gothamwingard: A lot like Christmas

Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. The Christmas tree is up, with lights and decorated, and the garland is up too. The Christmas cards are addressed and in the mail, and the Christmas shopping is done -- at least for the kids it is. We've watched Rudolph, Frosty and the Grinch. Even the trip to see Santa is scheduled. The Advent calendar is nearly finished. It's hard to believe we've pulled it off amid the year-end evaluation process at Perkins Coie, holiday sales at Kenneth Wingard, appearances on Home & Family, pre-school and bottles every few hours.

This year we didn't haul a Christmas tree back from our place in Boonville for the first time in six years (since we bought the place, actually). We decided that with three kids, the annual "Christmas tree hunt" - which includes me traipsing across the hillsides while Ken points from the driveway -would be a bit too much. And the fact that we miraculously . . . um, I mean . . . mysteriously didn't have anything in the barn to use to tie the tree to the top of the Explorer pretty much cinched the decision not to bring a tree back to San Franciso. So, it was the Christmas tree lot in the city for us, where you simply point to your chosen tree and they put it in your tree stand for you, throw it up on top of the car and tie it down for you. Worth every nickel, if you ask me.

Coco helped put the lights on the tree and helped decorate it too. A few days later she helped put presents from Grandma and Grandpa (Gothams and Wingards) under the tree. Last night she helped hang candy canes on the tree (and this morning she wanted one for breakfast).

Of course, the annual Christmas festivities have started as well. Mark McCormick's dinner party, Bob Sundstrom's cocktail party, the Daddy's brunch in Piedmont and Christmas caroling with the Potomac Street neighbors - to mention a few. This year we added pre-school events to the schedule. The highlight was the holiday party for all five Hola Kids campuses at the Randall Museum. The fete included the kids -- about 40 of them between the ages of 2 and 4 -- flamenco dancing and singing Christmas carrols in Spanish. We didn't realize that there would be a performance so we didn't have our video camera with us (total rookie move!) -- but we managed to get some footage of Coco's first stage appearance on our iPhones. I'm sure someday it will be nostalgia video on American Idol, the Voice or So You Think You Can Dance.