Christmas Festivities

Our Christmas season began with Dave & I picking out our Christmas tree from a tree lot. Last year was my first year in probably 20 years to have a real tree. I loved the real tree because it smelt so good, but I was a bit nervous to get one again. Last December, my legs were broken out in hives all month. It was quite obnoxious and uncomfortable. The  only possibility that I thought might be causing the hives was our Christmas tree. It was basically the only new thing I could think of and the hives went away when we got rid of the tree. Quite odd. We decided to get a different variety of tree this year and see if it helped. I’m happy to say that our Christmas tree this year did not give me hives so I think I might be allergic to Douglas fir trees. Good to know.

Dave and I decorated the tree as soon as we brought it home. Dave was a good sport and ran to the store not once, but twice, to get more lights. I must have strung them a lot tighter than last year. I was so excited to decorate our tree so that I could display our new tree skirt. Last year when I was in Hawaii, I saw a tree skirt that I LOVED, but did not get it. My mom has a great memory and when my family was in Hawaii this year she remembered that I wanted it and bought it for me! I have such a thoughtful mom! It looks great under our tree.

Another festive thing we did this year was go to a Christmas Creche exhibit with another couple from our ward. A Creche is another name for the nativity scene which depicts the stable in which Christ was born. A church building in Palo Alto displayed over 500 Creches from 80 countries. It was an incredible display. Each room in the church had a theme. There were so many different types of Creches. They had the traditional wood, glass and ceramic nativities. There was even a life size manger scene and one made out of Legos. In true silicon valley form, they even had one carved in a computer chip. There was one made inside of an egg shell and one made on the tip of a pin that had to be viewed with a magnifying glass. There were so many beautiful ones. This was a great activity to remember the reason for the season. I think Dave and I will make it a Christmas tradition to attend this Creche exhibit. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside the exhibit:(

Dave and I also went to San Francisco to see the city decorations. Union square was so beautiful. There was a giant tree and an ice skating rink. Macy’s department store was also quite impressive. Our friends recommended a couple of hotels to check out. The Westin Hotel had a 12-foot sugar castle on display. The details were quite impressive. We then took a very steep 6-block trek to the Fairmont Hotel to see a giant gingerbread house. It was a two-story house made out of 5,500 pieces of gingerbread, 850 pounds of icing, 425 pounds of candy and 8 gallons of chocolate. Wow. Apparently, the house has to be touched up every night because visitors snack on it throughout the day. My favorite part of visiting the gingerbread house was the “snowflake princess” that walked out of the house. The gingerbread house was built around a doorframe. Some sort of event behind this doorframe was getting out when we were there. All of a sudden this lady walked out and her outfit and headpiece were nothing short of comical! I hope she was dressed that way for a purpose and not because it was a festive outfit. Dave and I’s time together has been quite limited ever since we moved to California. It was nice to spend a night together laughing and enjoying the Christmas season!

Love the lights on the palm trees

The sugar castle

Gingerbread house

Check out the snowflake headpiece