Christmas countdown - 2008

December has been a crazy month for us. We were finishing up the last bit of our semester and studying like crazy for finals (just finished last week). We did manage to find some time to get out and enjoy Christmas decorations and celebrations.

First, in the beginning of the month, Ryan and I went up to LA Live, which is supposed to be like the Time Square of the west coast. They had this cool electric Christmas tree, a concert hall, and several restaurants, but I think they need some shops before it becomes the "happening place".
Later in the month, we went to Follow The Star, which is an Orange County tradition. This year was the 10th anniversary of the living nativity. I've been every year for the past 3 or 4 years and it's just a fun tradition. It's so fun to bundle up every year, grab some hot cocoa and watch the show. We even got to pet some of the animals that were in the show. I particularly enjoyed the sheep. They're so puffy. Afterwards, we went to see "Four Christmases" with some friends. I really enjoyed it, but Ryan wasn't as impressed. Oh well, it was a fun night.

Our blackout days on our Disneyland passes started Saturday and go through the end of the year, so on Friday night, we grabbed Tiersha (who had just gotten home) and headed over to enjoy one more night of Disney fun for the year. During December, it "snows" on main street right after the fireworks show, so we just had to be there for that. The snow is actually bubbles, like tiny little clumps of bubbles that really do look like snow, but it's still so much fun. I saw it last year, but I was still SUPER excited when the "snow" started falling.

There was a huge Christmas tree over in California Adventure, so we stopped to take a picture.

Ryan and I couldn't resist posing for a picture in front of the "N". That's for "Neilson", if you didn't catch that.

Then, last night, we put together a last minute Christmas gathering with some friends. We ate pizza and some yummy desserts then headed out to see Christmas lights. First we went to Candy Cane Lane here in town. I didn't get many pictures of the wildly decorated houses, but I think most people have seen streets like this. Almost the entire street decorates like crazy, some even cover their driveways in decor. I did get two pictures of that part of the night:

Justin, Allison and Emily stop to pose with Santa.

And this is just a TINY example of some of the stuff we saw. I really liked this one, it wasn't too overboard for me, and everything went together well.

After Candy Cane Lane, we headed over to Fashion Island, an outdoor mall in Newport Beach which features the largest REAL Christmas tree I've ever seen. I think we read that it was 250 feet tall. I didn't believe that it was real, but as you got closer you could smell it. We even pulled off a few of the pine needles to confirm. It really was real!

After taking in this monstrosity, we headed to Starbucks for a quick warm-up with cocoa, then walked the mall. The men decided to sit and talk "guy stuff" while Christina, Allison and I wandered through Pottery Barn and Z Gallery.

Finally, we came home and watched a movie (Catch Me if You Can). It was a really fun night and I'm glad we were able to put it together so last minute.

Now, the real countdown begins. Four days until Christmas!! We're very excited, especially because we get to see BOTH families. While we'll be with the Neilsons ON Christmas, my family will be down visiting, so we'll get to see them on Christmas Eve, and I'll spend Friday with them while Ryan is out golfing.

It's definitely been (and will continue to be) a season of good friends and family and we're so grateful for that.

We wish you and your families a happy and safe Christmas.