Tis the Season...

On Thursday, Jake took us girls out on a fabulous Christmas date.  We went first to Beverly Hills to see the crystal chandeliers they hang on Rodeo Drive during Christmas.  There were banners hanging that said, "Deck the Hills." And any trip to Bev. Hills would be incomplete without a stop at Sprinkles Cupcakes- I got chocolate peppermint- best cupcake in my life- and Jake had spiced eggnog.  

The Grove is a fabulous shopping/restaurant area that does amazing decorations for Christmas...
There are even fountains like at the Bellagio (though obviously smaller!) that are choreographed to music.  Abby Jane was enthralled by the fountains.  We ate at The Farm, which had seating by the fountain, so we had an entertained child during dinner.
At 7 p.m., real snow is blown from the roof of the theater right next to where we were eating, and Christmas music was playing... it was very magical!

Here is the massive nativity scene at the largest intersection in Malibu- kind of random in so secular a town, but very neat nonetheless.

This morning was the Santa Monica to Venice 5K that incidentally benefits Harvest Home (see previous entry).  This is our 3rd Christmas to do it, though I mostly walked last year due to a large belly!  Unfortunately, Jake was under the weather this morning, so just us girls (this is us post-race)

 ... joined the crew- Gross girls, Santa and Mrs Claus (aka the Dubachs), the Roberts and Sammy, and the Aufhammers.

And here are Abby Jane and Sammy pre-race, getting their game faces on... I can say that Abby Jane took Sammy down on that last stretch , but I think Sammy's dad let it happen.  We surely did miss Jake, but he's feeling a little better, so it was good for him not to go.