn't seem to mind though, which is pretty much what i expected.

once everyone arrived the girls all made a beeline for the back yard, where i'd put the puppies so that they wouldn't get in the way or try to jump up and eat their cookies.  and it seemed that cocoa and teddy made for the perfect icebreaker, because while it may have been ever-so-slightly awkward in the first couple of minutes, in no time at all the girls were all giggling and chatting like no time had passed.  phew.

they were having so much fun, in fact, that i ended up poking my head out the door to ask them if they even wanted to do the cookies at all.  the reminder worked, because they came inside right away and took their places to get down to business.  it was really nice to see that they really did still want to decorate their cookies, and seemed to have a blast doing it.

later, we gathered them in the back yard again for a group photo:

and then brought them back inside to recreate the annual shot.  check it out - this was their first one, a whole six years ago (the old lady was super bummed to miss this):

and now.  look at the difference!  holy cow.

i got the moms together for a picture too, because we so often forget to take ones of ourselves:

and it came to an end all too quickly.  none of the girls wanted to leave, and we were all so happy to have found the time to get together and save the tradition.  every year we talk about doing it again in summer, at least once, and then the usual scheduling issue always gets in the way.  hopefully we can break that streak in 2020.  fingers are crossed.

so much christmas cheer

the old lady and i decided to squeeze in a quick trip to disneyland one day while the bean was at school so that we could do a little christmas shopping.  her special friend's birthday is a week before christmas and there was something she wanted to buy for him that could only be found at disneyland, so of course...we HAD to go.  like, HAD. TO.  can you tell how much of a burden this errand was for us?

instead of hopping onto the tram, we decided to walk over to downtown disney straight from the parking structure.  it was actually a lot easier for us, and since we hadn't gotten a workout in that morning we counted it as cardio.  and as soon as we got through security, we spied the monorail making its way to the station.  since we had a little time to play with, we scurried on through the turnstile and up the stairs to take a ride to tomorrowland.

and when we got off of the monorail, what do you know...only a 15-minute standby line for space mountain.  it was practically begging us to come and ride it.

and as we walked through that line and i checked the disneyland app to see if there were any fastpasses available for us, i saw that we could get onto star tours pretty much right after we left space mountain.  and so that's what we did.

obligatory castle selfie:

we decided that we needed a snack, and that snack came in the form of a mint julep and candy cane beignets.  mmmmmmm.

as we made our way back towards main street so that we could start shopping, we came across this adorable brood of baby ducks.  their mama was sticking close by, keeping an eye on her babies as they maneuvered their way through the crowds that were oohing and aahing over them.  also helping to keep them safe was a cast member who asked everyone to clear a path for the little family.  i always think that's really sweet.

we attempted a couple more selfies with the holiday decor, but the lighting was all wrong.  oh well.

back at home, we picked up the puppies from the groomer.  only teddy would allow a photo, of course.  cocoa is very camera shy.

the christmas prepping continued as the old lady started wrapping presents and i worked on cookies for a friend.  i'm always surprised when i'm asked for cookies at christmas time because most people like to make their own.

and the bean got in on it too, as she crafted a present for her girl scout gift exchange.  they always do handmade gifts, so she was happy to put together a little stuffed elf (that looks very yoda-esque but still cute) and then threw together a batch of chocolate chip cookies to add to it.

spoiler:  those cookies did not make it to santa's plate.  one of her BFFs managed to snag her present and ate a couple of them before her parents snuck the rest into their bellies.  i'm still cracking up remembering her BFF's face as her mom 'fessed up to the crime.

ah, christmas.  it's coming all too quickly.