Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Wishing you a joyful and holy Christmas! 

Christmas traditions

The season of Advent came upon me so fast this year. Usually I am waiting for it to begin. This year, I feel as if I didn't even really get a chance to prepare myself. But that is the beauty of this season and that is the exact reason why Advent happens. So that we can prepare our hearts and our whole beings to meet Our Lord on Christmas day. After all Jesus is the reason for the season! So in our home, we are all preparing for Christmas during this  Advent season by making sacrifices. Sophia and I are giving up all forms of sweets until Christmas day. She agreed to do it and let me tell you, she is doing a much better job than me. We were at In & Out the other night and she forgot about her Advent sacrifice and asked if she can get a milkshake. I felt so bad but I reminded her and she quickly complied and didn't even argue with me. I was so proud of her!

But not all of our traditions are penitential :) We obviously decorated our tree and have been saying our family rosary each night near it and reflecting on our empty manger [on Christmas morning we put baby Jesus in] that we put up above our fireplace. 

Another fun tradition that I have been doing for a few years is putting chocolate coins in the girl's shoes on St. Nicholas day [which is tomorrow!]. I have the girls put there shoe outside the door when they go to bed and when they wake up, they find chocolate coins inside. Btw, Trader Joes sells chocolate coins but they also sell chocolate coals for the naughty kids! I was tempted to buy this to put in Mike's shoe, haha!

^We also light an advent wreath ^ 

A new tradition I want to start with this year is to also celebrate St. Lucia's day [on December 13th] with having a small candle procession and make some Lucia bread. 

I love small traditions like these and hope to continue to do them each year even as the girls get older. 

What are some traditions that you do during the season of Advent? 



first image found via interest.

Hair tutorial by Sophia {Sophia says}

Last week, [thanks to instagram] I got inspired to let Sophia sleep with socks in her hair. We rolled her dry hair after a bath into some little old navy socks, tied the ends together and then I sent sleeping beauty off to bed!

^^Taa daa!!! Perfect curls the next morning!!!^^

^ The curls only got better through the day! ^

So there you have it blog world! First hair tutorial by a four year old :)

Just a few conversations and quotes by Sophia as of lately...

[mike walks out the door for work]

Sophia, "Daddy i love you, come back!" 

[mike pops his head back in]

Mike, "yes?"

Sophia, "Make sure you come back for the girls party"

[mike leaves for work]

Me, "Oh, he's invited to the girl's party?"

Sophia, "no, i just need his help"

Me, "With what?"

Sophia, "The drinks. And the decorations"

apparently, she's already expecting her father to help her out with the drinks ;) 

[After crock pot has been cooking dinner all day and taking her first bite]

"Mama, i think you are going to be a famous chef one day"

[Michael Buble comes on pandora]

"Oh, its daddy's song!" 

thanksgiving weekend

Hope everyone had the most wonderful thanksgiving! We had the very best thanksgiving this year. My family came to visit and we had a wonderful time spending the day cooking, laughing, eating, and playing outside together.   
As I get older and as each year passes, I realize that I get less thankful for the materialistic things in my life and more for just what I have. I thought my heart would burst with joy and gratitude on Thanksgiving morning at church as I had everything I wanted right there with me. I had my family who was healthy, happy and who loved our faith all in one room giving thanks to God. Counting my blessings always makes me realize that life is good. So very good. 

^ Just mini mason jars for wine glasses in this house ;) ^

^ like father, like daughter :) we both got the turkey leg this year! ^

^ We played this ridiculous game (aka too much wine) at the table after dinner. We took a large pomelo fruit from my yard and all took turns balancing it on our heads. I don't know why we thought it was so funny... once again the results of too much wine :) ^

^ The two full and happy girls ^

My brother spent a few extra days with us and we got to spend Black Friday eating our way through the San Francisco! My brother is the master of finding the best places to eat. So we followed his stomach and started by grabbing delicious subs from Ikes and walking to Delores Park to enjoy them there. The sandwiches were the bomb! Make sure to get extra dirty sauce :) 

^ Mike, Sophia and Zaylee were all supposed to go down this awesome slide together...BUT Sophia accidentally let Zaylee go and she went down first by herself. Which is why you still see Mike and Sophia still at the top :) ^

 ^ We walked to Bi-rite ice cream afterwards for the best salted carmel ice cream. It was amazing! ^

^ shopping inside the ferry building ^

^ Hog Island Oysters! The oyster stew is pretty dang good too and so is their grilled cheese!!^