date: Fri 26 Dec 2025 10:55:27 PM PST subj: holiday season with twins ------------------------------------------------- So far its been a blast. After a early morning and long drive to and from the city. I didn't mind, a stop at wajamia (spelled wrong) as a side trip to the doctors office, we stocked up on some miso soup ingredients. Sometimes after doing to much I just don't want to be pushed into doing more. At my age too much is doing more than one thing per day. I've really got to change that. Anyhow, I walked out to get the truck. I see my neighbor. I say hi to the young man. He is 32 and he has built his own house, and its an amazing beautiful house. I say hi, and he asks if I'm leaving town. I say "no no just loading up the truck so I can pull it round to get the kids, we are going to see some lights. My kids are probably going to be asleep for this. Right now I don't even want to go." He says "I kinda heard that in your voice." I tell him "When you get to be (I was going to say my age), well you know, sometimes it feels like I'm being pushed around from one thing to another and I just want to do what I want to do which is nothing." He smiles and laughs a bit and says "I know." I tell him we are going to Hasty Lake. He says he heard they were nice lights. I tell him Santa, some rain deer, and the Grinch are supposed to be the thing tonight. I ask him if he is staying round here, and he says no. I tell him I'll keep an eye on your place if something seems odd I'll investigate. He says he feels its pretty safe here. I respond I guess I still have the mindset of where I used to live. I see my wife bringing the kids out carrying them in the car seats. I'm late, my job is to load the kids. She does quite a bit. Driving to the event, I see a line of cars, and think oh no, lets not have another parking issue. I complain about lines. We find a parking spot mom throws the wood out of the way. Lots of wood washed up on shore from a massive wind storm. So far so good at least we found a place to park! We unload the kids put them in puff suites and walk in the dark up the hill to the lights. We immediately get in a line :( I never like lines anymore. After living in southern CA for many years, everything you do is lines. You drive on the freeway in a lines in 2nd gear. You get home from work after driving in in a line to and from work, go to the store and stand in line there too. Ah ... not another line. But at least we are with friends. Then something causes us to get out of line. The grinch and whoever was what we're in line for is just out and about with us in the line. So we get out of line and go see the sights. The lights are amazing. Best lights I've ever been to. The kids seem to love it. I text my neighbor .. its worth it. The kids loved the lights. It was a lot of fun being with their friend who's a couple months older than our children. I think we spent a couple hours browsing all the light displays at least. There were all sorts of themes in the displays. One was a beehive with glowing yellow honey bees, and a hive lit up beautifully. Another memorable display was some jellyfish that looked like they contained small galaxy of starlight. So many light displays its difficult to remember each display. One that I liked was what looked like giant Dots candy lights making a path to a house, on the path were also lights. A gingerbread man who had his head bitten off riding an ambulance. The best part was just seeing the children all so happy and excited about each display. I was carrying my son, and my wife carried our daughter. We got a few pictures of us as a family and some pictures of the lights but they just don't compare to being there in person. --------------------------------------- Then next day: Easing into Christmas eve, grandma's birthday. Grandma and grandpa came over, the kids were just so happy Christmas eve. Although the grandparents didn't hold the babies as much as when they were smaller, they still hung out and interacted with them. Our daughter spent time with grandpa. She is lighter and easier to hold onto that our son right now. The kids played, and the adults hung out with the kids. Grandma and mom got food for everyone, while grandpa, the babes, and myself all hung out together. Our daughter is rolling over now. She has learned to rollover and now she is having a great time getting herself stuck. Seems she had to show grandma and grandpa how fun it is to roll back and forth. She did a decent amount of cooing and speaking baby talk to her family. Our son he was his normal investigative self, rolling and pushing himself in reverse to everywhere he could go before needing help to get unstuck. In the evening grandpa watched old shows of The Price Is Right! -------------------------------------------- Christmas day: First Christmas! Opening presents was a fun time. The babes got gifts from Santa (mom) and we sat down on the floor in front of grandma and grandpa and watch the babes attempt to open gifts. It took them awhile to get a decent grip on the wrapping paper, but when they did, they pulled a piece off which promptly went into their mouth for a taste texture test. They got some great gifts from grandma and grandpa, Santa (mom), and the aunties. We had a full day and night with grandma and grandpa. Its been a blast having them visit us. We played with the babes, and grandpa tries to shhhhush the babes. shhhh, ha ha, not a chance grandpa, says mom. I laugh, when they get going there is no shhhhing that will quite the babes. I've tried several times. We had Christmas breakfast as a family, son and daughter got to try some breakfast casserole. Then it was play with new toys. Our son got an awesome dumb bell that he flicks black and forth. It rattles when he flicks it. He casually flicks it and it looks like he is working out. When he puts it down I pick it up and imitate his action, which causes him to laugh, then I hand the dumbbell back to him and he does it again. He likes the tree skirt. He tries to lift it, and pull on the sparkly sequence scales. Our daughter loves the books she got from the aunties, and a chewable toy that looks like it has a small soccer ball on it. She really looks like she is reading the crinkle books as she lays on her back or sitting while holding both ends of the book with each of her hands. She intently looks at the pictures then sometimes flips the pages. ------------------------------------------ The day after Christmas: The day after Christmas grandma and grandpa decided to go home after breakfast. We are sad to see them go we are going to miss them, nights of play Sequence, and The Price Is Right. We had a nice day together with our kids, It goes by faster than ever. A pretty mellow day we took a walk in the wind. In the evening our daughter hung out with mom, rolling all over her lap, and getting her head wedge between mom and couch. That doesn't stop our daughter from trying to roll herself out of though. Its fun to see her exploring her new skill.