So….NaBloPoMo…Thanksgiving did me in. I was busy cooking, then eating, and then relaxing. So, I didn’t blog, I didn’t have anything to say, too full of food. The next day and the next and so on and on I just followed that routine of non-blogging. And lo and behold we’re into December!

Actually, I did try to blog. Or I should say I really wanted to but never sat down at the computer long enough to. I’ve been busy? I don’t honestly know. It took me two days to edit these photos. Well, not actually 48 hours, obviously, but I worked on them on two separate days. I think the kids distracted me the first day so I finished them up the next day. Then when I was finished I MUST have been distracted again because I still did not blog. Yeah…busy with the kids.

Busy, busy, busy. That’s why I’m so glad we got our tree already! Yep. We got our tree BEFORE December.

Isabelle chose it.

Nathan wanted a different one.

Just kidding. He didn’t have a preference.

I love how small the tree is. Even Isabelle could prop it up no problem.

We didn’t even need to strap the tree to the roof. It fit INSIDE the car.

And, no, Nathan is not crying because there is a tree in his way. His foot got caught on the netting and he was complaining. Loudly.

When we got home we decorated.

Decorating a small tree is easy. It’s tiny enough that we didn’t need a chair to put the star on! Even Nathan helped. He pulled up a little chair and a stool all by himself without any prompting because he wanted to help.

He did hang a few ornaments but mostly he played with them. And broke them. Ok…just a couple. Thank goodness for glue.

Afterwards, the kids spent a good deal of the night sitting in the dark staring at the Christmas tree lights.

You can just make out Nathan. Isabelle is right there next to him.

Now if only Christmas shopping were so easy.

On the weekend, I went to a cooking demonstration at Chef Jon Lee’s. It’s been my favorite restaurant for a while now. I’ve never been to a demo before but I’ve wanted to go to this one ever since I first tried the food there a year ago and learned that they did cooking demos. They had a couple last year but I couldn’t make either of them, plus Nathan was still so small and needy. What am I saying? He’s still needy.

Well, on my birthday a couple of months ago, we went to Chef Jon’s for dinner and found out they had cooking demos again. This time I made sure to go. Alan watched the kids and I invited my friend, Terri, to join me.

We watched Chef Jon make some of his popular dishes like sticky crunchy chicken, sweet and sour soup, spicy basil garlic fried rice, tamarind curry, babyback ribs, and scampi pasta with prawns. I bought some of his signature sauces to take home to make my own sticky crunchy chicken and babyback ribs. In fact, that’s what I made for dinner tonight, sticky crunchy chicken.

Chef Jon also talked about his background. He is inspiring, you’re never too old to follow your dreams. He didn’t start in the restaurant business, quite the opposite, he was working in the car industry. I believe he’s only been running his restaurant for a few years. He opened it after his teenage son prompted him to follow his heart.

I’m glad he did. He is so friendly and welcoming. You can really tell he loves cooking. I’ve liked all the dishes I’ve tried there, it’s the spicy kick to them, yum. There is nothing more frustrating than a restaurant, with unique delicious food, closing down (which happened to our regular Mexican place, we’re still trying to find a replacement near us). I hope they stay in business for a good long while. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area you need to try the food there.

MMmmm…all this food talk, I’m hungry again. Ok, off to bed with me before I go sneaking into the kitchen for some sticky crunchy chicken.

On Sunday night, we told Isabelle a special visitor was going to be in town the next day. Then Monday afternoon, we drove down to the mall to visit him, Santa. Even Nathan was excited. I don’t know why. We’ve never talked to Nathan about Santa. Not really. Maybe he heard about Santa in passing when…when…I don’t know. Maybe Isabelle told Nathan about him.

Well anyhoo, back to what I was saying, Nathan was whining and moaning when we were getting ready to go out, wanting to play Batman. But as soon as I said, “we’re going to see Santa now” he calmed right down and went to get his shoes saying, “Santa! Santa!”

And oh my what a difference from seeing Santa last year. There were no people. NO PEOPLE. Well I shouldn’t have been too surprised. Last year we went a few days before Christmas when all the kids were out of school. It was a madhouse. This time there was only one other kid there and I don’t know if he was there to take pictures or to play with the fake snow.

FAKE SNOW!! The kids loved it as you can tell from the pictures. We really need to bring them to the snow this year. Isabelle’s been talking about going sledding.

And Santa? The kids were ok with Santa. Isabelle hasn’t had a problem with Santa ever. But Nathan was sort of hesitant. He was all gung ho saying, “Santa” and “Cwistmas”. That is until we rounded the corner and he actually saw Santa. Then he stopped dead in his tracks and didn’t want to sit with him.

So, I held Nathan in my arms and we took a few shots with Santa like that. Then I transferred Nathan over to Santa and no problem.

Click to enlarge.

I’ve been more comfortable. The problem is Nathan. He pushes and pushes against me and I keep moving over and inevitably I’m sleeping on the crack. And sometimes the bed moves for whatever reason and then the crack gets bigger. *Double sigh.

Remember this picture?

Ahhhhh Nathan barely fits into it now.

That doesn’t stop him from trying though.