Christmastime with the Pavones

Nick and I had so much fun when we took Gigi to the Kids' Christmas Party at the RSF fire dept earlier this month, put on by the firefighters. There were so many little ones running around just being kids and having loads of fun. We enjoyed pizza and cookies. Santa arrived and appeared out of the make shift fireplace, after sliding down the fire pole! Watching the amazement on those little faces was such a joy!

Last Sunday we spent the afternoon with family: we took a trip to the Ikea store in San Diego, and then we headed to San Diego Harbor to enjoy the annual Boat Parade of Lights. It was a bit cold sitting on the waters edge, but we managed to bundle up in our coats and mittens!
We topped the evening off with a trip to the famous "Christmas Card Lane," in Rancho Penasquitos, San Diego and enjoyed all the lights while sipping yummy Starbucks drinks!

It looks a lot like Christmas throughout San Diego county and around our house,
inside

and out!!

We've even got cloudy skies and rain today, to add to the ambiance of the season!! Having grown up in southern California we often don't have real Christmas weather. The rain is nice, especially since it was in the mid 70's just a couple of days ago, which is NOT Christmastime weather in my opinion.With Christmas only three days away, I still have wrapping to finish, cooking and baking to do before the big day. So I better get busy.....

To enjoy more pictures see my flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72308330@N00/sets/72157622922512009/

Christmas Greetings 2009!

December is here and it’s time once again to reflect on the past year. We have much for which to be thankful......... our family, our health, our travels. Life is full.

Our family is growing.... Alex and Angelina are expecting their 1st baby in May, 2010, and we couldn't be more excited about the arrival of our 2nd grandchild...........and growing.......Nicole and David are adopting. Although we don't know when this precious one will arrive, we could (hopefully will) have a 3rd grandbaby anytime in the next year! Talk about being excited!

Our extended family has also grown as we had three nephews and one niece get married, and a grand nephew was born, giving us a chance to get together at many family gatherings.

Nick has fully recovered from his rotator cuff surgery of March. He is back to all his normal activities and played his first round of golf over the Thanksgiving holiday, pretty much pain-free!

We missed camping with our long time friends at the lake as we didn’t take our long summer vacation of camping this year. Instead, we camped with family and friends more locally and went on many long weekend RV trips, heading to: Campland on Mission Bay, San Diego; Quartzite, AZ for a big RV Show, and Yuma; Surprise and Peoria, AZ for Padres' Spring Training; Huntington State Beach, CA; KQ Ranch, Julian, CA; Flying Flags Resort, Buellton, CA, for a quilting retreat; and So. Carlsbad State Beach twice, once for the week of Thanksgiving.

We spent a fun weekend with friends in Novato, Napa & Sonoma, CA, tasting wines and sailing the San Francisco Bay. We surprised our niece at her college graduation from the Culinary Institute of America in Poughkeepsie, NY and spent a couple of days in Manhattan, New York, as well. I flew for a weekend to Pensacola, FL with my sisters-in-law and brother-in-law for one niece’s wedding! To top our travels off we took a wonderful 11 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise in the fall, with friends, old and new! We saw so many beautiful places, enjoyed the warm Caribbean waters and shared much laughter along the way!

We truly have been blessed this year. As we get ready for Christmas, and celebrate Jesus’ birth, we are also reminded how important our family and friends are.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with laughter, joy and love!

Nick and Karen

It's December Already!

Ok, I am a bit late in posting my finished projects for November. It was a "short" month for me so I didn't finish as much as I would have liked, and My one and only finish for OPAM- November was this table runner--shhhhhh...it's a surprise gift.

I did finish a couple of "blocks," though, that will count for the Charming Girls Quilt Club:
This block is for my Live Piecefully Quilting Bee online.
This block is for a Christmas "retirement" quilt for a gal at work!

Now it's December, and I only have one decoration up, my Advent calendar, made in 1979.
(We add a candy cane for each day in December leading to Christmas Day; see my daughter, Nicole's blog post about our family tradition of this Advent Calendar at gidgetgoeshome).

I am already feeling a bit of the crunch of a "short" December! Nick hasn't gotten our other decorations down from the shelf in the garage as yet, and we aren't getting our tree until this weekend (the 5th).

As for projects to do in December there are so many, and there won't be enough time. But I think I will be ambitious, so here goes:

1. Finish my "cat" placemats similar to these I made for my mom and aunt last year:
2. Several (4-5) shopping bags for Christmas gifts, similar to this one:
3. A taffeta Christmas dress for my granddaughter, Gigi


4. A table topper for Gigi's table out of these fabrics (she picked the brown birdies one!):
5. A baby quilt for my friend, Susie's new grandbaby due soon with this flannel:
I better get busy and get to my sewing!!!

Our Blessed Thanksgiving Tradition

The month of November seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye! We returned from our wonderful cruise, had two weeks of regular life and then we went camping for the entire week of Thanksgiving, Sunday to Sunday!

For the past 32 years or so we have almost always gone camping with family and friends for the Thanksgiving weekend. The few years we stayed home and had a "traditional" Thanksgiving, our kids would say, "This is boring! Let's go camping next year like we always do!" So we pack up the RV and head to the campground, this year (as in many past years) we headed to South Carlsbad State Beach.

Most years, including this one, the weather has accommodated us and we usually have a warm weather Thanksgiving. We've only been rained on a couple of times over the years. We cook a full Thanksgiving dinner while there with all the trimmings. Nick smokes our turkey in the smoker and friends deep fry their turkey. Everyone pitches in making everything that goes along with a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It's truly the best way to enjoy Thanksgiving!

Above top: Our "Stuffed Turkey" table decoration made
by mom almost 30 years ago;
just above: Nicole and Susie and Dane in line for the feast!

We have so much to be thankful for and spending time with family and friends tops the list!!
We are blessed! This year we all shared what we are thankful for and a new tradition was added to our way of celebrating this holiday!

To view more pictures go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72308330@N00/sets/72157622920644710/