Christmas Traditions, Old and New

Our 6th Christmas in Moraga, and it's just now starting to feel like tradition.  We've accumulated all the holiday decor we need, finally came up with a good way to display Christmas cards, figured out the right places to go, things to do, services to attend.  

We started out Christmas Eve with our fancy dinner before heading off to the 5pm service at MVPC.  After service, some wine and cheese with the neighbors across the street and then off to bed to Santa could pay a visit.

On Christmas morning, the girls rushed down and headed straight for the chimney, where they found their presents from Santa waiting.  With the Nutcracker craziness, we didn't get a chance to visit Santa in person and make our requests, so the girls wrote him letters.  Gwen asked for a turquoise camera, Whitney asked for a music box that holds jewelry, and Paige wanted "purple", which Gwen clarified to Santa as a purple toy ring.  The girls' big presents this year from us were two Kindle Fires for the big kids and a scooter for Paige.  

Those were the old traditions.  Now onto new!  We took advantage of every place that was open on Christmas Day.  That included the Walnut Creek Ice Skating rink (which Adam declared would be our new Christmas Day tradition), Benihana's (probably also a new tradition as it was the only restaurant in a 20 mile radius that was open), and the movie theater.  This year's movie selection was Into the Woods.

The day after Christmas, we made our 2nd annual trip to Pier 39.  The girls and their grandma love crab, so we hit Fisherman's Wharf, the old Navy ship, and the mirror maze at the pier.

A California Christmas isn't quite the same as the white Christmases I grew up with.  There's no smell of wood burning when you walk out into the crisp, cold air.  Holiday lights don't look the same on snow-less houses.  Online shopping isn't quite the same as taking in the frenzy of the packed malls decked out with holiday decor, sales and songs.  But I'm hoping that our holiday traditions will stay with the girls and help bring on the Christmas spirit!  Because really is there anything better?