Joyous December

Once the cold weather hits us in December, it’s hard not to start thinking about Florida.  Our house holds memories of our warm-weather residence.  Even the tree is decorated in sea life and activities.

We wanted to take Elizabeth to see Santa all dressed up in a pretty dress.  She was not thrilled about putting her dress on, so we agreed to take pictures at home and then re-dress before going to see Santa.

But even this photo shoot didn’t go too well…I had to ask Andy to sit with her and tried to give her some Christmas toys, too.

Oh well.  The visit with Santa was a little better than years past.  At least she got within arm’s reach and talked to him.  As he was trying to greet her, she just yelled out “Race Car!”.  Yes, I had prepped her a little bit on the drive to the YMCA saying that Santa is going to ask you what you want for Christmas…so say “Joy to the world, happiness for all, and are there any toys you’d like?”  Guess she forgot the other thoughts…ha!

He wanted to clarify – did you want a small race car or a big one?  And she said a BIG one…like Daddy’s car.  He got a chuckle out of that!

After Santa flew off, she was happy to crawl up into his big chair.

Elizabeth and I did some arts and crafts this month to give presents to Nana and Mom Mom.  Pinterest ideas always look so easy.  This little project took days (ok, ask Andy and he’ll say two weeks!).  I almost didn’t get started when I thought I didn’t have enough salt.  Pacific Sea Salt was my substitute and between that and high altitude the baking directions were skewed.   Then I didn’t have enough white paint.  Then I didn’t have the sealant.  Uggh.  But we did it.  I altered the design on the one that Elizabeth painted entirely red, trying to decorate it with glitter glue instead.  That one was the one I kept for us!  ha!

Carol bought us a gift certificate to use at a hotel in Golden.  Easy access to get a night away.  Part of the present was having Steph as our overnight babysitter.  We were happy to take advantage of it.

We enjoyed the Christmas lights throughout town.

In addition to hitting several microbreweries which were all within walking distance. 

The next day we walked along the frozen Clear Creek.  We had heard that it had frozen over with ice so high it blocked the normal flow at a low bridge and re-routed the river.  They had just finished this new bridge and path from the creek to the School of Mines.  It was now under water and ice.

Normally the creek wasn’t next to this fence.

Here’s the newest bridge with ice frozen to it from the river.

The Clear Creek RV Park had closed one section due to the overflow from the river which then iced over.  Suffering from fresh water coming down stream on top of the ice and then re-freezing, there was some concern about needing to evacuate the entire RV Park.

The ice was so thick and you really could only appreciate it’s magnitude when you came across a broken up section of the creek.  It was glacial like.

Here is a spot that is usually an open dirt beach area and in summer has lots of exposed rocks.  It’s a great area for kayakers and people wanting to sit and watch.  Now there’s just a short stretch of dirt.

We celebrated a small family Christmas before heading back to Philly for the holidays.  It’s getting harder to figure out how to juggle “our” Christmas, Santa’s presents when she is in another state, and being with family.

We had saved several presents that she received from out-of-state and non-PA family and opened them all on the same night.  She was so happy opening up presents!

Our little girl loves trucks and trains and balls.  Andy and I got her a big Bull Dozer (now called Bozer) and a Dump Truck for her to play with.

She made us take each and every present out of the box and set it up so she could play with it before opening the next present.

Andy got her a Discovery Kids pacific ocean scene so we could teach her more about marine mammals.

He also got her a Princess Castle because she loves forts.  It was pretty ironic to see her taking her Dump Truck in and out of a princess house.

And, she tucked Bozer and Dump Truck into the castle to go to sleep before she was carried off to bed herself.

Then we flew off to Pennsylvania to enjoy the holiday with family.  We had a wonderful time as always, but unfortunately did not get to visit with any friends – mine or Andy’s.  For the first three days Elizabeth complained of ear pains which kept us hesitant to make commitments until we knew if we it was going to become an infection, and just as we were about to whisk her off to an urgent care clinic she said she was all better.  And she was right.  No more pains after that.  Whew!

More pictures from December on WebAlbums.