Celebrating Christmas all month long

Being that this year is Sirena’s first Christmas we were determined to celebrate all month long!

The weekend after Thanksgiving we went to the famous Claremont Hotel in Berkeley for their Christmas festivities.  They had a HUGE gingerbread house on display (not to eat, dangit) and Christmas carolers getting us into the holiday spirit.

The next weekend we went to the 34th annual Charles Dicken’s Fair in San Francisco–it’s like a Renaissance Faire but just picture instead an old Victorian Christmas party.  We had a good time exploring but I think it would’ve been better if we either had more people with us or if Sirena was older.  But we were very glad we finally went and will definitely be checking it out another year when she’s older and can enjoy all of the fun kid’s activities.

Then the following weekend we went to Santa’s tree farm in Half Moon Bay with Grandma Dorothy to pick out a Christmas tree and meet jolly old Saint Nick (although Sirena was less than jolly to meet the man in red!)

Dorothy and I decorated the tree while Sirena slept.  Sirena was so excited about the sparkling lights and shiny ornaments in the morning.

There is nothing quite like having a Christmas tree in our home, lit up, presents underneath, and smelling oh-so-yummy.

And last but not least, the photo shoot we had with our girls for our Christmas card!  We bought a cute Dr. Seuss Christmas shirt for Sirena and it was the perfect thing for these photos.  The shirt is of Cindy Lou Who and the brown dog with reindeer antlers from How the Grinch Stole Christmas so we had Sirena holding a bag of reindeer food and put some ridiculous homemade reindeer antlers on Lola.

The best one of the bunch!

And here’s what the final product looked like:

We’re very much looking forward to spending the holidays in Long Beach with family and friends!