Holiday Cheer!

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same. ~Donald E. Westlake

Hello friends.  Welcome to part 1 of our 2013 Holiday Chaos Cheer!  I'll catch you up on all that has occurred to date.

• Thanksgiving #1 - We celebrated our first Thanksgiving the Sunday before Thanksgiving so that we could spend some time with Uncle Piet, Oma's brother, who was out visiting from Holland.  We had a wonderful feast, lot's of laughs, some good time catching up with  Piet, and then we were given a private piano performance.  Piet is an organist back home, and while the Organ and the Piano are very different from one another, he plays beautifully.

Piet and Clare played a duet

A shameless photo-bomb

Brother and sister

Piet and Oma approve of the turkey

Ed and Rene' celebrated with us

We're a funny group

Really, we are

Clare and Laurel couldn't help but tap into their Dutch roots and try on the wooden shoes.

• Thanksgiving #2 - As we do each year, we drove up to my mom's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends.  We had a great time cooking, eating, conversing and generally celebrating with our loved ones.  This year on Black Friday, rather than heading out into the great shopping abyss, we packed up the kids and dog and headed up the mountain to Big Bear.  The drive is only about 20 minutes from my mom's house, and nothing makes it feel like the holidays quite like cold weather does.  Because I grew up right at the base of the mountain, many friends and family live in Big Bear and that makes visiting even more fun.  This time, though, we headed over to our old neighbors cabin for some quality time away from the hustle and bustle of Orange County.  We had a great time and Laurel even got to see her first snow flurries fall.  

Cousins relaxing before the action

Some of the cooks

Kids!

Sisters 

Big Bear with friends

It's snowing!  Luke is used to the cold...my girls aren't.  

• My Birthday - Typically we add to the holiday cheer by going away for my birthday.  This has historically affected the family's St. Nicolaas plans since I get to share my special day with the big guy...and in Holland this is a major celebration.  This year, however, due to some possible out of town guests and Jonathan's work schedule, the extent of my celebration was supposed to be a dinner out with the family the night before my actual birthday.  You see, Jonathan had the misfortune of attending a conference at the St. Regis for "work" Wednesday - Friday, meaning he would be "suffering" in the lap of luxury at Monarch Beach on my actual birthday (ahem), so weekend travel plans were never made and we agreed to celebrate St. Nicolaas this weekend rather than the next one.  What I didn't realize, though, is that Jonathan had a planned a little getaway for the two of us.  He and my mom plotted during the Thanksgiving celebration and came up with a plan.  Mom agreed to come down Friday afternoon and watch the girls overnight so Jonathan and I could go up to Hollywood for the night.  It was wonderful.  We stayed at the Andaz on Sunset, right across from the Sunset Tower and next to Chateau Marmont...in a fantastic location.  I ate a warm meal for the first time in a long time, and not once did someone interrupt me while I was conversing.  It was fabulous.  Afterward we hit the nightlife, and just as the young, fun, hip people were beginning to head out for the night, we were exhausted and ready to go in.  Ahhh, the joys of aging...  Regardless, we had a great time and I am so thankful to both mom and Jonathan for giving me the gift of remembering what life was like when I could function like a normal human being, aka life before being a mother.

Birthday dinner with my family

The rooftop pool/lounge

Cheers!!

Look...no kids! 

A room with a view

• St. Nicolaas - Who doesn't love an excuse to celebrate the Season with family a couple times in December?!  Well, when I married into the Dease (Van Klaveren) family, that's exactly what I got - more celebrating.  The fun part about these celebrations is that each year, there are more and more kids present to help us party.  The not so fun part of this is that with more kids comes more chaos and...well who am I kidding, that's fun too! While every year we always agree that it will be just a small gift exchange, it turns out to be a crazy gift and food fest.  It's a great tradition and we are all grateful that Oma, the Van Klaverens, Van Roons, Deases, Heins and Nadvornicks ( when weather permits...) all make efforts to continue celebrating it regardless of what craziness is going on in their lives.  

What do you mean it's St. Nicolaas?!

Well, I'm ready.  Ta-da!

Sisters posing

Emmerson and Dustin, who's sporting a rather lovely sweater.

Santa dropped in and Tyler was very anxious to tell him EXACTLY what he wanted for Christmas.

Clare was a little shy at first...

But then she rebounded

and enjoyed the nice gifts Santa had for her

Now, they're best friends.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for Laurel

Emmerson and Donovan were very happy to visit with the big guy.

Oma and Santa

I loved getting my baby fix with the sweet Emmerson

And here we are....in all our glory