We enjoyed a delicious dinner with my Mom and Dad at the Melting Pot in Sacramento - yummy!!! I love fondue and this was a real treat...thanks Mom and Dad. We ended the evening at my parents house, where Gannon didn't last til midnight and I almost didn't either...the joy of pregnancy - exhaustion.
Today was the day we destroyed our gingerbread house...but not without eating a piece or two.
And I had to include this photo...Gannon was playing with his moonsand and I said give me a kiss please, and he responded with this face - which Daddy captured. Can't you see his thoughts on his face?! Oh no...am I not the only woman in his life any longer!!!
After a full morning of riding his Spiderman hotwheel around the neighborhood, Rich and I decided to take Gannon bowling. This was his first official trip to Nu Generations. He had bowled at John's Incredible Pizza, but that's it. Gannon loved bowling - he thought it was a lot of fun. One game was enough for him though (and Mommy and Daddy too!) - you can safely say that we're not your typical bowling enthusiasts. 
Matching pj's has become a family tradition...isn't Rich a good sport?!
All Gannon wanted from Santa this year was a "race"...more specifically, a Lightening McQueen race track. Thanks Santa!!! Gannon played with this toy for a good two hours Christmas morning before opening any other gifts.
Gannon digging under the tree for presents...Savion supervising.
Rip!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gannon is jumping up and down yelling - cool!!!
Papa loved his downrigger!
Mommy and Gannon on his plasma car.
Mommy and Sister.
Thanks Grandma and Papa for the coolest Spiderman bicycle and helmet - Gannon loves it!
Gannon loves Spiderman.
Grandma and Gannon playing on his new bilingual computer.
As soon as we arrived home from Grandma's and Papa's house, Gannon was ready to take his bath, put on his Elf jammies, open his Christmas Eve gift and prepare Santa's plate of cookies and glass of milk. Lucky for Mom and Dad, we had a package of chocolate chip cookie dough in our refrigerator because, although we had some delicious sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies to give to Santa, Gannon refused...insisting that we make and leave Santa chocolate chip cookies - "they're his favorite!!!" And so, we heated the oven and popped the instant chocolate chip cookies inside. Gannon was pleased and proud to leave those cookies on the plate, and I'm sure Santa was pleased as well. Good thing Gannon's got your back Santa!
We celebrated Christmas Eve with Great-Grandma, Aunt Nena, Jaime, Papa and Grandma. Grandma made a wonderful meal and we enjoyed being together.
We experienced the most wonderful evening at the Penryn Oak Stables...we experienced Santa's Secret Adventure. We arrived and were greeted by an elf (Santa's helper) who gave us a stick and marshmallows to roast and directed us to a warm, crackling fire. As we were roasting and eating plenty of charred marshmallows, two gorgeous and festive wagons pulled-up and were led by two beautiful Belgian Draft horses. We boarded the red wagon and Snowflake (the horse) took us on a magical journey to see Santa at his special place. The journey to see Santa in the wagon allowed us to listen to the pitter patter of Snowflakes hoofs along with the jingle of his Christmas bells - music of the season. When we arrived to the destination, we were greeted to elves serving us chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa and directed us to another huge crackling Christmas fire where another elf read us ""Twas the Night Before Christmas". When the story was over, guess to greeted us next???? Mrs. Claus! She then led us through the stables and upstairs to where Santa was resting before his big night. We climbed the stairs and there he was, resting at his desk. The group we were with yelled, "Surprise!". Santa was delighted to see us - he took time to speak to each and everyone of the kids (there were about 8 kids in our group) and take photos with them.
I truly LOVE the Nutcracker, especially Ron Cunningham's interpretation of the ballet. I've been to various other Nutcracker performances over the years, but nothing compares (in my opinion) to the Sacramento Ballet! Well this year, I decided it was time to expose Gannon to a ballet that his Mommy has loved since she was young. I figured, "why not make him well-rounded, he can participate in cage fighting events one evening and the ballet the next - right?!". Gannon actually liked the production very much. He loved when the Nutcracker was fighting all of the mice, when the Nutcracker and Clara rode in the hot air balloon, and especially enjoyed the live orchestra.
December 16, 2008
This evening, Richard and I attended the Sarah Brightman concert at Arco. It was a spectacular evening!!! She is truly a beautiful talent.
Gannon and Savion have been getting their photo taken together with Santa ever since they became "brothers". Savion looks forward to his annual outing to the mall to visit his favorite man in red.
Gannon gave ice skating two raccoon glove thumbs-up!!!
