A So Cal Girl in the Desert

This week has been busy! On top of all our usual antics, we have also been doing lots of fun things to help get us into the holiday spirit...

Last weekend we went to Santa's Village at Firebird Raceway. It's a mile of rides, games, shows and food, all with a Christmas theme. It was pricey, but well worth the memories. Little B had a BLAST, and said he wanted to come back every day. By far, my favorite part was "The Doggies of the Wild West Show." The doggies did tricks and stood around and looked cute, and it almost made me cry, it was so great. The best part was that the dogs who weren't performing a trick hung out in their own little stagecoach. It was too, too cute!

I wanted to ride the tilt-a-whirl, but the boys thought they would get sick. I got in line to ride by myself, and then noticed a sign that said "no single riders." While I was trying to persuade the boys to go with me, this sweet little girl said, "you can ride with me and my little sister." Great! So I let them pick which buggy we should sit in, and everyone seemed happy and so excited for the ride. Then as soon as we moved one inch, the little girl started screaming, crying, wailing... I didn't know what to do! Her older sister covered her mouth and put her in her jacket and said to me, "I don't want anyone to hear her because I don't want to get off the ride." She was screaming that bad. Seriously. Like the operator would have for sure stopped the ride if he had heard. All I was concerned about was getting thrown up on. I've noticed that lately I haven't been enjoying rides as much because I've developed a fear of being vomited on. Who cares if you're terrified, little girl, just don't you dare throw up on me. I just tried to take her mind off it by laughing, saying "Weeeeeeeeeeeeee" and "Yahooooooooo" and "This is so fun!" Here are the crappy pictures my husband took, but you can see how terrified the girl is, and then how her sister is covering her up, and how I'm just trying to laugh...it's probably nervous laughter thinking that that open mouth could produce some serious projectile.

The trauma...



Then the covering-up so we can stay on the ride...



That may have been my last tilt-a-whirl ride, unless I can find someone I know well who won't cry and who can guarantee me that they won't throw up. I think that can be hard to come by.

We got hot chocolate, the boys went on the bumper cars, we went into about a million fun houses, and we played games. I told the boys they could play as long as they promised NOT to win a stupid giant stuffed animal. Let me tell you how well that worked out...



But when we got home, the dogs were thrilled. They had a toy that they could wrestle with, play tug-o-war, and hump! It only lasted a couple of days before all the little white cheap stuffing balls came out. They were so upset when they had to say buh-bye to "screwey the squirrel."



On Sunday we got our Christmas tree and decorated it. We planned to get something REALLY small. Like three or four feet, but, of course, we ended up with a six foot tree. It's beautiful, though. We honored our tradition of making and drinking cider while tree-trimming, which is always a treat. Hot cider is the best! We were a bit sad because my hubby and I both have ornaments from our childhood that are very, very sentimental, but they are all in storage. We never once thought we wouldn't be in our new home for Christmas, so we never thought to bring them. We had to purchase a few new ornaments, which we like, but it's just not the same. Our tree does look nice, though.

On Monday night, we toured Maricopa's "Holiday Homes on Parade" with the D family. Maricopa residents sign their decorated homes up to the contest, if they like, and then the townsfolk (hee hee) drive around with an "official" ballot obtained from the local paper or city hall and vote on the best theme, best use of color, best overall...and then there is a write-in choice, where you write the address in of the house that should have entered, but didn't. We all piled into the D's SUV, drank hot chocolate, and sang holiday tunes as they came on the radio. It took us two hours!

Tuesday night was Little B's holiday concert. He had practiced and practiced, and practiced at home. And practiced. The third grade class performed "Deck the Halls" and "Here We Come A-Wassaling," which I always knew as "Here We Come A-Caroling." I guess the original version is "Wassaling," which my son informs me means the same. Little B is the first visible kid to the right of the music teacher in the back row. The auditorium was standing room only by the time I got there, so the pictures I got aren't the best, but at least we've recorded the event.

My favorite holiday activity was on Thursday, when we attended "Las Noches de Las Luminarias" at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. The paths and buildings are lined with hundreds of luminarias, and the trees are lit with white lights. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Apparently, it takes fifty people thirty minutes to light all of the luminarias. When we arrived, we ate dinner outside. I had posole pork stew with homemade flour tortilla. Yum! After dinner, we grabbed some hot cider and strolled the garden. Musicians of all sorts were playing throughout the garden. They were perfectly placed so that as you were walking along and the musician you were just visiting started to fade, you'd start to hear the next one you were approaching along the path. Our favorites were "Del Sol," a Latin guitar group that played against a lit, cactus-dotted mountain backdrop, and, of course, the bell choir. The whole evening was just amazing. Walking around in the cold with warm drinks, listening to great music, all lit by candles and white lights. I simply can't say enough wonderful things about it. We plan to go every holiday season for the rest of our lives. We loved it so much, we purchased a year membership to the gardens. Can't wait to go back. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera, so the picture here was taken from the Web site.

My holiday spirit is pretty much gone after today, though. We went Christmas shopping! Ugh! Boy, it's unbelievable how crowded places get. I usually try my best to stay away from the stores during the holidays, but we waited until the last minute to purchase one very specific gift, so we had no choice. We finally found it after about four hours and fifteen stores. Now I'm off to do some wrapping!

Happy Holidays!