Miraculious Ladybug

First Day of Xmas

the day after Christmas is actually the "first day" up until the 12th day on January 6th (three kings or epiphany). most people think to count back 12 days before (december 12th). but how can it be twelve days of xmas BEFORE when its not until dec 25th. one of ariana's gift is an advent calendar of nail polish. you got it - 25 boxes. shes going to open up a box everyday up to jan 6th.

Break in the Rain

sometimes i see a photo of ariana where she resembles a family member. this one i think she looks like her Godmother auntie stephanie.

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas

ariana woke up 6:30 and went straight to the living room. out of all days - she wakes up early! there she saw the tree was all decorated and evidence that santa came - ate milk & cookies. we left out the magical xmas key for him to come through the door since the chimney is blocked. this time the reindeers ate their oatmeal/candycane mix - leaving their hoof-print marks. ariana waited until 7 o'clock to wake us up. funny byron and i asked for more time and barely made it out of bed by 7:30. we headed straight to make a cup of coffee first before she could start opening all her presents. every thing to the right of the stool is for ariana (santa doesnt put nametags).

kuya came over by noon. he was admiring dad's OLD robe which was a wedding gift circa 1999. only because he had a new one all wrapped up for him. now that joshica are married - they get "couple" gifts. a pair of golden state warriors ornaments - yes i am still keeping up with ornaments of the year. we also gifted them his & her luggage from the warriors team store with the city logo. plus a set of hangers.

The Night before Xmas...

pulled an all nighter, only because ariana didnt fall asleep until midnight. the Elf fell asleep during the gift wrap 101 lesson, but got a second wind and able to help out on the line. ariana put out cookies, and reminded me to fill up the milk bottle for santa. she also made reindeer food (oatmeal, candy canes, cocoa). they must have liked it since they left a couple hoof prints on the carpet.

Parol Star Bright

for the longest time since we bought the house in 1994, we have been using a gold star to top the tree. ariana made a parol star in filipino club after school and we ended up using it instead. we had to wait for dad to lift ariana up to have the honors. emma surprised us in a sleigh with the ornament for the year - disney moana.

sELFie - strike a pose

The Lion King

one of our traditions during the holidays is to go to the city (san francisco) and see a show. this year byron picked "Lion King". we took josh when it first came to los angeles in 2000. we splurge to get orchestra seats (row t) to experience the animals and dancers come down the aisles. this was arianas first broadway musical to see. so i pointed out the theatre to her - where the orchestra plays under the stage, the mezzanie and balcony seats ways up top.
we started out having dinner at cheesecake factory in union square, taxi to show and back.

Xmas in the Park

vacation days are scheduled by seniority and this year dad took off the week before xmas. the tree is all decorated, no more shopping, and decided to go out for the holidays. started out for dinner at claim jumpers, then to the fairmont to see their lobby decor, and our annual stroll through Christmas in the park. ended the night at Sweet Orchid for tropical flavor gelato - who will be shutting their doors tomorrow.

Fa La La

another gap sweater dress sans tunic. i think all of these are size Medium (8) - where ariana wears a size 10 going into 12s. its the last day before a 2-week winter break. noting that there are no class xmas parties in middle school. one bff is going out of town tomorrow - so the girlst are exchanging gifts today. ariana is bringing one to school for S that lives the furthest, will drop off N tonight before they hit the road, could always drop off C next week, and hoping to get the girls together with A.
ariana found emma hiding in a tsum-tsum purse - guess its for all the 25 tsums from the advent calendar.

Camo Cat

this is another gap sweater dress from last year.

Rolling Around the Tree

 i started to put lights on the tree - only managed to do the top portion. this gave emma to decorate the rest with literally a "roll" of toilet paper.

Bomber Jacket

this was the first thing ariana picked out in her chicago shopping spree at forever21. she got alot of compliments at school - "nice jacket", "i like your jacket", and where did you get it? i'm tackling xmas one day at a time. notice the red bow on the wreath?

All Strung Up

this is the outfit from target kind is cool line.
we found emma in the bare tree all wrapped up in xmas lights. hmmm - perhaps shes trying to tell us to hurry up and string the tree. i have to go to the store - think this tree will need at least 8 strands. i want to switch from white lights to gold.
 

Tree Lot

even though we have a big artificial tree (the one where you have to spread all the branches out), ariana prefers a real one. her bff girlfriends have an artificial one too and never been to a tree lot before. ariana invites them to come along to experience this.

Winter Dance

winter dance at the middle school. this is the first night time one where we drop off at 5:00. the other ones were right after school. even though she purchased the ticket last week, it kind of snuck up on us - where we didnt even go shopping for an outfit. we had this red sequin dress from gap - that ariana never got around to wearing last year for the holidays. this was perfect, paired with leggings and TOMS black suede heels.

Holiday Red Plaid

believe this plaid dress came from gap (or perhaps target). its a minimum day where the kids get out at 11:45. they dont have to change for pe - so ariana wont have to deal with all the buttons. the plan was to go get the xmas tree today, but with the all the rain storms - we'll try to shoot for this weekend. ariana had an ortho appointment - prepping for braces in february. afterwards i took the girls to the nail salon - color only. ariana went the candy cane route (red with white stripes) for the holidays. her bff did the blue winter wonderland color.

Dress to Tunic

with the cold weather, i pulled out the bin from the garage. not sure if anything still fits as this was put away after last spring. this is a gap dress (size medium 8). turned it into a tunic with black ponte pants. and able to brave the rain with ugg rain boots. just hung the wreath (costco) on the door - to kick off the house ready for xmas.

Build a Snowman

Happy Bday Dad

with dads 4/4 day work schedule and joshs work hours, it was too hard to coordinate to go out for dinner. josh surprised us and brought a cake over - strawberry tiramisu from 85degree bakery. a candle for every decade. 5 candles X 10 - over 50.