A Pear Cottage Christmas...

Is it just me or did Christmas come at lightning fast speed this year? 

I mean I know as adults Christmas always comes fast but this year I am at a loss for words.

It is so funny because I said something to that affect to one of my kiddos and they were like, 

"Are you kidding me? December is taking forever."

Ha...so I guess that is my cue to slow down. 

That means grab a cup of hot chocolate and eggnog cookie, sit up to the Christmas tree, and enjoy

"Pear Cottage" at her most magical time of year.

Oh and while I am at it I think I will look at the other stunning homes out in blog land and think how I am going to decorate next year. :)

I am linking up to Jennifer Rizzo's Linky party because I l.o.v.e. her holiday house tour and their are some seriously fabulous homes!

Now this was a funny year for me decorating wise.  I hardly unpacked any boxes...now I don't have that many to begin with because storage is a serious problem for us Northern California people without basements.

But this year I needed all things simple.

So I can sum up my entire house like this...

Boughs, pine cones and white lights.

Yep that's about it.  

Just warm and cozy....

My front porch

My entry hall

And why do I turn my house into a magical wonderland? And why do I wake up each day tryng to think of anything that will make this Christmas memorable?

Why the same reason that every other Mama out there that loves her kiddos more than her next breath.  

It is all for them.  

It is all for this very look....

The gingerbread house balance...

Usually the gingerbread making is my thing.

In fact I used to love buying my favorite candy like the pastel eccos for the roof and spice drops for the perfect wreaths and trees. That ended somewhere between 5-10 years ago..I lost track but I do know it has been a long time since I decorated the gingerbread house.

I completely turned it over to the kids.  

Yea I was there to supervise to make sure the royal icing didn't end up on the ceiling but the actual decorating was all kiddos.

Enter in Tom.

He never really was a part of this particular tradition.  Shocking but true because he loves to create.  

Any child school projects...Tom.

I mean this is his forte...he could spend days doing doing something like this.

So when he started in with the kids 

I was super excited because I knew that we were going to have ourselves a stunning little house.

So while Tom and Ella plotted and planned...

Charlie drank his 9th cup of hot chocolate for the day.

After a while Charlie joined in the fun and what I didn't count on was Tom let him. He let him put that candy on the roof with the risk that the whole thing would collapse. He didn't even care that Charlie broke the pattern of gum drops. That takes serious control and it is control that I never had.  That is why I had to back off completely. I was not a half way kinda gal with my house decorating. 
It was either a perfect house or it sooo was not.
For years it has been sooo not.

Oh my gosh and as I watched my kiddos and Tom decorate he showed me without even realizing it that he has the ultimate gingerbread house decorating balance.
The balance between stepping in but letting the kiddos decorate at the risk of it being dare I say...ugly.

I had so much fun watching that next year I think I might have the hang of it.  Could I possibly go from bystander to helper?  Ummm

But once again Benjamin had me doubled over laughing.
He said there just wasn't room for him to decorate so he took matters into his own hand and decided to build his own graham cracker gingerbread house.
It quickly became a competition of sorts.
He  even made his own icing and took huge pride and care in decorating is house.
It was soo fun to watch my big boy creating his little house.

In the end I really think we had a tie.

After all Charlie and Ella had Tom to fall back on.  :)

Benjamins little house

And the perfect balance between dad's artistry and his very enthusiastic helpers Ella and Charlie.

I am so sad that I can't get this video to turn because it makes me laugh...I mean are you serious Benjamin?

Thanksgiving Day 2

Traditions, traditions.

That is what got us all up at 8:00 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving.

We run the golden gate bridge the morning after our feast rain or shine.

This year we got extra lucky and I was actually hot...go figure.

The views were seriously unbelievable and I was having an all time running high.

Then we headed over to the kid's favorite diner...Max's on Van ness.
It's gross and I am not sure why they love it so much.  Oh yea because they get oreo shakes for breakfast.

Then we went to point reyes station for our picnic items to take to the beach.  And yes most things we do revolve around food.  But cowgirl cheese's are too die for.  We got baguette bread and we were on our way... 

right back to the beach

Where we had the most perfect picnic sight in the entire world.

The earth glowed in yellows and soft oranges.

Benjamin found the perfect skim boarding beach.

Ella and Charlie made the biggest sandcastle in the world...

I kissed people 

 I kissed people because everything was right with the world.  It didn't last long... I woke up and me, Ella and Charlie had lice.  I cried and this time it wasn't because I was happy. :( Just keepin' it real.
I am grateful for the last two days to keep us going during the dark ones...