One of the gifts I was most excited about was this elephant playhouse we got Jaclyn.
It’s big enough for Leanne and Leia to use also, which is fortunate since Jac needed encouragement before she’d crawl through the nose tunnel. Big hit!
Leia's dad sent me these pics tonight.
Snap Circuit mad scientist at work (plus she’s wearing the pj's and using the flower light we got her. Happy grandma.)
Quilt top #6 was finished in time for Christmas - she liked it! Marie chose the backing fabric from my stash today, so this will hopefully go to Debbie for quilting sometime this week.
Aaaaaaand quilt #7 is on the design wall. This rag quilt is for a friend who’s had the fabric for almost 15 years. Hoping to have it completed before we ring in the new year.
This Christmas is turning into the Year of Quilts.
Pecking Order is done and gifted,
complete with a blue toile backing. I love how this turned out; almost kept it for myself. . .
Leanne’s quilt - which she named Heart Blossom - is also done,
including the butterflies she chose for the quilting.
She’s my Ladybug Princess so this flannel backing is perfect.
This one is for Mouse, aka Donovan Richard, due in April.
Sleeping baby foxes
This quilt fought me the entire way, to the point where I’d happily have thrown it in the trash. Fortunately, Leia talked me into keeping it. She loves it and, now that it’s done, so do I.
Leia picked owls and dark green thread for the long arm quilting my friend Debbie did on this. I think she chose well.
I can’t take much credit for Jaclyn’s quilt. I bought the completed top from my favorite quilt shop and Debbie did the long-arm quilting (she did all these quilts.)
Jac loves cats so this is perfect for her. The super soft minke backing fabric should also be a big hit.
The blue metallic quilt for Mary makes five and tonight I started number six. Pretty sure I can complete the top and get it wrapped by Christmas Day. . . Finishing it will have to wait for the new year.
I’ve played the Hamilton lottery since the LA touring show opened, with absolutely no expectation of winning. I mean, what are the odds?? But how could I not try for a chance to buy two $10 tickets for seats that otherwise sell for $650 each? (Not even kidding.)
Monday morning I got the daily “sorry, please try again” message for Tuesday’s performance. I figured this had been my best chance of winning since the entire theatre - all 2,703 seats - was available to lottery winners only.
Imagine my shock when the “you’ve won” message came through a couple of hours later. I couldn’t hit the “buy” button fast enough!
Anticipating a loooooong line - every ticket had to be picked up at will-call, in person, starting 90 minutes before show time - we arrived at 4:15, ate sandwiches in the car, then sat in line in our most decrepit folding chairs (which we left for whoever wanted them) until the box office opened at 6:30.
Once we had our tickets, we had to go immediately into the theatre, where we sat for another hour (thank goodness for ebooks!) until the main theatre doors opened at 7:30.
And how was the play? Fantastic!!
We aren’t fans of hip hop, so we were a bit worried whether or not we’d like the production, but this was - easily - one of the best shows we’ve ever seen. The only one I liked better (maybe) was our first time seeing Phantom of the Opera; it’s a tough choice for top spot between the two. We’d definitely go see Hamilton again in a heartbeat.
Friday was my birthday. Back in September, I’d purchased tickets to see Carol Burnett at the Dolby Theatre on my big day, then talked Rachel into coming out from Colorado to go with us. That one event blossomed into an entire weekend of fun and family.
Rachel and Addy arrived in LA at 7:30 am, and by 11 we were sitting down to a formal tea, complete with a fancy hat fashion show.
This was Addy's #1 request for the weekend and it did not disappoint.
Neither she nor Leia liked the food or the tea, but they looooved trying on every.single.hat in the shop's extensive collection, adding in gloves, jewelry and fans as they went along. Major success!
Friday afternoon we headed for LA and Ms. B. Traffic wasn’t as bad as we expected, and the Subway sandwiches we’d brought along (in case traffic was bad) saved us from a long restaurant wait, so we had time to show Addy some of Hollywood Blvd before the show.
This guy pulled a statuette out of his case, put the girls in position and posed for a photo, all for a $2 tip. They loved it.
The show was great, of course, as was the company of good friends. Bonus: Addy and Leia are now big Carol Burnett fans.
Saturday we took to the freeways again - happiness is headphones and iPads! - enroute to Disney On Ice at the Staples Center.
The show this year was soooo much better than last year’s. The girls got bored several times last year but Saturday they were enthralled the entire time. They especially loved the aerial acts, even after poor Rapunzel fell about 10 feet when her grip slipped on the fabric, bouncing into a stunned heap on the ice; but she jumped up and finished the show, looking uninjured, thank goodness.
The Disney show was at 3 and we were home by 7, with a whole evening stretched out before us. Can’t let time go to waste on a party weekend, right?? So we bundled the girls into pajamas, armed them with quilts and headed for the 9:45 showing of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The adults were dragging by the time the show ended at midnight-thirty, but the little girls were wide awake and thrilled they’d gotten to stay up so late. (The movie is great, by the way.)
Our grand finale was lunch with the (almost) entire family.
As you’d expect, Jac was the hit of the party, especially after she got her hands on first green, then red, cupcake frosting (aided and abetted by Grandma.)
She wasn’t the only one enjoying her cupcake, though.
Fun times.
Rachel and Addy have headed home
She loves him and named him Fillmore.
and we’re in ‘finish all the Christmas presents’ mode. Only one week to go!
The plan was for the girls to wear their princess dresses for today’s visit, but since both dresses were AWOL (at the parents) we had to improvise.
A quick trip through Target for new shirts - and fancy matching headbands - and we were back in business.
Jac wasn’t happy about having her picture taken by strangers - or having grandma out of her reach - but she was fairly cooperative when the big girls held her.
The only smiling picture in the lot.
But she took one look at the bearded guy in the red suit and decided no.way. was she doing this.
Leia cajoled and PopPop sat on the floor within reach but out of camera range, ready to grab Jac if she made good her escape.
A few quick snaps and we were done.
Despite the tears, we got some fun shots.
One of these days I’m going to make a scrapbook of only Santa visits, going back to when Pop and I were kids. Bet there’s a few crying kids in there too.
Leia was Jac’s very favorite person today.
Leanne finally lost her loose tooth!
Brothers, with matching taste in shirts.
Sleeping baby foxes
She loves him and named him Fillmore. 
The only smiling picture in the lot.
