With finals over and done with, this was the first weekend for Ross with no reading or studying in months....and boy was it nice! We went out and did some very small Christmas shopping (3 gifts to be exact), took a short trip to the beach since it was 78 degrees outside, made a ginger bread house and then drove around town and tried to find some houses decorated with Christmas lights. One would think living in Orange County that you would have no problem finding some amazing houses decorated for the holidays...however we didn't really find anything spectacular. Thankfully Sunday evening we went up to this little area about 20-30 mins north of us called Naples where we walked around these neighborhoods called The Canals. Talk about some AMAZING light displays. We are talking about pretty much every single house decorated with lights! And instead of walking across the street to look at the houses on the other side, you had to cross a bridge to get to the other side of the canal. That's right....the canal. Absolutely beautiful being able to see boats and gondolas going through the canals all decorated with lights as well. It was a wonderful way to spend the first weekend with no studying.

Christmas Already??

Well, here we are almost the third week of December and I am sitting in our office watching it rain outside. The temperatures range from the upper 50s all the way to the mid 70s making it really hard to realize that Christmas is 2 weeks away. Not to mention the only Christmas decoration we have out is a small 2 foot tree my parents brought us since our regular tree is too big for our small apartment...unless we decide to sacrifice the entire living room or dining room. And with Ross right in the middle of finals, neither of us has had any time or motivation to dig out all the Christmas stuff. So once finals are over with next week, Ross has promised me that we will decorate, make a ginger bread house, and he will post on our website his thoughts on surviving the first semester of law school (so be watching for that in the next few weeks). Another thing that has made it hard to grasp the Christmas spirit is the fact that it is not cold outside yet. Don't get me wrong, the rain has made it cooler out than I was thinking it would be in Southern California, but no where near the cold I am used to at this time of year. And I have to say, I really do miss the snow and bitter cold that comes to Colorado every year (call me crazy). So to help get into the Christmas mood, I have been listening to as much Christmas music as I can.

So I'm sure many people are wondering if we are coming home for the holidays or if family is coming out to see us. Unfortunately the answer is no to both. In case you haven't read the older posts, my parents came out the weekend before Thanksgiving and we celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with them at that time. The cost to fly home is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive this time of year so we are going to celebrate Christmas Day doing something neither of us has ever done before. That's right....we are going to brave the crowds and go to Disneyland and watch the Christmas Day Parade!! The park opens at 8:00am and the "experts" suggest getting to the park entrance by 7:00am to get in and find a good viewing spot. So I think Ross wants to leave at 6:00 or 6:30 in the morning!! The last time I got up that early on Christmas Day was when I was in elementary school and I was running downstairs to see what Santa Clause had left me. But since it is only the two of us this year and we don't have to be anywhere or really do anything that day, we are going for it!

Catch up on photos

We took a trip to Disneyland before Thanksgiving
to check out all the holiday decorations.


Pictures from It's a Small World ride decorated for the holidays

It's A Small World ride decorated for the holidays

Sleeping Beauty's Castle during the holidays

Our trip to Santa Monica on Halloween

Pictures from Disneyland in October after we got our Annual Passes

Ross' first time on a carousel

Showing off our annual passes!!