Christmas 2009

We started the holiday season off with a dance recital at Cliona's school - it was great to see her have such fun with her school-mates. Then the following evening we had some of her friends over for a Christmas special movie night. We had dinner and then showed the Grinch and Rudolph. It was a lot of fun, I think we'll keep it as a Philp tradition.
Before we knew it Grandma and Grandpa arrived and the real Christmas vacation began. We took a walk down Candy Cane Lane (a street where people go all-out with decorations and lights). One morning Cliona and Grandma did some baking, Christmas Eve we went to the beach and we also went to a Christmas party with Dana and Dave. On Christmas morning Cliona got up at a very respectable 6:30am. Santa had left a trail of candy canes from her bed to the Christmas tree so there were a lot of 'oh my God's' before she found all her presents. Dana and Dave came over so we spent a fun morning opening presents.

A couple of days previous, Clio and I were talking about Santa's naughty and nice list. She had done a runner in a store earlier that day and I was asking her if she thought she had been good. She said yes and when I reminded her about the store incident she chirps back 'Maybe Santa was having his lunch then?' Did that make me laugh! She is a funny little monkey!
On Stephen's Day (Dec 26th) we spent the day in San Diego. Avery and Kat got a trampoline for Christmas so Clio spent most of the day bouncing. She slept well that night :)
Then on Grandma&Grandpa's last day, Clio, Stephen and Karen spent the day at California Adventure (a Disneyland theme park - just a bit smaller). They all had a blast on the rides and Clio loved having her Grandma there and is still relaying stories of roller coasters, bug rides and playgrounds.
It was a great end to a good year, but I think 2010 might just be a wee bit better. I am now 29 weeks pregnant and the baby is looking just fine!

All out photos are HERE