Holiday Magic!

In the midst of the holiday celebrations blogging time slid right off my plate. The joyous festivities have been on my memory stick, patiently awaiting their moment to be shared -- Disneyland during Thanksgiving weekend, Carmel-by-the-Sea wrapped in red ribbons, favorite ornaments dangling from our tree, a table laden with family favorite recipes. Since it would be a shame to move on without honoring these traditions, I decided to go ahead and share a few memories of the past month.

Let's just say Disney always knows how to do it right. We could literally SMELL the gingerbread cooking in It's a Small World as the little dolls changed their song to holiday favorites.
And what a surprise to walk out of a shop on Main Street and be greeted by SNOWFLAKES coming down (courtesy of Disneyland). Everything was beautifully decorated, the holiday parade was delightful, and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the park at this time of year! Even Cinderella's Castle had a facade of snow and sparkled with lights.

The drive home along the coast from Southern California was peacefully beautiful and I was grateful Ash shared in the driving.
Added in during the holiday activities was an outstanding workshop I attended in Carmel. Not only was my knowledge in the field of Speech Pathology enhanced, but I had the pleasure of being surrounded by the village at its most enchanting time of year.
Finally my dear ol' Dad and daughters arrived! We decorated the tree with all of our beloved ornaments we've collected over the years. Our tree is not particularly sophisticated. There is no theme. But each and every ornament MEANS something to us.

Brenda's Baby Ornament (a friend had this made for me when I was expecting Ash)
Lys's First Christmas and her first grade schoolmade ornament
Pets (cats, dogs and horses) -- the one below is of Bambi, Lys's filly
Little houses that open to hold trinkets (given by my mother to my daughters when they were little)

Momentos from our travels -- everything from Innsbruck, Austria from our travels through Europe to Durango, Colorado and Washington D.C.
And at the top of our tree stands "Angela" -- this angel is from the 50's and adorned my parent's family tree as we were growing up. She lights up. When my mom passed away she was given to me and now Angela (as my sisters and brother and I named her) watches over my family tree. Just below Angela you can see part of a gold locket -- it says "Our First Christmas Together" and was the first ornament my husband and I bought for our tree.

Lastly, jolly old Santa Claus. He's looking pretty good! I LOVE this Santa. He was a gift to me from my parents on my 5th birthday (since I was born Christmas week) and I was thrilled to get him. He had been sitting on a shelf at Sunday's Market (a little corner dime store a few blocks from my childhood home) and I'd been eyeing him for a couple weeks. He still winds up to move back and forth, ringing his bell.

2010 provided lovely memories.